FREEBURG  — Building a Legacy of Learning is more than just a title; it is the mission of the Holy Family School Capital Campaign Expansion project.

Capital Campaign Chair Nyla Bassett is grateful for the community’s support and asks that it continue. “Thank you for prayerfully considering supporting the future of our children and community,” she said.

More than a year ago, plans began to expand the Freeburg school to improve its functionality and facilitate academic and spiritual learning now and in the future.

Holy Family celebrates an exciting milestone this month — the school has been serving the community for nearly 120 years. The last addition or remodel to the school’s main structure was completed in 1975. As the student body grew, accommodations were made within the existing facility.

In recent years, the parish has converted the open stage into a classroom (where distraction is a given). The school expanded to two lunch shifts, using the cafeteria before and after the meal as a classroom. Holy Family also converted portions of the basement—originally designed for storage and mechanical equipment—into classrooms and library space.

Prompted by the apparent need for a larger, safer, and less distractive school environment, the school determined an expansion should be pursued. The church asked skilled parishioner volunteers to form a building committee and a capital campaign committee to begin the expansion process.

Estimated at $6 million, the project includes additional classrooms, a safe student drop-off area (off the public street), a new modern kitchen and cafeteria, necessary repairs to the existing building, upgrading the electrical, remodeling the existing kitchen and cafeteria into classrooms, convert the basement back into much-needed storage while maintaining an area for parish meeting rooms, build a fully functioning regulation-size gym and finish the necessary site construction.

Bassett and other committee members established a goal of $1.2 million in cash donations to start the initial phase of the building project. They began with hiring consultants and contractors to complete the building plans, which were completed this summer.

In addition to cash donations, the project received pledges and in-kind donations, and improvements are moving forward at a steady pace.

“Holy Family has been blessed to receive pledges and donations, not only from parishioners, but also, in large part, from alumni, businesses, friends, and foundations,” said Bassett, noting the campaign had raised $1.7 million in cash and pledges at the time of this writing.

Unfortunately, as in many instances, things don’t always go as planned. Bassett explained that unforeseen issues with the existing building, including a settling foundation, water leaking into the basement, and crumbling asbestos flooring, forced the committee to move up portions of the overall project to the summer of 2024.

Thanks to grants, multiple donations, funds raised by the parish, and hundreds of volunteer hours from the parishioners, Holy Family finished numerous repairs to the school.

Completed projects include removing the old asbestos flooring in the kitchen and cafeteria and replacing it with new epoxy floors. Repairs to walls, ceilings, and the pantry were finished, and the cafeteria was topped off with a fresh coat of paint. Contractors stabilized the school’s foundation, and the drainage issues were corrected in coordination with the city of Freeburg to prevent further flooding in the basement.

Also, the loud, squeaky gym floor was repaired. The floor joists were reinforced, a new subfloor was placed, and commercial laminate flooring was laid. Currently, tuck-pointing and sealing of the exterior brick are underway to wrap up summer projects.

Throughout the summer, overwhelming support from parishioners was evident. Volunteers removed and replaced equipment, dishes, cabinetry, window treatments, flooring, etc., from the kitchen, cafeteria, and gym. After all the projects were completed, the entire school was deep-cleaned to eliminate all the construction dust and debris while preparing the building for the new school year.

An open house was held on Aug. 7 to welcome the community, show off the renovations, and celebrate the hard work completed over the summer.

For many Holy Family parishioners, the expansion is a new experience. However, parishioners clearly welcome the opportunity to participate in the Building a Legacy of Learning campaign and embrace the Holy Family School expansion.

“Additional donations are greatly needed to complete this campaign and building expansion,” said Bassett. “We appreciate any contributions that could help us finish the project.”

For more information or to view the proposed renditions of the school expansion, click on the Learn More link under “The Kids Need You!!” headline at www.holyfamilyfreeburg.com.

If you would like to help with a donation of any size, it can be made online at www.holyfamilyfreeburg.com; you can mail a check or fill out a pledge card. All donations are tax-deductible.