Saint Cyril Of Alexandria
Roman Catholic Church
153 Penn Boulevard,
East Lansdowne, PA 19050
Saint Cyril Of Alexandria
Roman Catholic Church
153 Penn Boulevard,
East Lansdowne, PA 19050
Home Page
Fund-raiser Page
SOS
Progress Report
Click here to sign
the guestbook
Click here to read the guestbook
Click
here for our School Web Page and information about our Learning Support Program
For the past year the parishes in this area have conducted a formal self-study to help determine their future. While there had been discussions of forming a regional Catholic School, in the end, no consensus could be found. (Click here for more information.) Each of the local schools will have to stay open independently or close. Our pastor Fr. Kearns has announced that under these circumstances we would have to raise $200,000 by the end of March in order to stay open next September.
Inspired by 12 year old Tommy Geromichalos, and aided by a series of articles in the Delaware County Daily Times, the parish held a meeting Wednesday night, January 25th to start an effort to raise the $200,000 needed by March 31, 2006. Tommy has Cystic Fibrosis and wrote a letter to the Make-A Wish Foundation. (Click here to read Tommy's wish.) His wish was that St. Cyril School would not close and that he would be able to graduate with all of his classmates. His wish became a cover story Sunday, January 22 in the Delaware County Daily Times with photos and a nice article by Gil Spencer on his effort and the school's plight.
Over 500 people show up at the Wednesday night meeting and it was very obvious that the other children and parents in the school share Tommy's wish. "I Believe" posters made by each class were displayed all around the hall, and cheer leaders collected change donations at the entrance. Much larger donations were given by a few area companies and organizations, with one donating $4000 and a number of others donating $1000 each. State Rep. Mario Civera and East Lansdowne Mayor Jim France were in attendance and pledged their support. The meeting was covered by three television stations; 6ABC, NBC10, and CN8, and all three stations gave great reports on their news broadcasts. At the end of the meeting we had a little over $10,000 in actual donations with $10,000 thousand more in pledges; there were pages of volunteers, and even the most cynical were starting to say "I believe".
To see some of the media coverage click
here or go to:
www.saintcyril.org/fundraisernews.htm
Click here to see pictures from
the night on our Picture of the Month Page.
Please send donations to the address below. We need your help now so Tommy and 224 other students will not be displaced, and a great school will not be forever gone. Please check with your company to see if they will match your gift.
Numerous fund raisers are being planned over the next couple of months, as well as active recruitment of new students to help make the school more financially independent.
Click here for more information on fund-raisers.
Click here for our School Web Page and information about our Learning Support Program
Click here to see our progress
Please Send Donations to:
Save Saint Cyril School Fund
P.O. Box 1094
Lansdowne, PA 19050
Click here to sign the guestbook
Click here to read the guestbook
Click here to read Tommy's Wish or go to www.saintcyril.org/tommyswish.htm
To read Gil Spencer 01-22-06 article on the Daily Times Web
Site click
here or go to
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15976908&BRD=1675&PAG=461&dept_id=18168&rfi=6
To read the article from a scanned copy click picture or click
here or go to
www.saintcyril.org/times1.htm
To see front page of the Sunday Daily Times click here
or go to
www.saintcyril.org/times.htm
To read the Editorial "Tommy's saintly wish" from
January 24, 2006 on the Daily Times Web Site click
here or go to
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15986559&BRD=1675&PAG=461&dept_id=18168&rfi=6
To read the article from a scanned copy click picture or click
here or go to:
www.saintcyril.org/times2.htm
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The press continues to champion the cause of Tommy Geromichalos's unselfish wish, and this gives hope to and inspires the many others who share his wish. |  |
To see above newspaper cover pages and read an article on our
effort click here or go to:
www.saintcyril.org/times3.htm
February 2, 2006: The story of Tommy's wish and our efforts has spread to the Daily News, and there have been updates on NBC10 and CN8. Thank you to all those who are helping to get the story out, and to all those that have helped us in our efforts.
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Click here to read the article from The Philadelphia Daily News. |
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To see some of the media coverage click
here or go to:
www.saintcyril.org/fundraisernews.htm
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February 13, 2006: Cardinal Justin Rigali has accepted the major recommendations of the Cluster 63 Steering Committee. Saint Cyril School was given time to meet its fundraising goals. Unfortunately our neighbor Saint Alice School will close after this school year. |
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To see above newspaper cover page, read an article on the decision and read information from the archdiocese click here or go to: www.saintcyril.org/decision.htm
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February 19, 2006: The Philadelphia Inquirer
wrote about Tommy's Wish and our efforts in their Neighbors section, and
David Dodge took out a full page ad in the Delaware County Sunday Times
to tell our story and keep the wish alive. |
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Gil
Spencer Believes in Saint Cyril School
March 1, 2006: Gil Spencer writes about his
visit to Saint Cyril School and his latest thoughts about Tommy's wish and
the SOS effort. |
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The News Of Delaware County Believes in Saint Cyril School March 8, 2006: The News of Delaware County wrote an editorial asking people around the county to consider supporting any one of the many SOS fundraisers. |
As we close in on our goal the local press continues its great coverage of the SOS efforts.
