WILMINGTON — A pillar of the St. Elizabeth School community has stepped forward to assist the school with the largest unrestricted gift to the institution in more than 30 years.
The Benedictine Sisters, who founded the school in 1908 and taught there for generations, have donated $100,000 to St. Elizabeth, school leaders announced March 11.
Father Roger DiBuo, St. Elizabeth’s pastor, said he and diocesan chief financial officer Joe Corsini, along with Chris Corbino, a consultant representing the diocese who has been working with the school, recently traveled to the sisters’ monastery in Newark to discuss the history and the future of St. Elizabeth School, as well as what support they could offer.
“We wanted the opportunity to ask them to help recreate the school once again for its future,” Father DiBuo said. “We wanted them to be in from the very beginning for this new generation for our school.”
The group asked for prayers and financial support, and the Benedictines delivered.
Corbino said the funds will be used for five different purposes: faculty development, technology infrastructure, curriculum enrichment, underserved students and families, and administrative recruitment. They also used the announcement of the gift as a kickoff for the Benedictine Day of Giving, which starts March 21.
“We’re challenging our community to meet and exceed that $100,000,” Corbino said.
St. Elizabeth School has seen significant changes in the past year or so, but Corbino said signs for the future are positive. Enrollment compared to this point last year is up 40 percent, as are prospects for the future.
“We’ve got a good trajectory on enrollment. The number of prospects that we have in the environment is up about 150 percent vs. the prior year. We have folks who have interest,” he said.
“We believe that this letter will remove uncertainty about our sustainability and drive those folks to come back. The trajectory has been very strong over the last five or six weeks.”
Father DiBuo said the Benedictines have left an indelible mark on the school, and their donation will help ensure that.
“For the Benedictine Sisters, this is their way of helping to ensure that their Benedictine spirituality will remain in this school. We are built on the pillars of that Benedictine tradition, which they are a part of and they gave to us,” he said.
He added that St. Elizabeth School has been a great source of vocations for the congregation.
The importance of St. Elizabeth on its neighborhood and the greater community cannot be overlooked, he said. It has been an anchor for students, educating them in the faith as well as in academics.
“We are doing everything that we can to keep our school strong, to keep it here, because it is an anchor in the city of Wilmington,” he said.
The donation serves as “a tremendous runway” for the school, Corbino said. That first donation often spurs others to give, and St. Elizabeth leaders are scheduled to meet with other potential benefactors in the coming weeks. Other schools in the area have been able to gain momentum from a significant donation.
“We are prayerful that this will have the same impact and that the community will rally behind it,” he said.
Paul Rizzo, St. Elizabeth director of communications, graduated from St. Matthew’s School before attending St. Elizabeth. He said he has seen how the loss of St. Matthew’s and other Catholic schools has negatively affected the neighborhoods around them, and he is determined to keep St. Elizabeth alive and vibrant.
“We know how important this beacon on the hill is to this community. Not just a neighborhood, but the greater good of Wilmington,” he said.
Father DiBuo noted that St. Elizabeth offers a high-quality education for the lowest tuition among Catholic high schools in the diocese. Only Salesianum School, he pointed out, has been around longer, and only by a few years.
“It’s got a tremendous foundational history and importance to the Diocese of Wilmington,” Father DiBuo said.
