Showing posts with label The Big Shoulders Fund. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Big Shoulders Fund. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 02, 2014

Catholic and Private School Families Continue to " Carry the Turf"

Photo: Children carrying turf to pay their school fees from 'The Graphic' on this day in 1888.
Children carrying turf to pay their school fees from 'The Graphic' on this day in 1888.

Paying tuition is an obligation parents assume when they want their children educated in America.   Public schools are paid for by tax payers, including the families who send their children to non-public schools - they pay twice; once, for every one else's children and again for their own.

Private education comes in several forms. There are what are known as Tier One schools - elite schools endowed and patronized by wealth. Schools such as University of Chicago Lab Schools, Latin School, Frances Parker, Lake Forest Academy and North Shore Country Day are Tier One schools - some rooted in a Mainline Protestant denomination past, or purely secular. These schools tend to have the highest tuition rates and are exclusive.

Then there are Parochial schools of which Catholic schools are the most prominent. There are Dutch Reformed, Lutheran, Jewish and Muslim schools. These schools operate on tuition and gifts alone for revenue and some are becoming almost as costly as Tier One schools.  Catholic schools have always depended upon the support of the parish, or a religious congregation.  Today, parishes struggle to maintain enrollment numbers that match tuition paying families.  Due to the decades of lost vocations to religious orders, Catholic schools are more often than not operated and managed by Catholic lay persons. Tuition support comes from lay operated foundations like the Big Shoulders Fund and private foundations.

Public Education outlaws Vouchers which would allow genuine, fair and reform inducing competition via its threats to and campaign financing of  members of both political parties in the Illinois legislature and local governments. That is how it is.

Catholic schools in America were founded by Irish immigrants very much familiar with "School Choice" policies in Ireland.    Catholic schools educated millions of Americans with standards that remain today in most Catholic schools.

Families continue to sacrifice for their children and students themselves are no strangers to the burdens placed on their parents, often working off tuition in the schools themselves.  They carry the turf.

Elected mediocrities (Durbin, Quinn, et al.)  who benefited from a Catholic education* are the most strident foes of School Reform.  They have selective memories linked only to pious platitudes mouthed at a St. Paddy's Day breakfast, or in a hall full of Hibernians. Memory is the first thing annihilated by tyrants, frauds and mediocrities.

Tuition is the turf you carry.



Irish hedge school heritage[hedge.jpg]
The hedge schools in Ireland were founded under the penal laws in Ireland in the 17th century. No Catholic could teach, no building could serve as a school, underpenalty of law.
Outlaw teachers
So it began that outlawed teachers taught children and traveling "strangers" in the open air. One child might serve as a lookout for the authorities. The teacher might get paid in butter or with a few shillings.
Classes taught included Latin, Greek, Arithmetic, Reading and Writing. Originally it was all done in the Irish language. The Irish language was one thing that theauthorities wanted to eradicate.
The end of the schools
As time went on, laws would allow for a school building, and the Irish actually got their own schools in the 19th century. Some hedge schools continued, but theyfaded from view and disappeared for the most part by the time of the famine.Student responsibilities
If necessary, each student was required to carry a brick or two of turf to school when it was cold outside. The turf would then supply heat during the school day for everyone.


 *School/Choice and Vouchers in Illinois3/1/2014 8:00:00 PM By Mike Yurgec -Contributor
As a parent of a child in Catholic school, every year I am faced with the same thing the rest of the parents face - the property tax bill. I am very troubled with the fact I pay for a public school system I never use. My child will never darken the doorstep of that building and yet, more that 60% of my property taxes go to fund that project. For us and many others, that is several thousand dollars a year going to a public funding project we will never use.We all know why we send our children to Catholic school. The reasons are many. But the underlying fact is we pay extra to send our children there in addition to funding a public school system our children will never use. This is "taxation without representation". If you recall, there was a revolution started over this in 1776.
I have heard other parents say, "I can't afford to send my child to Catholic school." The facts are these; YES - you can afford to send your child to Catholic school if you were allowed to spend the tax money confiscated from your bank account to fund a public school to pay for your child's tuition! You see, if we were allowed to spend our tax dollars to fund our child's education in a Catholic school system, there would be more funding for that system, more children in that system, and better results from that system. We could fund better schools and better pay for our teachers and administrators.
We need all of the Catholic parents across this state to stand up and be counted. If we all took the stand of "No School Choice - No Support" to our legislators, the law will change. It would have to change. According to the website Catholic-Heirarchy.org, there are over 165,000 Catholic parents, grand parents, aunts, uncles, brothers, and sisters in the Springfield Diocese alone. In Illinois, there are over 4,950,000 Catholics. The politicians have to listen to us at the risk of their own political peril!
Ask your local, state, and federal legislator this question, "Do you support school choice?" If not - why not?! And be sure to tell them your vote is vested in their position to support school choice. Please - do it now!
Thank you!
Mike Yurgec
Sherman Illinois

Monday, March 17, 2014

I reconnect with some Funny Little People at the Downtown St. Paddy's Day Parade


You will always run into funny people at public events . " Funny How?  Like a clown?  "  Sometimes.  Funny can be  like the inebriated goof who had begun his day with big brimmin' cup full of Happy Cossack Vodka and wanted to know what "Bik Showders Fun us a Boud?"  and shortly careened away prior to an answer.

Funny.  I imagine the balance of his Saturday, which no doubt ended before noon parade step-off, was equally hilarious and joyful for himself and those folks he gladdened the day.

Then there were funny trades men and rivals from Catholic Schools north, south and west.  There are no Catholic High Schools within Lake Michigan.  

