Dear Parishioners:
As you know, we hosted our first Family Feast last weekend. Take some time to see some of the pictures from the Feast. I think it was fantastic, and I hope you and your family had a great time. I was so happy with how it turned out. To me, it was like a little bit of “Americana” – just a local community coming out to have some fun. To me, the whole experience was summed up by a five-year-old boy. The kindergarten boy walks into the Feast on Friday night. He looked at the lights, tugged on his mother’s arm and said, “Mommy, it’s like Disney World!” Next year, we will see if we can get a “It’s a Small World After All” ride!
There were also a number of people who reconnected; they knew each other when their kids were small but, as you know, we can drift away as the kids enter high school and have different interests. They reconnected and had a great time at the Feast – and numerous grandparents were able to enjoy their grandchildren having such a great time.
As you can imagine, that success can only come about with a great deal of “behind the scenes” work. That took a lot of time, energy and commitment. I will highlight a number of people next week, but I just wanted to say “Thank you” to all those who made the feast possible. There were numerous people who helped out and many volunteers who worked every hour of every day. Think about volunteering next year; put it on your calendar now. One woman said to me, “This is the first time I ever worked at a feast. I had a great time; I’m coming back next year!”
I also note the excitement of the DUNK TANK with Mrs. Darmanin, our principal, Fr. Lou (in full cassock) and myself as those being dunked. Each of us were “dunked” numerous times. I might add that Fr. Lou’s mother was exceptionally accurate! The children took great glee in hitting the target and dunking us!
For myself, I had two goals for the feast: to build up community and to raise funds for the school, repairs of buildings, etc. I do not know what the final results of the finances are because we still have bills to pay, credit cards, VENMO, etc. to process. We will not know the results until the end of October. However, with regards to community building, I thought the feast was a home run. It was very well received by the community.
Thank you again for all who volunteered and thank you to everyone who came to enjoy the feast.
Remember: Together, we can do something beautiful for God.
In Christ,
Fr Brian