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10/05/2016 08:30 AMFor more than 60 years, Shannon Snedeker’s family has attended St. Clare Catholic Church in East Haven. Her grandparents started going there, her mother went there, she grew up going to church there, and now takes her daughter there.
“St. Clare’s holds a special place with our family,” says Shannon. “Everyone in my family has made their sacraments there and my grandfather actually passed away during Mass there when I was 13.”
When Shannon found out that her church was in debt with the archdiocese and its sister parish, St. Elizabeth in Branford, she felt she had to do something. She began to come up with ideas to make money, eventually founding the church’s fundraising committee.
“In the beginning, it seemed like doom and gloom for a while, but we knew we needed to get it paid off to keep our church open,” says Shannon. “This has become one of my main focuses. I want to motivate other people to want to do more. None of us want to see anything happen to our church. It’s a special community.”
Shannon, who works full-time for a computer software company that makes medical computer software systems, didn’t have any experience in fundraising. At the 2015 St. Clare Carnival, Shannon held a build-your-own-cupcake booth where people could choose their cake flavor, filling, and frosting. She was able to get local bakeries and businesses to donate the supplies and 100 percent of the proceeds went to St. Clare’s.
The cupcake booth was the first fundraiser and made about $500. Soon after, Shannon’s mom, Cheryl Costello, came up with the idea of hosting a tag sale. The 2015 tag sale made about $1,000 and this year’s earned about $1,400.
“Each thing we do is getting more and more successful,” says Shannon. “We have gotten so much support from the community, which is so great to see.”
Other fundraisers have included restaurant fundraisers at Chili’s and Boston Market, a springtime plant sale for Mother’s Day, and a flamingo flocking fundraiser where a flock of plastic flamingo lawn ornaments were placed at a home with them being moved after a donation was made.
A Thanksgiving pie fundraiser through Bishop’s Orchards is now underway—pie order forms can be printed from the St. Clare Catholic Church Facebook page. Pies will be ready for pickup at the church the week before Thanksgiving. A Christmas poinsettia and wreath fundraiser is being planned.
“My daughter, Savannah [Morris], my boyfriend Lonny and his daughter Maia [Thompson], and my mom help me with all of the fundraisers,” says Shannon. “Even though this isn’t Lonny’s parish, he’s gotten very involved with helping me. He had never been there before and now he’s so involved and we’ve gotten so close with each other and those at the church working together to save it. I couldn’t do any of this without the help of my mom, my boyfriend, our daughters, and the fundraising committee.”
The fundraising committee has about 15 members. Before founding the committee, Shannon was working on the fundraising efforts on her own, making phone calls and arranging events and donations. With the help of the committee, Shannon has been able to lead the group to raising more than $6,000 since it was founded in April.
While Shannon is happy with the results of the fundraising efforts, she has found many other benefits of her involvement as well. She says she’s not only grown closer with her family, but she has met more friends, as well.
“Our parish has many, many generations and I’ve become friends with a lot of these people that I normally would’ve had nothing in common with and gotten really close to those I normally wouldn’t have had the opportunity to otherwise,” says Shannon. “Our main focus is saving the church, but we’re all getting so much more out of it than we could have ever imagined. We truly have a great group of people who have become so close and help each other out.”
Even though Shannon has never been involved in fundraising before, she has seen her mom give back to the community ever since she was young. She remembers her mom starting “The Giving Tree” at their church, through which the church works with local schools to learn about families in need. Tags are made for each child and church members choose a tag and return a gift.
“Even though she is not running that anymore, we are still very active and have helped every year since I was little,” says Shannon. “Giving back helps to shape who you become when you grow up and helps you to be thankful for what you have.”
Though work, fundraising, and her daughter’s activities keep Shannon busy, she also takes time for herself. She has danced at Steppin’ Out for 26 years and enjoys continuing to dance with many of the girls she has known since “we were babies.” Her daughter also dances and teaches the young children on Saturdays.
“It’s timeless—seeing all the same faces year after year, they really become like family,” says Shannon, who does tap and jazz. “I love to dance, but I also love seeing my dance family. With my daughter dancing there, too, it’s cool to share that with her.”
She has also seen relationships grow over the years at St. Clare’s. She now sees her daughter growing up alongside the children of friends she went to church with when she was young.
As the fundraising efforts have grown and the debt is starting to shrink, Shannon has noticed that the morale is also shifting back to a positive outlook. The attendance at Mass has also grown.
“It was dark and hopeless, but since everyone has gotten involved, there is hope,” says Shannon. “Aside from participating in these events, one of the most important ways people can help is by coming to Mass. We need to pay back our debts, for sure, but more importantly, we need to prove that St. Clare is a strong parish and we want it to remain in our community.”
For information on fundraisers, visit the St. Clare Catholic Church page on Facebook. Donations can be mailed to the church at 234 Coe Ave., East Haven, 06512.