Shortly before the Leo Contingent of the Big Shoulders Fund Marchers stepped north on Columbus Drive, I noticed the Stockyard Kilty Band.  This year we mourned the loss of Leo Man Dave McKinney '46 was a founding member of the bag-pipe band.  I mentioned to our guys that a Leo Man was instrumental in the training of generations of pipers.  and into the mix of black and gold tartans strolled two of the Funny Little People.  
When I was baby teacher at Bishop McNamara High School in Kankakee, IL, I played banjo and guitar with the Sons of Reilly's Daughter as part of MadCaps - an annual November All-School Fund-raiser that helped keep the revenue up and tuition down and doors wide open.  We were a hit - playing Irish songs, Italian songs, Polish Songs, Hillbilly songs and telling dirty jokes within the parameters of good taste and Catholic dignity . . .most of the time.  However, the show stopper was an anonymouspair of hilariously costumed characters who busted in on our show and danced up a storm.  They were known only as the Little People and they were funny.  It turned out that the Funny Little People persons were one of my students and the little sister of our band Director Kevin McNuty.  Sarah McNulty and Dave Gregoire made a modest industry from a great concept.

In 1976, Dave Gregoire and Sarah McNulty came up with an act for a local fund-raiser. They were inspired by Dave’s original 1st place Halloween costume. A few years later, Dave and Sarah were stitching together sophisticated characters who could lip-sync, show off their dance moves, and make people laugh at nightclubs, sporting events and a few private parties. Eventually, Dave and Sarah quit their day jobs, and by the mid ‘80’s hired about 10 more performers, mostly relatives and friends.

These are some funny people in the best of possible definitions.  Here is Big Shoulders Fund's James O" Connor meets the founder and the creative force behind the Funny Little People.



Leo President Dan McGrath is a fabulous wit and a gentleman Ryan " Hilarity!" Hodo in the grey Hodo Bros.Hoodie and Nick "Funny Attendance" Hyland to McGrath's right are part of the Canaryville Round Table/
These guys present what passes for wit on Sangamon
None of them think I'm Funny . . . well, 'funny lookin'!'

Tuesday, April 02, 2013

Catholic Schools - It Ain't Just About the Bucks



Catholic schools operate on tuition ( which is brutal to budget and, in this economy, for families to meet) and on fund-raising.  The cost of educating a student in a Catholic high school runs in the pricey neighborhood of $15,000.  Most Catholic schools set tuition for families in the still burdensome area of $ 8,500.  Many schools will have a tuition exceeding $ 10,000 per year including books, fees and the bells and whistles like transportation.

Most people who send their children to Catholic schools are church going, religious Catholics, or church going, religious non-Catholics.  They are accustomed, or rather acculturated, to obligations of time, talent and treasure beyond the immediate necessities and desires of their family.  They give from the pew and write checks to charities and the schools their children attend over and above the required tuition payments.  Not only that they, as citizens of Chicago, Cook County and Illinois, pay the highest taxes in the United States in support of the sad and expensive public schools.

Many of these same tax-payers work for the very government agencies that vacuum their checking and savings accounts as well as provide a modest salary.  Many of these people are being down-sized.  I know of scores of Dads in my neighborhood who have been forced out of work in the last eight years and more who expect to be let-go in the next few months.  The other day, I spoke to one of my daughter's classmates at Mother McAuley, whose father is now entering his first year as an apprentice tradesman, after being a five-figure accountant for Cook County from the time he had gotten out of college twenty-five years ago. His bride works at Jewel on 103rd Street and has done so since he was 'smart-sized.'

His daughter will graduate in June and go on to college after being educated in Catholic grammar and high school.  They are blessed.

Other families with children still attending Catholic grade school are not so fortunate.  How will a family of modest income and monstrous taxes afford a Catholic education for its children?

We work on it.  This Sunday, the Catholic New World, reported on two initiatives that have been on-going these last three years. One is the strategic plan developed by the Cardinal, Sister Mary Paul McCaughey and the School Board and the other is the Big Shoulders Assistance Initiative. The Strategic Plan is a common sense setting of viability parameters and expectations for best practices.  The Big Shoulders Commitment is much sexier, because it answers the demands of the strategic plan -

The March 6 announcement was precipitated by donors calling and asking about the future of Catholic schools in the lower income communities that the Big Shoulders Fund serves.
“In contrast to what is happening to innercity Catholic schools nationally, enrollment has grown in our schools for three consecutive years through concerted efforts focused on marketing and need-based scholarships, while fundraising has increased each year,” the statement said. “This growth is evidence of increasing interest in the success of our schools and students.”
The Big Shoulders Fund currently provides $12 to $14 million in annual support for 93 inner-city Catholic schools educating nearly 24,000 children in Chicago. This support includes renewable and emergency scholarships coupled with strategic investments in marketing and development, in academic programs and resources and in enrichment programs for students. This year, Big Shoulders Fund will provide $6 million in scholarships to more than 5,000 children in preschool through 12th grade.
The amount of money Big Shoulders Fund provides for schools has grown to its current level from $5 million to $6 million a year only seven or eight years ago, Hale said. The new commitment relies on a continued increase in its fundraising capacity.
“We’re already out there raising the money,” he said.
The statement said the Big Shoulders Fund will invest directly in several schools to help them become more viable.

As I mentioned most Catholic schools are attended by the children of Catholics who have had a tradition of paying tuition.  Leo High School is not most Catholic schools.  Most of our students come from families who had opted for Chicago Public Schools to educate their boys in CPS elementary schools.  Our families found CPS to be most disappointing and the entrance scores of in-coming Leo students who attended CPS schools reflect that opinion.

Leo High School. like other Catholic schools in the African American neighborhoods of Chicago, is refered to as a "Pay School."  That is the CPS anti-marketing meme, I believe. e.g. - "If Raheem does not attend CVS, or South Shore, Mrs. Smith, you'd need to send him to a Pay School!"

Mrs. Smith is more than willing pay for a Catholic School.

Read the articles on the two initiative by committed people and the means by which families trying to keep their noses above the mortgages, taxes, repairs, expenses and tuitions can get a Catholic education.

I will be telling you how Leo High School is going to offer a very sexy opportunity for a Leo Catholic Education over next couple of weeks.  We are going to show a bit more ankle than our pals Jim O'Connor, Tommy Zbierski and Josh Hale of the Big Shoulders.  As Leo President Dan McGrath says, "This is how we roll!"

