A Request for Help

Good morning, everyone. Yes, it’s Wednesday, which is not the day I normally send out my newsletter. But, this isn’t my normal newsletter. That will be coming Friday (or maybe Saturday given how my week is going). Instead, I’m writing you today because I’m hoping you will help me with something. More specifically, I’m writing because I hoping you will help seventeen little ones between the ages of three and six, including my Ellie and Becket, keep warm this winter.

As long-time readers know, two to three times a year, I use my newsletter and Instagram page to raise money for apostolates or organizations that are too small to have any development staff, and for which no one else is doing any professional fundraising These are always non-profits that I know well, and which my husband and I have supported for a number of years. One of those organizations is my children’s little school, Hilltop Montessori, and right now they definitely need help. The school’s furnace is toast, and we are racing against the clock to secure a new one before the chilly days of autumn set in. So far, the school has raised half of the $12,000 necessary to buy the furnace, and I am hoping you can help us raise the other half.

If you’re wondering what my kids’ school has to do with you or why it can’t come up with the money on its own, I can explain.

As many of you know, my children attend a small independent Catholic Montessori school just three blocks away from our house, in the LaBelle neighborhood of Steubenville. What you may not know, though, is that LaBelle is one of the poorest neighborhoods in Steubenville, which itself is one of the poorest cities in Ohio.

Now, normally you don’t find Montessori schools in neighborhoods like ours. You especially don’t find AMI Montessori schools (which are considered the gold standard in Montessori education) in neighborhoods like ours. But our Montessori school is not like other AMI Montessori schools, which typically operate in upscale communities and charge upwards of $14,000 per student, per year, for tuition.

Rather, Hilltop was established here seven years ago, after a neighborhood shooting took the life of a little boy. Shootings are, unfortunately, not a rarity in our neighborhood. But, in the weeks that followed this particular shooting, one of our friends and neighbors, Noelle Crowe, decided that if she was going to stay in LaBelle, she was going to do something to help it and hopefully prevent more local children from falling through the cracks. That “something,” she eventually concluded, was founding a private Catholic Montessori school, right smack in the middle of LaBelle.

Noelle wanted to build something good at the very center of the neighborhood, something that could start changing LaBelle at its physical heart. More important, she wanted to offer a life-changing education to children from low-income families—a type of education proven to disproportionately benefit students living in poorer neighborhoods. Last but not least, Noelle wanted to offer students that education at a price their families could afford, even if that price was almost nothing at all.

For the past seven years, that is exactly what Hilltop Montessori School has done.

Ellie in the classroom … prior to Becket giving her a haircut this past weekend.

Under the leadership of Noelle and her husband Tom, who both trained at the American Montessori Institute in Arizona, Hilltop Montessori currently serves about 40 children from LaBelle and the surrounding neighborhoods. Those children are spread out across three programs (Toddler, Primary, and Elementary), which operate out of three small houses here in the neighborhood. Although the cost of attending Hilltop is half the national average for AMI Montessori schools, further (and significant!) tuition reductions are given to families who need it. And almost every family needs it. Only a few families at Hilltop pay full tuition. Most pay far less. Some pay almost nothing.

There is no scholarship pool that funds those scholarships. Again, Hilltop is a small school, in a poor neighborhood, in a poor city. It receives no aid from the city and is too small to qualify for Ohio’s Ed Choice Dollars. It also receives no aid from the diocese or local parishes. It has no staff for fundraising. Its families do not have deep pockets. This means when tuition is reduced for families, the school simply takes in less money. And that leaves nothing left over for anything “extra” … like new furnaces for very old buildings.

Which brings us back to where we started this letter.

Last year, the furnace in the century old building that houses the Primary program died a slow painful death, costing the school a small fortune in heating bills. This year, Hilltop has to replace the furnace. It simply won’t go another winter. So far, the school has received several bids on the project and accepted one that will cost the school about $12,000. As of today, half of that has been raised. But the school still needs to raise $6,000 more to install the new furnace. And I’m hoping you can help us cross that finish line.

$6,000 is a lot of money. But little gifts add up. Even if all you have to give is $5 or $10, God will multiply that. He always does.

All the instructions on how to give are here.

I know the vast majority of you reading this have no personal connection to this school. I know it’s not in your town or your neighborhood. I know money is tight and many of you have heating bills of your own to worry about. But this school can only continue to serve children in this community if people outside the community help.

Hilltop is doing such good work in a part of the country that has been forgotten by so many. It is making a difference in a neighborhood where even a lot of locals don’t want to go. And I am praying, as a small favor to me, you can spare a few dollars to help them buy their new furnace.

Thank you for anything you are able to give. Thank you especially on behalf of the 17 children in the Hilltop Primary program, who will be able to keep warm during a long and cold Ohio winter, with the help of this new furnace. This isn’t a glamorous fundraiser, but it is such an important one. And your generosity is deeply appreciated.

Your Sister in Christ,
Emily

P.S. To donate to Hilltop Montessori, you can make a credit card donation here, using Continue to Give. Alternately, if you want to avoid credit card fees on small donations, you can donate through Zelle ((hilltopchildrenshouse@gmail.com) or PayPal Giving. Lastly, if you don’t have access to Zelle or PayPal, you can always Venmo me directly (@Emily-Chapman-33), and I can pass on the gift to them.

P.P.S. If, through your generosity, we surpass the $6,000 goal, additional funds will go towards replacing two windows in the Primary building and tuition assistance for families.