Can you believe that Collier County Schools begin again on Monday, August 19? That is only two weeks from this coming Monday. Since most people associate the beginning of the school year with the end of summer, one could surmise that we have only two weeks of summer remaining. Is it possible that our summer is already over? I thought it was only just beginning! Even though public schools are resuming shortly, I refuse to recognize this as the end of summer and will instead defer to the Labor Day Holiday as the true end of summer. Or better yet, we could use the Autumnal equinox as an end date and postpone the true end of summer to September 22. Summer in Naples simply isn’t what it used to be! In year’s past, I would complete a plethora of unfinished tasks left over from season during the summer. Now, I am happy if I can keep everything in order to prepare for the onslaught in fall. With that said, we have spent the summer planning for some exciting developments to take place this coming season. Stay tuned for further details.
If you paid close attention to the consolidated financial statement in the bulletin last week, you would have noticed that gross revenue for our “Divine Gift Boutique” increased
113% over the same period last year. As you know, Jackie Gibson (Divine Gift Boutique Manager) was brought on board last summer to fill a vacant management position. Jackie brought with her over 30 years of experience in merchandising as she owned two Hallmark Stores in Michigan before retiring to Florida. After taking over, Jackie revamped the layout in the boutique and immediately engaged in a several new product lines. What she has done with such a small space is beyond amazing. As a result of her success, we are expanding the Divine Gift Boutique. The Altar Server’s Room which is adjacent to the gift boutique will soon become part of the gift boutique. We are currently in the process of modifying the sacristy (see pictures) to allow space for the altar servers. Once this modification is completed, the wall separating the gift boutique from the old Altar Servers room will be demolished, giving Jackie an additional 150 square feet to sell her wares and giving prospective customers a little extra room to move around. Fr. John recently joked with Jackie suggesting that she will sell anything. In response, Jackie told Fr. John that if he wasn’t careful, she would sell the vestments right off of his back. And for the right price, I bet that she would! I am eagerly awaiting this transformation and excited to see if Jackie can replicate her past success with the new expanded space. Considering that she recognized an increase of over 100% this year, we won’t hold her to the fire to duplicate those results.
Did you take a look at the CFA summary on the opposite page? We are officially less than $100,000.00 away ($96,281.00 to be exact) from reaching our goal with approximately five months remaining in the appeal. In addition, we are $73,419.00 ahead of where we stood at this same point in time last year. This is great news considering that we exceeded our goal last year by $60,000.00. And yes, that entire $60,000.00 was returned to the parish free of assessment. Thank you so much for your continued support of the Catholic Faith Appeal.
Have you visited our memorial garden recently? Surrounded by a beautiful and very thick Ficus hedge on the Southwest side of the church, many would not even know this garden exists and believe it or not, some of our long time parishioners have made this claim. Our landscapers have done a magnificent job of creating a delightful environment as the final resting place for our parishioners and their immediate family. Just this past week, four different parish couples chose to purchase space in our memorial garden. One of these four couples was hesitant about purchasing space in our Catholic Memorial Garden and suggested they might like to look elsewhere. After comparing prices at other cemeteries, they quickly returned to St. John the Evangelist and took advantage of a truly great deal. It costs only $1,500.00 to purchase a space in our memorial garden. This is an “all inclusive” price meaning it includes the opening, closing, urn and granite headstone. I can assure you that this is an incredibly competitive price. As a reminder, space is very limited and sale of space in the garden may be terminated without notice. I took over the management of the memorial garden several years ago and have learned plenty since that time. The most important thing I have learned is that pre-planning is essential. Those couples who plan ahead and purchase space in our memorial garden have one less thing to worry about when a loved one passes away. Conversely, when you pass away, you will leave your family one less thing to worry about.
In His work together,
Scott Schlossberg, MBA
General Manager