Catholic schools keep God in play.  Catholic schools teach core values of family and citizenship without blush.  Catholic schools teach the consequences and rewards of behavior.    Our students behave in a manner that reflects credit on their families, their race and their religion -Catholic, Evangelical, Muslim, or Jewish.  

Catholic schools are not only about the costs, they are about the values.

Friday, August 24, 2012

Thank You Big Shoulders and Prof. Hank Perritt's Kent Law Students!

Professor Henry H. Perritt, Jr.

Kent Law Professor Hank Perritt,* a wildly accomplished gentleman, brought a score or more Kent Law Students to help gussy-up the grounds of Leo High School.

The Big Shoulders Fund's Amy Drozda and the venerable Tom Zbierski ( The Polish Lion!) reached out to these fine folks and Leo added a thick coat of black enamel to its parking lot fence and had two class-rooms painted as well while the Leo Student Body cut alley weeds, hauled out trash and gave the athletic weight rooms and locker-rooms a thorough going over.

The young law students  came from all over Chicago and from Kansas, Missouri and California. One young lady boarded the 79th Street Westbound at the end of the day.  There were five beautiful young ladies who had no problem getting right to work and knew the working end of rollers and brushes.  All of the students, Law and Leo, enjoyed themselves - they shot hoops in our iconic gym, hit the speed bag in the boxing room with Leo Man James Davis and learned Leo Lore from President Dan McGrath, who sent two Kent students to check in on me and inquire about my 'night terrors' and screaming, as I slumbered in my cubicle.

The He-Bull ramrod-ing these charitable exertions was Professor Hank Perritt.  The Leo Family thanks its pals from the Big Shoulders Fund and Kent Law School!  Hank can paint a fence.



Henry H. Perritt Jr.

Professor of Law and Director of the Graduate Program in Financial Services Law

Henry H. Perritt, Jr., is a professor of law at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law. He served as Chicago-Kent's dean from 1997 to 2002 and was the Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in the Tenth District of Illinois in 2002. Throughout his academic career, Professor Perritt has made it possible for groups of law and engineering students to work together to build a rule of law, promote the free press, assist in economic development, and provide refugee aid through "Project Bosnia," "Operation Kosovo" and "Destination Democracy."
Professor Perritt is the author of more than 75 law review articles and 17 books on international relations and law, technology and law, employment law, and entertainment law, including Digital Communications Law, one of the leading treatises on Internet law; Employee Dismissal Law and Practice, one of the leading treatises on employment-at-will; and two books on Kosovo:Kosovo Liberation Army: The Inside Story of an Insurgency, published by the University of Illinois Press, and The Road to Independence for Kosovo: A Chronicle of the Ahtisaari Plan, published by Cambridge University Press.
He is active in the entertainment field, as well, writing several law review articles on the future of the popular music industry and of video entertainment. He also wrote a 50-song musical about Kosovo, You Took Away My Flag, which was performed in Chicago in 2009 and 2010. A screenplay for a movie about the same story and characters has a trailer online and is being shopped to filmmakers. His two new plays, Airline Miles and Giving Ground, are scheduled for performances in Chicago in 2012. His novel, Arian, was published by Amazon.com in 2012. He has two other novels in the works.
He served on President Clinton's Transition Team, working on telecommunications issues, and drafted principles for electronic dissemination of public information, which formed the core of the Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments adopted by Congress in 1996. During the Ford administration, he served on the White House staff and as deputy under secretary of labor.
Professor Perritt served on the Computer Science and Telecommunications Policy Board of the National Research Council, and on a National Research Council committee on "Global Networks and Local Values." He was a member of the interprofessional team that evaluated the FBI's Carnivore system. He is a member of the bars of Virginia (inactive), Pennsylvania (inactive), the District of Columbia, Maryland, Illinois and the United States Supreme Court.
He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and served on the board of directors of the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, on the Lifetime Membership Committee of the Council on Foreign Relations, and as secretary of the Section on Labor and Employment Law of the American Bar Association. He is vice-president and a member of the board of directors of The Artistic Home theatre company, and is president of Mass. Iota-Tau Association, the alumni corporation for the SAE fraternity chapter at MIT.
Professor Perritt earned his B.S. in engineering from MIT in 1966, a master's degree in management from MIT's Sloan School in 1970, and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1975*

http://www.kentlaw.iit.edu/faculty/full-time-faculty/henry-h-perritt-jr

Thursday, August 23, 2012

The Big Shoulders Fund - The Real Deal: Catholic Schools for All



Today, Leo High School will welcome scores of volunteers shepherded by the staff of Chicago's Big Shoulders Fund.  The volunteers are law students from Chicago's Kent School of Law.  The boss shepherd will be Gordon Tech Alumnus and Big Shoulders director Tom Zbierski*.

CPS may very well begin the official school year with Teachers Strike.

Catholic schools, who continue to out perform public schools at every level, have been in session. Leo High School has been at it for the last two weeks.

The Big Shoulders Fund helps inner city families secure a Catholic Education. That education makes success an almost certainty - every graduate of Leo's Class of 2011 is in college.  Not every student wants or should go to college.  Catholic schools prepare young people for good paying careers in the skilled trades.  The skilled trades ( carpenters, electricians, pipe fitters, engineers) want to fill their apprenticeship slots with workers who know the stuff and show up for work.

Today, the volunteers will paint and help the Leo Family spruce up the old place.

The Big Shoulders Fund works 24/7.  Here is a splendid video of its mission and the young people it supports.



Get involved!