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The Delaware County Daily Times and The Philadelphia Daily News Believes In Saint Cyril School The Press continues to give the SOS
effort great coverage. On March 22nd The Delaware County Daily Times
had three articles, and on March 23rd The Philadelphia Daily News had a
nice article and which was also mentioned on the front page. Thank
you to all the newspapers and TV station that helped get the word out. |
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The Delaware County Daily Times continues
to lead the way with news coverage of the SOS efforts. On Wednesday,
March 29th they ran their 6th front page story announcing the success of
the fund raising efforts. |
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Any
Questions Please Call:
Mike Keller: 610-543-5666 Keller1618@aol.com
Connie Geromichalos: 610 891-1817 opalcon@aol.com
Jim Gray: 610 284-5984 jeg19026@mail.com
Fund Raising Committee:
MaryAnn Dalessandro 610-284-6146 mommomdel@aol.com
Barb Gray 610-284-5984 Babs1231@mail.com
Business & Corporate
Fundraising
Marge Rossi 610-622-3643
Val Kubach 610-259-7736 Val2143@comcast.net
If you need a letter or non-profit documentation from us for a business or corporation, contact Marge or Val at the numbers or e-mail address above.
David Dodge believes in Saint Cyril School
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Click here for Pictures Of The Month 
St. Pat's parade and much more.
SOS volunteers at Granite Run Mall 
Check out other events on our fund-raiser
page.
www.saintcyril.org/fundraisers.htm
We need your help especially in the form of monetary donations. Please check with your company to see if they will match your gift.
Please Send Donations to:
Save Saint Cyril School Fund
P.O. Box 1094
Lansdowne, PA 19050
Many great stories of kindness and generosity
have come to light during the effort to save St. Cyril School. Starting
with the wish of Tommy Geromichalos, these good deeds have continued and
multiplied. We want to capture and record as many of these stories as we
can. We hope to use some of these stories in future newsletters and on our
web site. If you have an inspirational story about the effort to save
Saint Cyril School that you can share with us, and allow us to share with
others, we would love to hear it. Don't worry about spelling or grammar;
we can proof read it before it gets printed.
Click here for
more information and to submit your story.
Progress as of March 29th
March 29, 2006: $260,100 in the bank
from Donations and Fund Raisers. Thank
you to everyone who helped us reach our first goal of $200,000 by March 31, 2006
Click
here to see CBS3 video of Tommy's wish and the fund raising efforts
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Save Our School
Progress
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Second Year Goal
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Wednesday, March 29th: At the last
regular SOS meeting before the March 31st deadline it was announced that we
surpassed our goal by over $60,000. We had a surprise visit by a celebrity
boxer, and the press was out in full force. We thank the press for keeping
the story in the public eye and helping us meet our goal.
Click here for more pictures from the
night. 
Click
here to see CBS3 video of the Cardinal's announcement or go to
http://cbs3.com/video/?id=24415@kyw.dayport.com
Click
here to see NBC10 slideshow or go to:
http://www.nbc10.com/slideshow/news/8369186/detail.html?qs=;s=1;p=news;dm=ss;w=400
Click
here to see 6ABC news coverage or go to:
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=local&id=4039948
Look for the video links on the right side of the 6ABC page.
Click
here to see CBS3 video of Tommy's wish and the fund raising efforts or go to
http://cbs3.com/local/local_story_088171213.html
March 30, 2006: Cardinal
Rigali announced today, at a special school assembly, that the School will
remain open for 2006-07 school year.
Click
here to see CBS3 video of the Cardinal's announcement
Click
here to see NBC10 slideshow
We now have a volunteer grant writer, and are also looking into scholarship funding to aid in the recruitment of new students and help make the school more financially independent.
We have had some great
fund-raisers during the past couple of weeks. Check out our past
fund-raiser
page for
more information and links to pictures from the events.
www.saintcyril.org/pastfundraisers.htm
Click here for more information on current fund raisers.
Thank you to all who helped with our fundraisers in any way and all those who have sent in donations.
Click here for our School Web Page and information about our Learning Support Program
Click here to sign the guestbook
Click here to read the guestbook
