Volunteer Feature
W
e can’t believe it’s been over 30 years since our journey with Eastside Catholic School began. As we reflect on our time at EC, it has become clear that committing to sending our children to the school and getting involved in the EC community has been a beautiful gift to our family. Thirty years ago, we had our home in Newport Hills and discussed the options of Catholic grade school and high school, as Catholic education played a very important role in my upbringing in Portland, Oregon. With our parish, St. Madeleine Sophie, not having a grade school and transportation to other schools being a challenge, we enrolled our boys in public school. When Eastside Catholic moved four blocks from our home, it was clear that God was opening up an opportunity for the gift of Catholic education to our family. The second event that influenced our decision happened when Jerry was coaching our boy’s Renton Park basketball teams and went to pick up our older son from practice. A dad (Terry Flanagan) put together an AAU basketball team for EC. Jerry came home and
said, “You probably won’t be interested in our boys playing for EC because they’re already playing on two teams.” At that point, I saw another door open and immediately said, “Sign them up.” I didn’t care if they played twice a day, seven days a week, if that got us closer to sending our boys to EC. No surprise, Jerry’s interest increased. As a result of these experiences, in 1991, our son Jason enrolled at EC. Our family was excited to join a welcoming community where parents were encouraged to get involved. And that we did! Jerry joined the Booster Club, Jeff ’96 enrolled in 1992 and Patrick ’00 in 1995, and I served on the board of trustees from 1993-1999. These were wonderful years of incorporating Catholic teachings into our family values. In late 1999, a call came from our friend John Luger saying that he and Donna had just sold the family business and that now was the time that “we” were going to lead the efforts to build a new school. That process led to forming a Permanence Committee, and I was honored to be a part of it. A group of highly-motivated
Our EC Life B Y MA RY A N N E D’A M B RO S I O Emeriti, EC grandparent and alumni parent
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