*For more than twenty three years, the Big Shoulders Fund has undertaken the responsibility of helping Chicago's inner-city children to achieve their dreams through access to a quality, values-based education.  However, we need your help to make this possible.  There are many ways to make a difference and we hope you will get involved.
  • Donate. Make a gift individually, as a family or through your company.
  • Participate. Attend our annual Lend a Shoulder Day where friends get a glimpse of what happens at the schools through visits, attending class and networking.
  • Mentor. Work directly with students. Mentors are placed whenever possible in the school of their own choosing or, if the mentor is able, where the need is the greatest. If you are interested in learning more about the mentoring opportunities, please contact Tom Zbierski, Director of School Relations at 312-751-8365 / tzbierski@bigshouldersfund.org.
  • Build. Join or create a Patron Advisory Board.  The Patrons Program is seeking bright, committed women and men to serve on Patron Advisory Boards.  Our schools are in need of professionals who are interested in contributing a small amount of their time and talent in the areas of marketing, accounting, fundraising, capital improvements, construction and technology. Individuals can be apart of these boards who are working to build a sustainable, vital future for Catholic schools in Chicago. If you are interested in learning more about joining a Patron Advisory Board, please contact John Moran, Director of the Patrons Program at 312-751-3897 / jmoran@bigshouldersfund.org.
  • Fundraise. Help plan the annual Big Shoulders Fund Golf Classic which raises essential scholarship funds to enable inner-city children to attend inner-city Catholic schools. We are always seeking new members for the Golf Classic committee. Dedicated volunteers from the civic and business community plan the event and solicit sponsors, auction items, donations and foursomes. For more information, to golf or to join in the committee, please contact Amy Drozda, Associate Director for Events and Publications at 312-751-3850 / adrozda@bigshouldersfund.org.
  • Join. Become a part of the Auxiliary Board which is designed to engage active and altruistic young professionals (20s through 40s). Members can be part of three committees: Fundraising, Outreach, and Schools.  Through these committees members are able to help plan fundraisers, volunteer with Big Shoulders schools and children, and work to increase the visibility of the Big Shoulders Fund and the Auxiliary Board, and recruit new members.  For more information or to join please contact Amy Drozda, Associate Director for Events and Publications at 312-751-3850 /adrozda@bigshouldersfund.org.
  • Serve. One-Day Opportunities We know that many people who want to lend a hand are very busy between family and work committments.  We have a variety of one day service opportunities including our events and Give Back Days. Not only are these great ways for you to give back, but they are a perfect way to bring a group together.  We extend the opportunity for service days to alumni groups, sharing parishes, companies and other clubs. The Big Shoulders Fund and the Auxiliary Board host Saturday morning service days every other month.  These events are held from 9am till noon at different schools around the city of Chicago.  If you are interested in joining us please contact Amy Drozda at 312-751-3850 or adrozda@bigshouldersfund.org.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Catholics Forward - The Big Shoulders Fund 25 Years of Success and Opportunity for Poor Kids


The Big Shoulders Fund supports Cardinal George's Lions at Leo High School!




Chicago has the largest Catholic school system in America, led by Francis Cardinal George and Sister Mary Paul McCaughey, O.P..  Catholic schools in Chicago save billions of tax-dollars for Illinois tax-payers.  Catholic schools cost money - cash money, hard dollars, the long-Green difference. The Big Shoulders Fund* is that long ( 25 Years and going strong) difference. The average Catholic grammar school tuition runs in the neighborhood of  $ 5,000 and a  high school cost sits between  $ 7,500 and $ 8,000 per student.


Catholic students receive a solid grounding in college prep course, but also a foundation in values absent in public education.  

Catholic schools focus on the values of faith, hope, love, and community. We talk openly about values and spend time each day giving children an opportunity to learn, share, and understand the consequences of good and bad behaviors. We believe in Jesus Christ and we have a feeling of grace that comes from our beliefs.
Can the school your child attends teach the sort of lessons that will help your child become a good and compassionate person? Is there a clear expectation that all children will be treated with respect by teachers and other students?
How a school handles these issues indicates whether the school is capable of reinforcing the values that you and other parents teach at home. Ultimately, we want your child to grow up to be a good and compassionate person, and we will do everything we can to help you raise your child in the right way. 


The Chicago media would have you believe that Chicago is and always has been a Secular City.  It is not and never has been.  Chicago is was and should be always a City of Faith - founded by French Catholics ( Monsieur Du Sable was a child of Rome).  The Chicago Tribune is and has been an anti-Catholic news organ.  Its editorial board and most of its columnists never give the Catholic Church and Catholics themselves short shrift.  Short shrift is a Catholic term by the way. It is an Anglo Saxon derivation of Latin Scribere(L) -scrifen (OE) -schriven -meaning to possess what has been written, or prescribed for forgiveness.


Back in the day and, yes, even today, Confession, or Penance, was the means by which one could be forgiven by the Church Universal - back in Communion.  My personal door to the Confessional swings like a saloon door on pay day.  I get shriven and then forgiven.  " See you soon, Hickey! Try to make it past the Holy Water font on the way out."

Too many comfortable Catholics are ashamed to be comfortable and Catholic, these days, because the only news about Catholics in the newspapers, especially Know Nothing Joe Medill's Tribune, is a Ha-Ha piece by the always smarmy Eric Zorn - today, ( Abort-Hissy Fit! Abort Hissy Fit!) it happens to be about a kid getting disciplined for a Tebow-moment during a Catholic high school graduation somewhere in this vast Republic of ours - or a Neo Theo Personal Jesus Was a Community Organizer and Abortion Friendly Nun by the loony Manya Brachear, not to be out-done by Bruce Dold, the disk-jockey-cum-editor of course, who regularly churns out chides to Cardinals and Catholics to abandon their Faith and evolve like Dick Durbin and Pat Quinn.

Catholics live under the radar in this media-propped Secular City. They live in neighborhoods defined by Catholic Parishes - St. Tommy More, St. Sabina's, Our Lady of Tepeyac & St. Columbanus. Catholics are civil servants, teachers, nurses, cops, firemen, skilled tradesmen, business leaders and tax-payers.  They pay twice - tuition that keeps taxes down and ever soaring taxes to pay for public education.

