We Are Blessed 2014 Annual Report
Dear St. Peter s Parishioners, In 2013-2014, our parish community has seen some new blessings. In the pages of this annual report, we ll share with you how the parish has benefited from an influx of new parishioners and school families; a collaboration between our school and some neighboring schools; and a blessing which was difficult to receive: the LaManno family s Christ-like response to a senseless tragedy. These stories have helped to define our parish life this past year. We also witnessed the Holy Spirit working in many other ways. We ve recently seen new leadership emerge, through the creation of Meyer Fest, a weekend of events which raised money to support several of our ministries, while welcoming guests from the greater community. Our new St. Peter s Endowment Fund, established in the spring of 2013, has already received generous contributions. Our Finance Committee continues to find ways to ensure the parish s financial stability, restructuring school fees, improving cash flow, and managing expenses. Many dedicated staff members are moving on to new pursuits in 2014. Ray Hain left St. Peter s to follow his passion, teaching high school students. Ruth Davis, Mike Thomas, Tom Nickel and Ray Pichardo have retired. Each of these individuals has been a blessing to this parish, and we wish them well in their new endeavors. Please keep all of our staff members in your prayers. They, too, are a blessing to our parish. Throughout our 89-year history, St. Peter s has been fortunate. Our school and parish have thrived, and we ve come to be known as a rock within the Brookside community. As we look forward to our 90th anniversary, I hope we continue to be a blessing to those we serve, and to be blessed as a faith community. God Bless, Rev. Stephen M. Cook Picture at right: Many of the daily Mass attendees, with Fr. Steve Cook, after morning Mass.
Sacramental Blessings Baptisms: 63 First Holy Communion: 43 Confirmations: 68 Weddings: 28 Funerals: 21 Joined the Church through RCIA: 5 We have been blessed with a generous response to our new St. Peter s Parish Endowment Fund. Created in the spring of 2013, we received over $100,000 in donations by the end of 2014. A group of 115 donors joined our Heritage Society Founders, by pledging or donating within the first year of our fund. We are grateful for the gifts, planned gifts, pledges and bequests we have received. This fund and its donors will support parish and school initiatives for generations to come.
We Are Blessed... To Welcome New School Families Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Phillippians 2:4 New faces appeared across the St. Peter s campus in 2013. St. Peter s School welcomed students new to Kansas City, and we were blessed to welcome students from two neighboring schools that had announced their closing before the 2013-2014 school year Christ the King School and Calvary Lutheran s Ward Parkway Campus School. When families of CTK and CL found out their schools would be closing, parents were faced with the critical choice of finding a new faith-based school community where their children would be welcomed and would flourish. St. Peter s school and parish leadership immediately embraced the situation, offering a welcoming and viable option for their students to transition into St. Peter s classrooms. They put the Parish Vision Statement into action, said new school parent, Noreen Zahner, from Christ the King. St. Peter s will be a welcoming parish, a catalyst for spiritual formation, the living word for the community, and an advocate for those in need. St. Peter s is truly blessed with the addition of our new school families. We celebrate the richness that comes from opening our doors and hearts to these families. They enhance our perspective and provide us the opportunity to live our faith and strengthen our school and parish community.
Students new to St. Peter s last year enriched our classroom community and gave current students the opportunity to live the teachings of Jesus by welcoming them into our school family. Patti Dearth, Teacher
We Are Blessed... By Striving to Be Good Neighbors Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7 This past year, St. Peter s has been blessed by the friendship of our neighbors across the street, Benjamin Banneker Charter Academy of Technology. Like St. Peter s, their students range in age from preschoolers to 8th graders. Our relationship started in 2011, when we knocked on their doors and asked if they d like to find ways to collaborate with us. That simple gesture led to several opportunities for academic and social interaction between our two schools, benefitting all of our students. One of the many outcomes of our friendship has been the introduction of brain sports, extracurricular activities that focus on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math). These programs engage students who enjoy learning how to write code, build robots, create video animation, build their own video games, and even explore the effect microgravity has on a scientific experiment. This past June, St. Peter s students, teachers, and chaperones had an extraordinary chance to spend time with representatives from Academie Lafayette, Banneker, Della Lamb, and Hogan Prep Middle School. Our five schools were part of Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) Mission 5. Our delegation traveled to Washington, DC and Wallops Island, VA, where they toured NASA s flight facility and saw the rocket which would send their experiment to the ISS, June 13, 2014. The positive synergy between our two communities continues to inspire St. Peter s to build strong connections throughout our parish boundaries. We are fortunate to have Banneker students and staff as our friends and neighbors.
