St. Edward,Minneota school establishes endowment

Minneota St. Edward Catholic School students both past and present, expressed their interest in the value of a Catholic education. A year ago, the St. Edward School endowment fund was established to provide financial security for the school in the future.

This fall a former student at St Edward School, James Meger, heard of the endowment plan and wanted to help. Meger attended St Edward School for eight years. He has stated that he felt he received a high quality of education and the deep moral sincerity which is so important in life. His mother was also an employee of the school as a cook and secretary for seventeen years. Meger has now established himself as one of North American’s most popular artists. To help the school he so dearly loved, he has generously offered to give one signed 10" x 14" decorator print, "Heavenly Peace," to anyone donating at least $40 to the school endowment fund. He will provide a second signed 10" x 14" decorator print, "Holy Night," to those donating $100 or more to the endowment fund. The project is going well, with some very significant contributions. St. Edward School is very grateful for Meger’s generosity and for the many gracious contributors to the endowment. Anyone interested in contributing to receive free prints may contact St. Edward School at (507) 872-6391.

The present St. Edward school students have also become interested in promoting the school endowment fund. Mrs. Brenda Verschelde, the junior high teacher of 21 years, sparked their interest by registering the school in the "America Cans for Cash Challenge." Her purpose was two-fold. First she hoped to teach the children the important value of recycling and secondly she wanted the students to take an interest in the future of their school. Success began in November of 2000 when the school received about $1,300 for the aluminum cans they had gathered and recycled. On December 1, 2000, the school was contacted with the announcement that they had won the grand prize of $2,500 for recycling an average of 36 pounds of aluminum cans per student. The moneys were put into the St. Edward School Endowment fund. The challenge was a great success because the students and staff sparked tremendous support throughout the whole community. Now the challenge continues. The school will compete in the National Cans for Cash Challenge. They will be collecting and recycling aluminum cans from January 25 through April 2. The eighth grade students presented recycling classes for the elementary grades during Catholic Schools Week which was held January 28 through February 2. The project has proven to be a fun and educational way to help the environment and earn money for a worthy cause.