Catholics fund the tuition of Muslims, Jews, Protestants and even the children of atheists and agnostics who want their children educated. Catholics have always done that and will continue to do so until the day that laws promoted by the Tribune make that impossible.  That day is looming very quickly.  Catholics can still vote.

Tonight Catholics and people who understand that Chicago would still be a smoking pile of 1871 embers were it not for Catholics celebrate 25 years of really Big Shoulders


The Big Shoulders Fund will host a 25th Anniversary Dinner on Thursday, May 24, 2012 at the Chicago Hilton and Towers.The evening will honor all of the Big Shoulders' Champions with special recognition of the Founders. Dinner committee in formation.


      Founders of Big Shoulders Fund      Mr. James W. Compton
Sr. Mary Brian Costello, R.S.M.
Mr. Lester Crown
Mr. Ronald GidwitzMr. William McIntosh
Mr. Andrew J. McKenna Sr., founding Vice Chairman
Mr. James J. O’Connor, founding Chairman
Mr. Edmund A. Stephan (deceased)
Mr. Barry F. Sullivan
Mr. Arthur R. Velasquez

 Celebrate 25 Years of Carrying Children's Dreams
Celebrate your Faith.  Celebrate your history, not as Joe Medill, Eric Zorn, Bruce Dold and Manya Brachear would have you believe, but as it is, was and should be.

Esse quam Videre, Catholics.  Viva Cristo Rey!  Catholics Forward . . .while you can move.

*Mission StatementThe mission of the Big Shoulders Fund is to provide support to the Catholic schools in the neediest areas of inner-city Chicago.
Big Shoulders Fund is unique in that administrative expenses are supported by an endowment and other income which ensures all funds currently raised go toward programs that benefit the Big Shoulders Fund schools and the students they serve through scholarships, special education programs, instructional equipment, much-needed school facility improvements, faculty support, and operating grants.

http://schools.archchicago.org/Values/

 http://www.chitowndailynews.org/2009/03/02/Families-struggle-with-Catholic-school-tuition-23006.html
http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2012/05/abort-hissy-fit-abort-hissy-fit.html

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Warren Buffett! Warren! Mr. Buffett, Over Here! What Leo High School Could Do With Some Stimulus Money; Why Wait For a Tax.



"My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress," Mr. Buffett argued forcefully in a New York Times op-ed. "It's time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice." Wall Street Journal

Mr. Buffet! Over here. Mr. Buffett, no one gets coddled on 79th Street in Chicago.

Mr. Warren Buffett can not wait to be taxed heavily for being a very wealthy man. He and Bill Gates are two self-made men of the Horatio Alger Stripe. Bill Gates established the Gates Millennium Scholars one of whom is a Leo High School graduate of the Class of 2011 - Eder Cruz.

As a Gates Millennium Scholar, Eder Cruz can go to the college of choice, Valparaiso University in Indiana, and go on to any post-graduate work he chooses. Leo High School prepared Eder Cruz and afforded that fine, tough and thoughtful young man to be so blessed. Leo Alumni helped Eder's family meet the cost of the tuition here at Leo High School. Shared sacrifice is the path to success along with old Alger-ian Luck and Pluck.

Eder Cruz has pluck aplenty. He was the only non-African American in the student body for two of his three years at Leo. Eder chose Leo High School, following a disappointing freshman year at the Jesuit run Christo Rey College Prep in Pilsen - a school founded in the 1990's to serve Latinos. Eder chose Leo High School which was established to serve the Largely Irish Catholic neighborhood of Gresham in the 1920's. The Irish, Polish, Lithuanian, Italian and Croatian Catholics Alumni are still with Leo, physically present at every school event and overwhelmingly the pillar of this inner city school's finances. Between October 2010 and June 30,2011 Leo Graduates from the 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's 80's and the 90's supported Leo, a school of 150 inner city young men to tune of $ 846,000 and change.

Eder Cruz was Lucky to be taught and mentored by Ms. Aurora Latifi, an Albanian immigrant Math teacher here at Leo High School. It was Ms. Latifi who pushed Eder Cruz to apply for the Gates Millennium Scholarship. Luck and Pluck.

As some of you may have heard, the American economy has been less than robust since 2008. America's credit rating has been downgraded to AA. Nevertheless, the graduates of Leo High School Class of 2011 all are going to college across America.

Tuition drives Catholic education. In this economy, that drive is very bumpy. Tuition at Leo High School is $ 7,250, one of the lowest of all Catholic high schools. Most families apply or financial assistance. I venture to say that no family is a six figure family. Our five figure families annual income range sits between $ 15, 244 and $ 51, 763. Having one son attend Leo is challenge; have two or more is a financial crucifixion.

Most families opt to divvy up the full nut of tuition and pay, for one child $ 659 a month. That is a very low rent on a one bedroom apartment in Chicago.

We also are required to pay the staff, by the way. Aside from Mr. One Way Hickey, I venture to say that no teacher or coach makes anywhere near a princely stipend every two weeks and if that staff has a family must pay into the group Medical, retirement, the Fed, State and Medicare.

Without Catholic heroes like Chicago's Big Shoulders Fund, the Leo Alumni and our many friends of private and corporate Chicago, things would be much tougher.

Leo High School prepares young men.

Last week Warren Buffet challenged President Obama to tax the super rich like himself.

Here's a challenge, Mr. Buffet. Invest in Leo High School. I have been asking Oprah to help since 1995. We have been doing a great job without a Superstar Sponsor; imagine what the young men from the toughest neighborhoods and financial challenges in Chicago could do with a little stimulus dough? Hold the phone!

Leo High School will always be a working man's, lunch bucket high school. It is not St. Ignatius College Prep, nor is it a Whitney Young. No young man is turned away. The Leo Alumni, or the Big Shoulders Fund's Jim O'Connor will find a way to get the money to help.

