Protecting our Legacy
On May 15th, 2020 it was announced that our beloved St. Joseph School was on the verge of closing its doors after 151 years of service to our Hawai’i Island community. This moment was the official birth of The Cardinal Legacy Foundation.
A group of supporters decided to unite together to, not only save the school from its immediate peril, but with the intention of enacting the change necessary to assure its survival for years to come.
The Cardinal Legacy Foundation’s purpose is to support St. Joseph’s School and a high quality Catholic Education on the Island of Hawaii. We want to emphasize transparency and accountability with all things and promote such actions at the school level. It is important that while the school promote a quality Catholic Education, it be operated in such a way that it can both sustain itself and thrive. Although we are in our infancy stages, there is a lot of support behind this effort.
On Friday June 5th, as our pledges and the school’s donations total approached $430,000, Father Poli made a decision to declare that the school can remain open provided that we are all able to make good on the pledges, which were in excess of $370,000. It is important that we continue to accept donations so that we can guarantee continued school support.
The most important next step is promoting enrollment, marketing the school, and assuring that the operational changes needed in order for the school to operate sustainably are carried out.