Sacred Heart Parish fundraiser a success

By Brad Everett Times Contributor

While attendance was down slightly with 215 tickets sold, the auction income was up which meant Sacred Heart Parish’s 6th annual new church dinner and auction fundraiser brought in just over $33,000 on Nov. 2 at the Strathmore Civic Centre.
“People were very generous,” said Gorete Salm, one of the event’s organizers. “Even with ticket sales down, it’s funny how God works.”
The live auction featured 28 items ranging from Calgary Flames tickets to a 10-day stay at Palm Springs, while the silent auction offered 250 items, all of which were donated by parish and community members.
“To date, we have raised $1.66 million of the $5.3 million we need to begin construction,” said Paul O’Leary, who serves on the parish’s finance council and building committee.
The parish purchased the old IGA store downtown on 4th Avenue between 2nd and 3rd Streets in 2016 and plans to renovate it.
“If fundraising goes as planned, the renovations can begin in 2021 and then we hope to be worshipping there in 2023,” said O’Leary.
It was announced at the banquet that a new extended walk-through video of what the new church will look like had been posted to the parish’s Facebook page (Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church – Strathmore) or can be found on YouTube.com under Sacred Heart Catholic Church – Extended Walkthrough v.2 (November 2019, Strathmore, Alberta).
“We are one year into our ongoing three-year pledge drive and the response from the parish has been good,” added O’Leary.