This educational product is time tested. Some of the lunch bucket sons of Leo went on to become the Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court - Tom Fitzgerald, or leaders of the Church like Bishop John Gorman, heroic and legendary firefighters like retired Chicago Fire Commissioner James Joyce, or Superintendent of Chicago Police -, the late James Conlisk, captains of commerce like African American Food Industry CEO Michael Thompson, and Chicago philanthropists and CEOs Frank Considine, Bill Kay, Andy McKenna and Don Flynn.

Warren Buffet and other great Americans should not wait for America to tax them; they should join the ranks of the Lions who continue to invest in young men who want to succeed.

Leo High School costs Warren Buffet not nickel one. We get no tax dollars. If Mr. Buffet wants to invest his surplus capital.

Write a Magnificent Check out to Leo High School and send it care of Dan McGrath, President for Institutional Advancement at

Leo High School
7901 S. Sangamon Street
Chicago, IL 60620

This will be a stimulus that will not go to waste. If you wish to chew me out for my presumption give me a growl at

Pat Hickey -Development Director
(773) 224-9600 ex. 208

Mr. Buffett, or any other captain of industry with surplus capital, let's make medicine!


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904070604576514903799140840.html

Thursday, May 26, 2011

And Palms Before My Feet: Leo Boxers Eat With George Foreman


This donkey needs a shave, a shower and a financial bail-out - too blessed to fail.

Where do I begin? Hours ago!

It was a stormy day outside of Leo High School. Within it was cheery and warm with anticipation of the upcoming evening's fete at Harry Caray's on Kinzie with two-time Heavyweight Boxing Champ, 1968 Olympic Gold Medalist, Minister of Christ, Entrepreneur, and philanthropist George Foreman.

While winds and rain buffeted 79th Street, Leo High School was warm with academic, athletic shoulders to the wheel and much anticipation. The Big Shoulders Fund and the Boxing Brokers invited Mike Joyce's Leo Boxing Team to share steaks with George Foreman at Harry Caray's. Not only that, but the Track Team was heading down to the State Meet.

Leo's track team departed for the IHSA State Track meet at 11:30 AM. Track coach and Leo AD Ed Adams handed me a key to a vehicle. Off they went with shouts of beefy good-fellowship and God Speed.

At 5 PM, Asst. Boxing Coach Marquis Ball arrived and we inspected the nicely decked-out squad of boxers - Shirts and Ties all. Marquis offered to drive and I handed him the key. Me and the boxers followed the big Leo Alumnus and future Chicago Police Officer out to the motor pool. The vans were gone. There was one of a trio of 22 passenger bus into which this key fit and worked - it was a real pig -last used by the track team in April. With a cloud of white smoke, we wandered away from the warmth of Leo High School toward cold steel and glass of the Loop. Nice ride on the Dan Ryan Expressway.

Marquis pulled in front of Harry Caray's and handed the key to the young Mexican American Valet. We were greeted and directed up to the George Foreman Event. This dinner is prelude to tonight's charity boxing night at Chicago's House of Blues -BBF The Broker Boxing Foundation.

George Foreman charged up to greet us and warmly pressed the flesh with the Leo Boxers. "Come on up and let's get our pictures taken!" We all all got into the ring with the most menacing and happy man on the planet. I put my tiny dukes up with the Champ and the camera man, Mr. Nixon the event's chairman, snapped a shot.

No sooner had I stepped away, than the sober and serious baby-faced Marquis Ball, a man in the image and likeness of George Foreman softly whispered "Transmission's shot.The bus is stuck."

I went down to the lobby and the manager told me, "The bus will not move."

Thanks be to God! We were here anyway. Think Mule. Call for a tow. I did. Call for a limo to get the guys back to Leo. The manager contacted a service. Done. Hickey you are one get-it-done Donkey. Steak Time!

Nope. No sooner had I eyed the fried ravioli cascading over Marquis Ball's plate, than I got a call from the Towing Service. " I'll be there at 7:30 you gotta ride with me - Oh, and it's cash only because my boss has the truck with the card swipe."

No Sweat! I went down to the Harry Caray ATM and took out . . . limited to $ 200. The tow was going to cost $ 245 minimum it will be more believe it Esse. Well I had close to a yard on me - $ 84 and change.

The manager again. " Mr. Hickey, the limo will cost $ 145 minimum in cash." Do the math, Mule. Back to the ATM - command;English;Yes to $2.00 Fee; Receipt? You Bet! Mercifully, the ATM though limited to maximum take-out of $ 200 allowed me to extract another two yards from my checking account and there was enough in the balance thanks to my modest 2010 Tax Return.

Another phone call. "Mr. Hickey, you gotta come along with me in the tow to tell me where to place the bus. I'll be there soon."

Marquis and the boxers would return to Leo, having sated themselves with steak and spoon vitals, and take the limo home.

At 7:35 the tow truck arrived and shook hands with my shipmate Rico, a Puerto Rican kid from Pilsen who now lives in Evanston and drives for a towing company in Skokie.

We had a great talk on the way south about boxing, being a kid, Roberto Clemente High School, Leo High School, and thanking God that at least the bus arrived in front of Harry Caray's.

We put the bus in the lot north of 79th Street, because it was pouring rain and there were no other vehicles in the lot. I paid Rico and duked him $25. I was getting soaked . . .by the rain. The tow was more than fair.

I opened the padlock on the gate of the faculty lot on Sangamon, crossed over to Leo and went around to east entrance and let my self into the school vestibule and waited. By the time the Limo with the kids and Marquis arrived, it was 9:45 PM.

The kids all had autographed pictures of themselves with George Foreman. I got a hot one of the team with George and the actor Martin Klebba - he is the dwarf from Pirates of the Caribbean. This one will belong to the school.

God is good.


This donkey knows.





THE DONKEY
G.K. Chesterton

When fishes flew and forests walked
And figs grew upon thorn,
Some moment when the moon was blood
Then surely I was born;

With monstrous head and sickening cry
And ears like errant wings,
The devil's walking parody
On all four-footed things.

The tattered outlaw of the earth,
Of ancient crooked will;
Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,
I keep my secret still.

