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Sister Odilia Korenek, IWBS, president and CEO of Blessed Sacrament Academy, watches with students as a helicopter drops numbered golf balls on the lawn.
Carol Baass Sowa | Today's Catholic |
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BY CAROL BAASS SOWA
TODAY’S CATHOLIC
SAN ANTONIO • As participants swung golf clubs on a trio of constructed putting greens at Blessed Sacrament Academy (BSA) and attendees awaited the helicopter from Stinson Field that would drop a cascade of numbered golf balls over a red-flagged golf hole on the lawn, those connected with this multi-faceted institution were eager to share the reasons behind their Sept. 5 BSA fundraiser and the variety of programs it supports.
Sister Evelyn Korenek, general superior of the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament, who was in town from Victoria for the morning’s Birdies for Charity BSA fundraiser, “Swinging with the BSA Sisters,” described the school’s programs as a “gift to the surrounding community, plus a gift for us as a congregation.”
“It’s marvelous to think what Sister Odilia, the sisters and all the people who collaborate with them are doing,” she said. (Sister Odilia Korenek is BSA’s president and CEO.)
Built by the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament in 1926, the BSA facilities on Mission Road served as a convent and school from the beginning, originally containing both an elementary and high school and accepting boys from first through eighth grade into the late ’60s. Eventually, BSA narrowed its focus to being an all-girls junior high and high school, until changing times forced its closure in 1989 and the sisters made the decision to restructure the facility and their focus. The result was the creation of a multi-level learning center, which now consists of Por Vida Academy (a charter high school), the Child Development Center, Parents’ Academy and a Jewish Family Counseling Center.
“Por Vida Academy is a second chance high school and they have about 120 up to 200 kids who come here on a daily basis,” said Fran Mabry, fundraiser organizer and finance director. “Some of the kids are kids who have been in trouble; some of them are just kids that can’t function in the normal high school setting — and they’re a great bunch of kids.” As she spoke, guests “teed off” with the sisters on the mini putting greens in competition for brightly wrapped “goodie bag” prizes, to the accompaniment of heavy metal background music being played by several of the Por Vida students.
Sister Evelyn noted that at each quarterly meetings of the BSA board, two students (a boy and a girl) are invited to speak to them, explaining what brought them to Por Vida, what the school has done for them and what their goals are. “Nine-tenths of them plan on going on to college,” she said. “It’s a great thing.”
And, as the morning progressed, several dropped by to share their plans for the future with Sister Evelyn, including ambitions of entering medical school and studying to be a veterinarian. Another spoke eagerly about his new internship with a marketing firm.
The Child Development Center, Mabry noted, provides for children ranging from six weeks old to pre kinder, and the pre-schoolers came marching in a line out of their classrooms at several points to observe the golf goings-on, keeping rhythm with tambourines, maracas and jingle bells.
Developed as a community resource for parents in need of childcare, eighty percent of the children at the Child Development Center come from low-income families, with parents receiving tuition assistance to enable them to increase their job skills while their children are being looked after with quality care. Fifteen percent of the parents are teenagers working toward a diploma at Por Vida Academy.
Kathy Lozano heads Parents’ Academy, which teaches classes on preventive and creative solutions to child-rearing. They offer 14 different programs in the course of a year, she related, usually serving from 300 to 500 families yearly.
“Last night we just started a new group for Financial Peace University,” she said, “and we have over 27 people enrolled, using a program based on biblical principles to get out of debt.” The program came about as an outgrowth of other classes there. “The core of our program is parent education,” Lozano added, noting that includes such programs as “Precious Minds, New Connections” for families who are expecting or have a child up to age four, and another aptly named “Making Children Mind without Losing Yours,” which works on learning positive discipline techniques and respectful communication.
“A lot of people come in and say, ‘Oh, well my kid needs to change,’” she said. “Then they realize, as we’re doing the lessons together and interacting, that maybe the change needs to come from the parents, as far as attitude, parent communication style and learning to have some appropriate expectations.” The center has a contract with Bexar County Juvenile Probation, working with the families of teens on probation, as well as assisting families that come under Child Protective Services.
“A lot of times they’re not too happy to be there,” noted Lozano of the parents. “By the second lesson, they can’t wait to come back, and they’ll take one program, another program, another program — just because they find a sense of support and encouragement that they are not getting anywhere else.”
Participants in the classes can be referred to other services on campus, such as the Child Development Center and Jewish Family Counseling Center, which along with Por Vida and the Parents’ Academy, comprise what is unofficially known as the “Mission Road Collaborative.”
The Jewish Family Counseling Center’s presence on campus is a joint effort of Bexar County, the city of San Antonio, Jewish Family and Children’s Services and BSA. “It has been, and continues to be, a growing enterprise between the Catholic and Jewish community,” said it’s executive director, M.H. Levine, “designed to first and foremost help bridge gaps in peoples’ lives and to bring the resources that come from the Catholic community and the resources that come from the Jewish community, so that by combining all this we can leverage and get a lot more accomplished.”
The center brings social services and financial assistance into the picture, as well as housing an emergency food pantry. “Every day it gets better,” said Levine, “which is the good news. The bad news is we have more demands to deal with every day. But that’s why we’re all here.”
The morning concluded with a helicopter drop of a thousand numbered golf balls, with the three closest to the hole netting prizes for those who had purchased them. Money from the purchase of balls goes to Birdies for Charity, a fundraising program, which gives participating organizations the opportunity to generate contributions through the Valero Texas Open. While BSA has participated in Birdies for Charity in the past, the day’s event marked their first fundraiser for the program.