St John Paul II Catholic High School

Our vision is a modest but highly functional building with future growth worked into the plans. We have secured $2.5 million toward this project, including a $1.6 million pledge from the Archdiocese of San Antonio. Due to the current economic conditions brought on by the pandemic, and in order to stay competitive with surrounding publicly funded high schools, we believe time is of the essence to deliver a functional space for our student athletes. Therefore, we have designed the gymnasium to be accomplished in three phases. Our immediate desire is to break ground in the spring of 2021 on Phase I, which will include the entire foundation as well as the complete finish out of the gymnasium and front lobby. Phase II will include the metal building shell over the locker room and weight room, Finally, Phase III will include the finish out of the locker room and weight room to be situated behind the gym. Phase I is estimated at $3.5 million and Phase II & III are estimated at a combined $1.0 million.

In order to break ground, we are focusing our current fundraising efforts on the $990,000 necessary to close the gap for Phase 1. We are actively engaging our community and individual donors with various giving opportunities. However, these are challenging times. We humbly appeal to The John G. and Marie Stella Kenedy Memorial Foundation, to contribute $100,000 to the “Building A Home For John Paul II” campaign that we may reach our goal of funding a critically necessary gymnasium. With your help, we will be one step closer to our vision for a facility that will have a great and far reaching impact on the physical health as well as the spiritual health of our students and surrounding community.

Our “Final Push” campaign is currently active with a focus on our school community. We are asking each family to contribute what they can to bridge this gap. Our families have been responsive, but due to these unprecedented times, we can not expect the burden to fall solely on their shoulders. Therefore, we are also engaging in-kind donors for construction services. We have secured $500,000 in in-kind services and have identified at least an additional $100,000 that we believe to be available.

There will be no debt on this project, so the remaining gap of approximately $490,000 will need to be secured through grants and additional value engineering on the project. We have worked tirelessly to insure a modest, efficient space that still meets our needs, so we know there is very little room for cost savings. Therefore, we are seeking the support of foundations, such as The John G. and Marie Stella Kenedy Memorial Foundation, that value and understand the plight of Catholic education in today’s culture. We believe foundations such as yours share our mission to continue the legacy of educating our children in the traditions of our faith as well as preparing them to be productive and conscientious citizens.

We currently rent both practice facilities and competition spaces for our home games. The completion of the gym will be a significant savings to the school, even after factoring in ongoing operational and maintenance expenses. In addition to our savings, we will be able to earn rental revenue, admission fees, concession revenue and tournament fees from outside entities because we believe this gym will not only provide for our school and its students, but will serve as a beacon in our greater community, allowing us to share our mission both today and for generations to come.

We are pleased to share that we have been gathering the right team and tools to complete the project well and with efficiency. Our advancement director, Kim Lehmann Gonzalez, has been on our team for three years now, and has worked with the building board both with our projects and those at her parish. She came to us from private industry (specifically real estate development). We have hired an independent consultant to serve as an independent owner representative to insure that the school’s best interest is at the forefront of all decisions. We have been actively engaging with local municipalities, the Schertz City Manager and their team, New Braunfels Utilities, Guadalupe Valley Water, and TXDoT to ensure a smooth building timeline.

Specifically to date: we have finished our design development phase and have proceeded to final construction drawings. We have engaged professional engineering services to complete civil engineering work, and have selected an Archdiocese-approved general contractor.

We have secured a major donor of in-kind work that has given us the confidence to engage in the design and planning process. This donor and partner will be providing the foundation concrete and accompanying site work for the gym. And just as significantly, he has served as an excellent consult throughout the last nine months. The Holy Spirit brought him to us, most certainly. In addition, we have worked on a multi-phased approach to building, to allow for a quicker delivery in an effort to inspire hope during these unprecedented times as well as better donor engagement. We are through this letter proposing an additional phasing breakdown to our planning.

Specifically to date: we have finished our design development phase and have proceeded to final construction drawings. We have engaged professional engineering services to complete civil engineering work, and have selected an Archdiocese-approved general contractor. We have raised the funds necessary to start phase 1a in February of 2021.