Fools! For I also had my hour;
One far fierce hour and sweet:
There was a shout about my ears,
And palms before my feet.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Leo High School Boxers to Meet George Foreman and The Big Shoulders of Chicago



The Big Shoulders Fund of Chicago has boosted thousands of inner city kids up through the financial ropes and put them toe-to-toe with success in Catholic Schools. You can not get into the ring without some help.

The Big Shoulders Fund was started by a 79th Street guy by the name of James O'Connor. Jim O'Connor was the CEO of ComEd, when it did not hammer citizens with utility bills. Jim O'Connor was the man who built the nuclear power plants that generated cheap, affordable power to Illinois citizens in Chicago and northern suburbs. Jim O'Connor wanted kids from 79th Street, 63rd Street, 55th Street, along Archer Ave., North Ave., Milwaukee Ave., and Irving Park Road to have the opportunity to attend Catholic Schools. Catholic Schools prepared Jim O'Connor to become a successful, caring and giving citizen.

The Big Shoulders Fund works year round to scare up funds, assist schools with budgeting plans, leadership plans and operational efficiency. The Big Shoulders Fund is the cut-man for the Office of Catholic Schools.

Tonight, the Leo Boxing Team will attend a dinner honoring George Foreman and the George Foreman Foundation at Harry Caray's restaurant. Most of our boxers have never been to Harry Caray's. In fact, many of these kids never really see much of Chicago beyond the few square miles that comprise their neighborhoods and Leo High School.

Leo High School is on 79th Street a few blocks east of Jim O'Connor's boyhood home on Marshfield Street. Jim O'Connor knows Leo High School. The Big Shoulders Fund has helped Leo families meet the costs of an education at this school, since the early 1990's. Thanks to that commitment and support, Leo High School makes a difference in the lives of young men. One method of life preparation outside of the classroom is the Boxing Room on the school's second floor. This facility was built with the help from State Representative Mary Flowers, Irish Boxing Trainers Martin and Oliver McGarry, Mexican American Middleweight and contractor JC Gutierrez and attorney, Leo Alumnus, Advisory Board Member, Hall of Fame Inductee and Leo Man of the Year 2011 Mike Joyce.

Since 1999, Mike Joyce has trained Leo High School boxers to fight in the methods developed by Constantine "Cos" D'Amato -the peek-a-boo approach style of boxing, where the hands are placed in front of the boxers face for more protection.

Protect yourself in the ring and in life. Cos D'Amato trained Floyd Paterson,Jose Torres and Mike Tyson. Mike Joyce trained thirteen Golden Gloves champions, the captain of Team USA, Lamar Fenner and Superheavyweight Thomas Hayes. Leo Boxers also became the scholar/athletes any school would envy. Boxer Eder Cruz is Leo's 2011 Gates Millennium Scholar.

A man who came from a tough environment, boxed for America and won the Gold Medal in Mexico at 1968 Olympics, and won two Heavyweight Championships, turned his life over to Christ and helped others develop the life worth living - a life of giving.

George Foreman has the shoulders to match the Big Shoulders Fund and those of Jim O'Connor. Tonight ten Leo Boxers will have the opportunity share their life stories with people who know what life is all about - James O'Connor and George Foreman.

Saturday, May 01, 2010

Support Big Shoulders and 1st Annual Field Day on June 19th!








The Big Shoulders Fund supports inner city Chicago Catholic schools - you know, the schools that help make kids successful and save tax-payers millions of dollars.

Chicago is a Catholic city and catholic city - Catholics comprise the largest demographic and universally help to make this city greater, safer and more dignified. Go to the list of directors for any 501(c)3 civic, educational or cultural organization and you will see the same names - Catholics. Chicago Jews and Catholics seem to dominate Chicago charitabale initiatives, in fact Chicago Jews have some of the broadest shoulders in the Big Shoulders Fund.

This year Josh Hale, Tom Zbierski and the great Jim O'Connor ( Little Flower Parish Alumnus and St. Iggy Grad) are hosting the 1st Annula Field BSF Day at De La Salle Institute.


Our first annual Field Day offers the unique opportunity to raise funds for scholarships, education programs, school, facility improvements, and faculty support while participating in fun events alongside students and faculty of Big Shoulders schools who benefit from your generosity. Make a difference in the lives of children in your community!

When:
Saturday, June 19, 2010

Where:
De La Salle High School (3434 S. Michigan Avenue)

Time:
9:00 am Registration
10:00am - 1:00pm Event

What:
Team competitions include: balloon toss, pass and punt contest, academic challenges, relays and more. One team will take home the Big Shoulders Fund Field Day trophy!

Cost:
$1,000 for a team of 4 with a partner school
$200 for a team of 4 without a partner school
$55 individual participant


Register online today or complete the registration form and mail to:Â

Field Day Committee
309 West Washington St.
Suite 550
Chicago, Illinois 60606

Download a complete sponsorship opportunity listing or contact the Big Shoulders Fund with questions at 312-751-3850 or adrozda@bigshouldersfund.org.


Big Shoulders Fund Field Day is brought to you by:


Stretch your legs and yank a pinch of greenbacks out of your wallets!

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Catholic Schools Work for the Kids Who Attend Them - School Choice Needs Town Halls


My youngest, Clare, begins her high school experience next week at Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School - the largest all-girls school in America. Clare graduated from St. Cajetan Grammar School in our Morgan Park Neighborhood. Her girlfriends are going to Mother McAuley, Marist, St. Ignatius and St. Francis of Assisi. The boys are going to Mount Carmel, St. Rita, Marist and Brother Rice. White, Black and Hispanic - they are going to Catholic High Schools.

Mother McAuley costs about $ 8,000 and change with tuition and fees each year and most of the other schools round out about the same with St. Ignatius Prep topping the crowd with its menu. The path to success is expensive - very expensive, because Catholic schools encourage not just participation but full immersion in activities that strengthen the moral, civic and religious virtues. Kids like Clare become Catholic League Athletes - cheerleaders, football, basketball, baseball, volleyball, Lacrosse, Rugby players, wrestlers, as well as track and distance runners. They work on Dramatic, Choral, Polyphonic productions as musicians, singers, actors, stage hands, lighting technicians and even crowd control. Life skills and people skills are part of benefits pad for in time, treasure and talent.