We Are Blessed... by the Life of Terri LaManno Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Matthew 5:4 Parishioner, Terri LaManno, lost her life on Palm Sunday, April 13, 2014, in a violent act of hate. Terri was visiting her elderly mother when a gunman opened fire and took her life. She was a beloved wife, mother, caregiver, daughter, sister, and friend, and she is dearly missed. St. Peter s is blessed to have seen Terri embrace the Gospels and live out Christ s teaching in her everyday life. All who knew Terri describe her as a natural caregiver. Her husband Jim would agree. She loved being a mother, having given life to our three children, Jennifer, Alissa, and Gian. But she was also wonderful to her mother and my parents. After Terri s tragic death, her friends, parish community, and our city witnessed an authentic, Christ-like response from her family. The LaManno family were guests of honor at the 2014 Anti-Defamation League s Concert Against Hate event in Washington, DC, and were honored for being ordinary people who have performed extraordinary acts of courage and compassion when confronted by hatred and bigotry. We honor Terri LaManno and are blessed by the life she led, the family whom she left behind, and the extraordinary example both Terri and her family have been to us all.
The family chose to not go down the road of hate, but to respond with love and hope, and resolve to tell Terri s story. One act of hate and evil has been met with 1,000 acts of love and kindness. Brian Fowler, Family Friend
Overview of Fiscal Year 2013-2014 For the fiscal year 2013/2014, we generated a small surplus of $55,970. While contributions have generally been flat over the last couple of years, we have increased revenue generated from non-parish school tuition and fees, as well as special fund raising for projects such as the Raise Us Up Campaign, which generated over $260,000 over a two year period to construct the elevator. The additional support from the PTA and Athletic Committee have also aided us in paying for general school expenses. The condensed income statement reflects the breakdown of income and expenses for parish and school. St. Peter s continues to have a tithing based funding model for our parish school. While we continue to look for ways to provide for financial stability for our school, including identifying additional sources of revenue, the generous tithing of all of our parishioners continues be a major reason for the success of St. Peter s School. 2013/2014 Income Statement Support and Revenue Parish Income School Income Total Contribution Income $2, 559, 405 $ - $2,559,405 School Registration 240,042 240,042 Parish School Income 120,866-120,866 Tuition School Income - 518,789 518,789 Pre-school Income - 208,215 208,215 Cafeteria Income - 126,853 126,853 Extended Care Income - 94,584 94,584 Operational Income 39,354 947 40,301 Other Sources of Income 110,361 111,622 221,983 Development/Fundraising 118,498 47,568 166,066 Raise Us Up Campaign 120,250-120,250 Total Operating Income $3,068,734 $1,248,620 $4,417,354 Expense Parish Expense School Expense Total Personnel $619,490 $2,295,252 $2,914,742 Facilities 152,341 272,912 425,253 Diocesan Assessment 238,686-238,686 Property & Casualty Insurance 54,756 54,756 109,513 Operational 115,004 152,908 267,912 Cafeteria - 74,872 74,872 Prayer, Worship, and Pastoral Expenses 27,699 27,930 65,629 Elevator 264,778-264,778 Total Expense $1,482,754 $2,878,630 $4,361,385 Total Operating Income (Loss) $1,585,980 $ (1,530,010) $55,969
2014-2015 Outlook For 2014/2015, in addition to generous continued support from pledged tithes, we look forward to a more sustainable school fee structure to stabilize school finances. Our school fees now are all inclusive which not only simplifies the process for fee payment by our school families, it also results in much more predictable and timely cash flow for the operation of the school. We have also changed the way in which we approach fund raising with the rollout of MeyerFest which combines many of the fund raising projects into one big event. 2013-2014 Income 2013-2014 Expenses
St. Peter s Parish 815 E. Meyer Boulevard Kansas City, Missouri 64131 (816) 363-2320 www.stpkc.org If you aren t already a parishioner, we invite you to connect with us! Masses: Monday-Friday, 8:15 a.m. Saturday, 5 p.m. Sunday, 9 a.m., 11 a.m., and 5:30 p.m.