Cathedral Campaign Continues to Gain Momentum

SPRINGFIELD — The Cathedral High School (CHS) campaign for tuition assistance has passed another milestone. Recently, the campaign exceeded 2,000 pledges, triggering the second $500,000 challenge gift from Michele Gaudette D’Amour (’69) and her husband, Donald D’Amour.

As of Dec. 19, in the 10 months since the campaign actively began, a total of $3,653,646 has been pledged or donated. Of that amount, $2,653,646 has been designated for the Cathedral Endowment Fund for Tuition Assistance. In addition, the MassMutual Insurance Co., in recognition of the important role that Cathedral plays in the local economy, awarded the school $500,000 for tuition assistance, payable over five years.

MassMutual was joined by BusinessWest Publisher John Gormally (’78), who also has made a donation of $500,000, half of which is earmarked for tuition assistance, with the other half designated for faculty support.

The Cathedral Endowment Fund for Tuition Assistance has been established as a long-term endowment, seeking a stable investment return to provide annual tuition assistance. In addition to the $2.6 million in endowment pledged and donated to date through the campaign, pre-existing endowment funds total $679,980. This means that the potential total of endowment funds would now exceed $3.3 million. Kickstarting the campaign were the D’Amours, who made a leadership gift of $500,000 along with two challenge gifts of $500,000 each. This brings their total campaign contribution to $1.5 million.

“Clearly all constituents in the Greater Springfield community have demonstrated how important Cathedral High School is to the community at large,” said Michele D’Amour. “As we continue this momentum, I am confident we can easily meet the $10 million endowment challenge. I feel confident that God’s loving hand will guide us in our work toward providing our children the opportunity for a faith-filled, top-notch education in a new, state-of-the-art facility in the near future.”

Cathedral High School President Ann Southworth also expressed gratitude for the response to date. “We are extremely grateful to all who have supported Cathedral’s need for tuition assistance in the past, as well as those who will donate in the future,” she said. “Already this campaign has led to almost doubling the amount of tuition assistance that we are able to provide. We went from $262,595 last year to $418,420 this year. The increased amount means the difference between serving 65 students last year and 107 students this year. By donating, you can help us keep Cathedral’s wonderful education open to all who wish to come.”