Since I left off last week talking about golf, I figured that would be a great place to pick up this week. As previously mentioned, I came to Saint John the Evangelist directly from Tallahassee where I was the Director of Operations at a golf club. After assisting with the Ninth annual Glackin Classic in the fall of 1997 and seeing the great demand for participation, especially from those who had not returned to Naples by October, I began a new golf tournament in 1998 to compliment the Glackin Classic. The Spring Golf Tourney was an immediate success filling the field in its inaugural year. Although there was a lot of work and coordination involved in hosting these events, I truly enjoyed doing this for the parish as the tournaments were a great example of building community. In addition, over the course of 10 years and 20 tournaments, we raised tens of thousands of dollars for Jamaica Outreach, St. Vincent de Paul, Habitat for Humanity and numerous other organizations. The final Glackin Classic took place in 2007 just as the economy was beginning its downward spiral. Who knows, maybe now that the economy has semi-recovered, there will be a “Ludden Invitational” in the future.
One of my favorite events which I have hosted since 1998 is the annual Super Bowl party. This event began as the idea of a former parishioner and has been a staple ever since. This past year we crammed well over 350 guests in ballroom to enjoy the game. The Super Bowl proceeds now are used to subsidize our Youth Ministry program and the kids participate during the event. I will certainly miss soliciting squares outside of all the Sunday Masses on the day of the big game. I would be remiss if I did not recognize two individuals who have been by my side since the first game in 1998. Bob Garbinsky and Bob Valentine were always willing to lend a hand and help with coordination and especially with the sale of squares for the boards. As a matter of fact, these two Bobs also assisted me with the operation of those 20 golf tournaments mentioned previously. JP has assured me that the Super Bowl Party will continue in coming years.
And then there is the Reverse Raffle. This CFA Fundraiser always seemed to be my nemesis in regards to selling all of the 300 tickets necessary for the event to take place. Every year after all was said and done, we hosted an awesome event and made winners out of many of our parishioners. During my tenure, we hosted over 10 Reverse Raffles which generated over $150,000.00. JP has also expressed an interest in continuing the Reverse Raffle. I will only ask that you purchase your tickets early so that he will not have to deal with added stress in coordinating the event while worrying about whether or not it will actually take place.
Finally, the culmination of our efforts finally resulted in the creation Family Fun and Ministry Day. Only two years old, this is a true parish event in every sense of the word where over 1,100 attended just this past year. Free of charge and open to everyone from infants to the elderly, Family Fun and Ministry Day is a way for all of our Ministries to showcase their amazing works while the parish says thank you to all of our parishioners for their gifts of time, talent and treasure.
I truly enjoyed hosting special events during my time at Saint John the Evangelist. I always felt that these events were not only a lot of fun but also instrumental in creating a feeling of family within our parish. I believe that the continuation of such events is instrumental to the future of Saint John the Evangelist.
One thing that I bet many of you will not miss is my constant plea for funds to satisfy our Catholic Faith Appeal obligation. I expended a lot of energy conveying the very important message of the CFA to you in an effort to exceed our goal. For many years, I would speak during Masses on CFA kickoff weekend explaining the importance of the appeal. After many years of doing so, it seems that everyone now understands the mechanics and importance of meeting and exceeding our goal. Hopefully we will exceed our lofty goal this year and on into the future. I will make this my final plea for the CFA, but please remember that the Catholic Faith Appeal is the single most important component of our annual operating budget although the funds are technically not recognized on our P & L. We are still over $100,000.00 shy of our goal with only three short months left in the appeal. Will you consider making a gift to the CFA so that we may reach/exceed our goal for 2014? I want to leave JP in good shape financially upon my departure and by meeting our CFA goal, this would go a long was in ensuring that he is comfortable while taking over the reins.
Thank you again for your continued support and generosity.
In His work together,
Scott Schlossberg, MBA