Community rallies, raising $65K for school boiler

 
To say members of Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Methuen and the community at large have responded overwhelmingly at a time of need is an understatement … to the tune of more than $65,000 and counting! 

When the boiler at the former St Augustine School in Lawrence failed unexpectedly Jan.11, OLGC Pastor Gregory Vozzo put out an urgent plea for help on Facebook to raise $25,000 toward the more than $100,000 needed for its replacement. The school is used as a preschool and kindergarten, and OLGC utilizes the space for activities and sports programs.

Within two weeks, the parish exceeded its goal with $25,325 in donations. As of Feb. 25, Our Lady of Good Counsel had raised $65,630.

“It’s been incredible. It’s far more than I expected and I’m so grateful,” said Father Gregory, who joined the parish last summer. “It was very reassuring and heartwarming to see people respond very quickly and generously.”

Another overwhelming response was the close-to-200 people who attended a spaghetti dinner Feb 24 to raise money for the boiler fund. 

Chris Belzile and his wife Imelda – renowned in the parish for their culinary skills – cooked 28 pounds of pasta, 10 gallons of spaghetti sauce and 25 pounds of meatballs … and still ran out of food. 

It almost brought Barbara Dimmock, who organized the dinner with Geralyn Friedrich and others, to tears. 

“I knew people would come, but I never expected it in a million years that it would be so successful,” Dimmock said. 

Parishioners decided to have the supper after Father Gregory talked about the financial need. Our Lady of Good Counsel worships out of St. Theresa Church on Plymouth Street and St. Augustine Shrine in Lawrence. 

As soon as plans for the pasta event started, people were volunteering their time as well as donating the spaghetti, bread, salad and all the fixings, meaning all the proceeds from the supper and the sale of raffle tickets for gift baskets went directly toward the boiler fund. 

The Al and Tom Hit Parade provided the musical entertainment. 

Since announcing the boiler replacement, Father Gregory said donations have come from parishioners who hail from Methuen, Dracut, Salem, N.H., the City of Lawrence as well as St. Augustine School alumni.

St. Augustine School merged with St. Patrick School in 2010 to become Lawrence Catholic Academy on Salem Street, Lawrence. The old school building is leased to Lawrence Family Public Academy as a pre-K and kindergarten. Our Lady of Good Counsel uses it for faith formation activities and basketball tournaments. 

Replacing the boiler was costly because it has 13 sections, each weighing 1,000 pounds, which required special equipment to move them. Its malfunctioning was the second major repair Our Lady of Good Counsel has incurred in the last seven months. Father Gregory said two large pipes running through Judson Hall at the St. Augustine property leaked and had to be repaired. 

The fund-raising efforts is also aimed at reducing the parish debt, expanding the community and increasing the parish’s efforts to help neighbors, Father Gregory said.

“Raising money is all well and good, but being able to bring people together for fellowship has an even bigger value,” Father Gregory said as he looked at the crowd in DuPerry Hall talking and eating together. 

Father Gregory said a short-term goal is to increase visibility at St. Theresa Church with signage and increased security so the church can be open for personal prayers.