We Are Deeply Grateful!
We are deeply grateful for our first major gift!
God is good all the time!
We recently received our first major gift of $100,000 from an anonymous—and truly generous—benefactor. This incredible gift will go far in helping us build not only our beautiful school, but also confidence within our Core Team and community that there is great support for the families of Ave Maria and Collier County who hope to give their high school students a joyful Chesterton Academy education in the Catholic Tradition.
This gift will give us a tremendous head start on our school build-out. It comes shortly after another generous benefactor (and prospective member of our school) offered the unexpected gift of the architectural and engineering services necessary for the building planning and permitting process in Collier County. That process can take significant time, and to have the assistance and talent of experienced professionals is indeed a great blessing. These gifts together mean that we can start out build-out much sooner than we had hoped and bodes well for our being ready to open our doors in August 2027.
We are grateful for these benefactors and for all who are supporting us with their prayers, with additional gifts, and with contributions of significant talent. Chesterton Academy of Ave Maria is truly a community effort, and we are blessed by everyone involved. This community, our team, and our prospective students are in our prayers daily!
St. Joseph, pray for us!
Thank You, God—and St. Joseph! We Have a Home!
We have a home!
On August 25, our Core Team started a 31-day novena to St. Joseph using the highly recommended book 31 Day Novena to St. Joseph by Rosalie A. Turon. This decision to bring in the “big guns” of St. Joseph came after months of scouting possible locations for our school and running into several stumbling stones that threatened to become insuperable walls to our opening on time in August 2027.
Joe Trabbic, our team formation director (Did you know we had such a thing? We do, as does every new Chesterton Schools Network cohort working to open a new school) kicked off the novena during our monthly holy hour (we have one of those, too). And in short order, St. Joseph cleared the way to our signing a lease for what will be a beautiful, light-filled space on the second floor of the Sunflower Bank Building.
We are grateful to St. Joseph and to everyone who assisted in making this location a reality: Cee Cee Marinelli, Kelly Kennedy, and everyone at Barron Collier Companies; our Board members, especially Dave Schroeder and Joch Luzarraga, who negotiated favorable lease terms; and many others who worked behind the scenes to help us find and secure this space.
We thank St. Joseph again for the many graces and blessings he gave us during our novena (and will continue to give!)—not only for our location, but also for the success of Chesterton Academy of Ave Maria, for the Lendman family, and for the blessings of two new babies for members of our Board and Core Team and for the health and protection of all of us in this great endeavor!