Ignite Benefit

IGNITE 2024 BENEFIT

You are cordially invited to St. Francis Xavier School's IGNITE 2024 Benefit on Saturday, April 27, 2024! Please join us at 6 PM at Countryside Banquets, 6200 Joliet Rd., Countryside, Illinois.

The Ignite fundraiser welcomes family, friends, and alumni of the St. Francis Xavier community together to help raise the critical funds necessary for the future of our students and school while enjoying a night out for a special evening. 
This event impacts the entire St. Francis Xavier experience and vitality while being made possible by the funds raised through Ignite. Your gifts will help bridge the $1,800 gap between the cost of tuition and the actual cost to fully educate a child at St. Francis Xavier. Ignite also strives to celebrate the power of community and demonstrate the strength our families have when we come together around a shared vision and belief - the importance of a Catholic education. 

Our Students, Teachers, and School Depend on Your Support!

We hope to see you there!

Support Ignite to Support Our Teachers!

SFX teachers and staff bring our mission to life every single day, in every single classroom, with every single student. We LOVE them! And we know you do too! The time has come to show how much they mean to us. With that in mind, we are delighted to announce that once we achieve our school fundraising target of $300,000 for the year, all additional funds raised will be directed towards well-deserved bonuses for our teachers and school staff!

Nearly all of our fundraising dollars for the remainder of the year are set to be raised through the Ignite. Please know that every ticket, auction item, sponsorship, and dollar in support of Ignite is a dollar towards us reaching our goal to recognize, honor, and show your appreciation for our amazing teachers and school staff!   

You have questions? We have answers!

1. If I buy a ticket/auction item/sponsorship, does that go directly to bonuses? 

In a way, yes! All ticket/auction item/sponsorship support will help us reach our overall school fundraising goal of $300,000 to meet our school’s budget, which then allows all excess funds raised through Ignite to go directly to teacher bonuses. We need to be able to cover our current expenses before we are able to allow all additional funds raised to go to teachers. 

1. What are the fundraisers that help us reach our $300,000 goal, and what does this $300,000 cover?

The main school fundraisers are: We Thrive, the Golf Outing, the Falcon 5k, and Ignite (formerly the auction).  If you consider tuition alone covering the cost of school salaries and some benefits annually, then all additional expenses would be covered by fundraising efforts and the parish subsidy. For example, additional annual expenses include books and supplies ($132,000 average cost), maintenance and building repairs ($150,000 average cost). We have also enhanced our educational environment with several new investments:   

• A new intercom/interclassroom system that includes vital security and emergency features to help keep our kids safe. 
• Art room renovations to ensure our students have an optimal learning environment to develop creativity, greater fine-motor skills, critical thinking and all of the other benefits of art instruction. 
• A foundational Phonics curriculum for PK3-1st which will allow our students to develop a strong foundation for reading instruction which is essential, as when you understand phonics you understand reading. 
• An updated reading series for K-6 to provide our students with robust reading materials and skill instruction to grow both their abilities and their love of reading. 

1. Will FSA still be collecting funds in May to provide teacher stipends? 

No. This new strategy will replace the FSA’s efforts.

4. Why can’t we just raise teacher salaries? 

All school districts (public and parochial) set teacher pay scales in accordance with type of college degree and years of teaching experience. These pay scales are used when teacher contracts are entered into. The entire Archdiocese of Chicago uses the same pay scale which is set by the Archdiocese. Ex. Starting Salary in the Archdiocese for a teacher with a Bachelor’s Degree is $35,019, a teacher in the Archdiocese with 5 years of experience and a Master’s Degree $39,340. 

5.   How much are you hoping to raise for teacher bonuses? 

We hope to raise as much as possible, but we are minimally aiming to provide at least $80,000 in direct support for our teachers. This would allow for a minimum of a $2,000 bonus for our full-time teachers. 

 If you have any questions regarding this, please feel free to contact Sharon Garcia anytime. 

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!!