Catholic Schools Superintendent Sister Mary Paul McCaughey works, from what I can tell to be, a fifteen to twenty hour day bringing people of talent and treasure together in order to squeeze out some time for Catholic Schools. James O'Connor, Josh Hale and Tom Zbierski of the Big Shoulders Fund are shepherding millions of dollars in gifts so that any family wishing to commit to Catholic Schools can afford to do just that. This genuine commitment is learned when people are young.

The kids in Catholic Schools learn stewardship and the value of a buck, as most of them also try to find part-time jobs to help the Old Man and the Old Lady, one or other, or both, to meet tuition and expenses costs.

Kids learn what it means to do without - tonier vacations for the family, Gold-Cable Packages, water-sport toys, and time in front of the Idiot Box (TV) or thumbing the controls of X-Box and Text-messaging appartii.

The investment in Catholic Schools is a community forming activity that is in fact an extension of the Parish Life - we are responsible for each other. The Best example of this reality is Chicago's Big Shoulder Fund that provides millions of dollars in aid to inner city families who can not afford the cost of Catholic Schools.

I work at Leo High School that is 99.9% funded by white Leo Alumni who are graduates of that school from the 1930's, '40's, 50's. 60's, 70's and 80's. Leo has been 100% African American since the 1990's; however, men like Frank Considine ( '39) Bill Koloseike ('45), Andy McKenna & Dick Landis ('47), Tom Owens ('54), Don Flynn ('56), Joe Powers ( '70) and Bob Schemel ('71) have contributed millions of dollars to Leo High School over the years. The real miracle beyond these gargantuan sums from the very succesful great guys named above are the endless drops of $50, $100,$500, $ 1,000 and above by hundreds of Leo Men, who also open the doors of the 1926 School at 5:30 a.m. and tutor the kids for A.C.T. and S.A.T. prep like Denny Conway and Jack O'Keefe, or fill the bleachers at every event like Bob Hylard, Frank McDermott, Bill and Jack Farnan, Jim Farrell, Rich and Jim Furlong, Gene Earner and all of his many sons, Dan Stecich, Larry Lynch, Tom Lynch and . . . you get the idea.

Catholic Schools make a better America and very good Americans. Catholic Schools are the Original Gangsters* (The OGs) of Faith Based Initiatives. Catholic Schools are unapologtically Catholic and teach without bowing to the 'Tyranny of Relativism,' to quote the Pope, which has had all Public Education in a Full Nelson Head-lock for decades. Catholc Schools teach from a position of Faith and that Faith is rooted in unshakeable truths - You don't steal, you don't kill, you don't lie, you don't sleep around like an HBO hero, you don't forget that you are obligated to other people. That's Commitment.

An interesting fact from a recent study noted that Catholics who attend Catholic schools tended to remain married to the same partners for life. Catholics don not find ease and comfort in the Faith but endurance and charity. Charity means hard work and developing a big set of shoulders.

The Big Shoulders Fund is rooted in the Courage and Commitment that was developed in and around Catholic Schools. The money available to inner-city families did not get there by Osmosis.

Real School Reform depends upon the vitality of Catholic Schools. Catholic Schools offer competition -if not accountability.

When politicians and hand-wringing activists and think-tank agendanistas get wise to themselves they will see that Catholic Schools are the hub of genuine Reform. Ask Paul Vallas, who succeeded in Chicago by following the Catholic School gradus and took those reform victories to Philly and New Orleans.


Americans need to demand Town halls on Real Reform in Education. If you think Health Care is a concern, hold the phone on Education Reform!

Click my post title and commit to Catholic Schools.

Here are some findings on Catholic Schools by the Rand Corporation that are being forgotten:


In a study published in 1990,. . .the Rand Corporation analyzed big-city high schools to determine how education for low income minority youth could be improved.2 It looked at 13 public, private, and Catholic high schools in New York City that attracted minority and disadvantaged youth. Of the Catholic school students in these schools, 75 to 90 percent were black or Hispanic. The study found that:


The Catholic high schools graduated 95 percent of their students each year, while the public schools graduated slightly more 50 percent of their senior class;


Over 66 percent of the Catholic school graduates received the New York State Regents diploma to signify completion of an academically demanding college preparatory curriculum, while only about 5 percent of the public school students received this distinction;


85 percent of the Catholic high school students took the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), compared with just 33 percent of the public high school students;


The Catholic school students achieved an average combined SAT score of 803, while the public school students' average combined SAT score was 642; and


60 percent of the Catholic school black students scored above the national average for black students on the SAT, and over 70 percent of public school black students scored below the same national average.
More recent studies confirm these observations. As parents, politicians, and concerned observers become aware of the benefits of Catholic schooling, particularly for the poor, the rhetoric demanding action builds. Syndicated columnist William Raspberry, a self-described "Reluctant Convert to School Choice," wrote recently, "It seems as obvious for poor children as for rich ones that one-size-fits-all education doesn't make sense."3 Furthermore, according to a recent survey conducted by Terry Moe, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, and John Chubb, founding partner and curriculum director for the Edison Project, a stunning 83 percent of public school parents and 82 percent of inner-city poor parents want parochial schools to be included in the choice of schools to which they can send their children.4

http://www.heritage.org/research/urbanissues/bg1128.cfm

That was in 1990, boys and girls and public schools have performed much worse, while Catholic Schools continue perform so much better.

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/17413589.html?dids=17413589:17413589&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Aug+08%2C+1996&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=BORROWING+SUCCESS+IN+THE+SCHOOLS&pqatl=google

*OG - Urba Dictionary
An Original Gangsta or Original Gangster.
Yo, What up OG? What's good in tha hood? Catholic School, Tru Dat.