March 8, 2020

Cultivating Our Future:  Pledge Weekend March 14/15

Pledge weekend for the Cultivating Our Future capital campaign is March 14/15.  A few moments from Mass will be taken to “give thanks to God for the commitments made to this campaign.  You can bring your pledge card to any of the Masses that weekend, mail them to the parish office or put them in the offertory.”

This $1.6 million dollar two-year campaign has three goals:

1. Provide for Our Children a physical environment conducive to student learning, with upgrades to the heating and cooling systems at our school.
2. Sustain Our Mission through ongoing facility upgrades to provide more hospitable and efficient spaces for our current parishioners and future families.
3. Build Our Community by expanding and supporting our ministries and missions in the Quad-Cities.

Brochures mailed to each household and available by clicking HERE  and pamphlets in the parish bulletin and sent home in backpack mail provide the details of each area.  The most critical and first area to be addressed is the heating and cooling systems at JFK, and we hope to have a new HVAC system in place for the older parts of the building by fall.

If you have questions about our projects or the campaign after receiving the information, please contact Fr. Jake,  any member of the Finance or Parish Councils, or me.  Pledges as of March 6th were already $250,000!

Thank you in advance for your financial support and prayers as we move together in Cultivating Our Future.

Plant Sale

JFK is partnering again with Janet’s Jungle to offer a way to beautify your yard all while supporting our JFK school.
We offer a beautiful selection of annuals, perennials, and vegetables, including several baskets and planters, at very reasonable prices! This is perfect timing for buying early for Mother’s Day, Teacher Appreciation Week, and for getting all your flowers and vegetables for your garden, patio, or yard.  The sale runs through April 6th. Pickup will be April 30th and May 1st from 2pm-7pm in the Parish Center. Purchases can be made online by clicking PLANT SALE, using the link/url, or http://www.janetsjungle.com/davenport-jfkcatholicschool.html or via the order form that went home with students.  Extra forms are available in the school office.

COVID-19

With concerns about COVID-19 in the U.S. rising, we are working with the state and county health departments and diocese to review our plans.  Situations can change fairly rapidly as well so make sure you stay attuned to new information.  Between the time the diocese disseminated a bulletin insert for this past weekend outlining things that might change at Masses and the time of the actual weekend Masses, we were directed to actually implement some of the possible changes.

Prevention measures for COVID-19 are the same as for other influenza circulating currently:

• Cover your coughs and sneezes with a tissue or your upper arm/elbow.
• Wash hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom, before eating, and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing.
• If soap and water are not readily available, use an appropriate hand sanitizer, preferably one with a 60%-95% alcohol concentration.  (At school, we are working to increase the availability and use of hand sanitizer.)
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.
• Avoid sharing cups, water bottles, and utensils.
• Regularly clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces and objects.  (At school, we are examining if there are ways to increase our regular cleaning and disinfecting in both common and classroom areas.)
• Stay home when ill.  The following is from our handbook:  “Parents should keep their children at home if they are ill.  Students should be fever free for 24 hours and fully recovered from any illness before returning to school.  A fever is defined as a temperature at 100 degrees or above when not using medication to lower the temperature.  A student will be excluded from school when the student’s condition has been determined to be contagious to others or if the student is too ill to do his/her work.  These conditions would include fever, diarrhea, pink eye, rashes, vomiting, and non-allergy causing runny nose or coughing spasms prohibiting the child from being able to do his/her work, etc.”
• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

It is important to prepare for the potential of COVID-19 as you would for severe weather or other events that could disrupt your normal routine.  What would you do if:

• you could not go to work due to your illness or if your workplace closed?
• your child is ill or becomes ill during the day?
• your daycare provider is ill or has to close?
• school is closed? Closed for a week or longer?
• you need to get groceries but are ill?

Changes to Mass have already begun, and these will continue with all school Masses.  The most noticeable change at school Masses is that the sign of peace will be omitted.

Routine use of prevention measures and preparing for some of the above possibilities will increase our readiness for any disease situation.

Tuition Contracts Mailed This Week

Tuition contracts for the 2020-21 school year will be mailed this week.  The sooner they, and the discounted registration fee, are returned, the better our planning for next school year will be.

Highlighted Upcoming Events

Mar 12:  Home & School Mtg

Mar 13:  Green/White Dress Day

Mar 14/15:  Cultivating Our Future Pledge Weekend

Mar 16-20:  Spring Break.  No Classes.  ECLC Open.

Mar 23:  Classes Resume

OLV parish bulletin:  Click HERE or use the following link/url: https://www.olvjfk.com/olv/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/March-8-2020.pdf

And Then That One Time in Band Camp…

For the past week, I’ve been battling a flare up of bursitis in my shoulder.  Bursitis is the inflammation of a bursa sac near the joint.  I had a twinge about ten days ago and then painted all last Saturday.  I think the painting did me in.  It also brought back memories of the first time I dealt with shoulder bursitis — during “marching band season” when I was in high school.

In South Milwaukee, WI, where I grew up, marching band was HUGE.  Every weekend during the summer, we would perform in one or two parades throughout southeast WI and northern IL.  We marched during Port Washington’s Fish Days, Sheboygan’s Bratwurst Festival, and the South Shore Water Frolics.  If July 4th was on a weekend, it wasn’t uncommon for us to march in five parades in three days.  We were also the WI state champion marching band several years in a row.  While I suppose it seems kind of cheesy, (yes, I also was in a trumpet trio that did fanfares for each winning type of cheese at the WI Cheese Festival), it led to some great experiences, including being at a football bowl game and marching in at least two locally televised and one nationally televised parade.  I have many great memories from marching band, and it was a great way to spend the summers.  I’d tell you what happened during band camp, but we were too busy to ever have camp!

Chad