Saint Jude Purple Envelope Building & Grounds Fund

St. Jude is our spiritual home and, like any home, there are unexpected needs that arise which put a financial strain on the household.  Please consider donating to our Purple Envelope fund in order for us to keep our spiritual home in good repair. 

What is the Purple Envelope Fund?

Saint Jude Parish has an excellent Building & Grounds Committee that continually inspects and prioritizes our parish's physical resources and needs. We plan for anticipated work to be done on our Saint Jude home, however, it is an aging facility. The cost of our planned projects as well as the unanticipated projects is depleting our fund. We must build up our maintenance fund and would like to keep it consistently replenished to defray the ongoing costs of keeping our house in order. For this reason, we have started the "Purple Envelope" funding initiative. 

What will the fund go towards?

Saint Jude has 16 roofs on our Parish Campus. There are 3 roofs that are presenting the most need for replacement. These roofs are the lower roof of the church, the old school roof and the first and second grade wing roof. The Building and Grounds Committee also has had anticipated and unanticipated projects that have been done throughout the past few years, as well as future projects. 

What has been done for the Purple Envelope fund so far?

At a recent Saint Jude Gala auction, we initiated our Purple Envelope Fund. During that night, the fund-a-cause was dedicated to starting this fund. We were able to raise $50,000 within a matter of minutes for our fund. Thank you to all who donated to jump start this fund!

How can you donate to the fund?

Please consider donating something extra on a consistent basis to help us keep Saint Jude in good repair. There are a few ways that you can donate to the Purple Envelope Fund: 1) You can use Bank Bill Pay, the easiest way without having to remember 2) Use a purple envelope or 3) Write a check and put "purple envelope" on the memo line.

Purple Envelope Q & A

.What is all this about Purple Envelopes?
“Purple Envelopes” is the shorthand name for the Parish effort to begin routinely raising money to pay for capital needs and major maintenance. 
 
Where did the code name “Purple Envelopes” come from?
Parish households without a child currently in the day school typically receive a package of envelopes to use for their commitment offerings which can be conveniently dropped off in the collection basket during mass. There are four green envelopes for each week during the month, and one Purple Envelope for each month designated for Buildings and Grounds Maintenance. So in a sense we are just raising consciousness about existing Purple Envelopes.
 
What do you want me to do?
We are asking everyone in the Parish to make “Purple Envelope” contributions on a regular basis. In addition to the contributions you already routinely make and that have been crucial to meet our annual operating expenses, the Parish needs Purple Envelope funds as a resource to meet the needs of our aging campus.
 
Can’t you make this easier than sending out new envelopes?
Yes. In fact, we’re not planning big changes with envelope distribution. What we would really like is for each St. Jude Parish household to set up a regular, recurring amount through your bank’s Bill Pay service or through an automatic debit. All you need to do is to indicate on the biller name that it is for "St. Jude Parish - Purple Envelopes”, or have “Purple Envelopes” written in the memo line, and it will get to the right place.
 
So I should use my bank’s Bill Pay service for this?
Yes, that would be great. Send in something on a regular basis. Please make it a new part of your routine giving. And if you prefer using the physical envelopes, that’s OK too.
 
Can’t you just wrap this into my annual commitment amount to the Parish?
There are some real problems with that. First, like many businesses, the Parish maintains an annual operating budget that follows accounting standards. Under such standards, capital expenses are distinct and separate from operating expenses. Second, while our Buildings and Grounds Committee does a great job in identifying and trying to anticipate needs, many times the needs for a major repair arise suddenly, perhaps on an emergency basis. If we used operating budget funds for such repairs, we could end up with frequent deficits.  
 
How much do you want me to give?
Please give what you can. We will keep information available on the amounts we anticipate needing for roof replacement and other predictable projects. And we will keep you informed of the spending on projects. If we all give something, and give regularly, we’ll be OK.
 
Can we just have a capital campaign and get this over with?
Typically, about every three years over the past twenty five years or so St. Jude has needed to have a capital campaign. We frankly would like to avoid the organizational stresses and giving exhaustion that can accompany such campaigns. We hope that as a Parish we can begin to meet these needs on a routine and sustainable basis, rather than through cyclical crisis response. So, like upkeep of your own home, we frankly do not expect the need for Purple Envelopes here at our collective spiritual home come to an end anytime soon. Can you help?
 
How are we doing so far?
Since its inception in late 2016, the Purple Envelope Campaign has generated sufficient funds to move forward with funding a number of projected ans some unplanned capital improvements for our Saint Jude campus. We have been able, in Spring 2017, to replace the roof on the school addition 1&2, as well as replacing the lower church roof in June 2018; also since then, three school bathrooms and four classrooms have had lead paint remediation and updating as well as air conditioning units replaced on the Community Center and Church as well as other needed yet unplanned repairs.

These replacements, repairs and updates are made possible by your continued support of the Purple Envelope Campaign which in addition to your contributions to the general operating fund, help us maintain St. Jude's buildings and parish operations at a satisfactory level.

Work of the Saint Jude Building & Ground Committee