Raised: $5,076,252
Percent of goal: 101%

Some appeal highlights: 
Parishes/Missions over goal: 64
Total cash and pledges received: $5,076,252
Number of gifts: 16,454
Online gifts (667): $338,996
Holy Family Society (45) $614,626
St. Paul Society (63) $329,310
Priest Giving (111): $161,111
New Donors (688): $115,430   

“I thank God that we will be able to continue to serve tens of thousands of people who are impacted by the agencies and ministries supported by Partners in Charity,” said Most Reverend Robert J. McManus, Bishop of Worcester.

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Partners in Charity thanks contributors with a dinner at Tower Hill.
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Appreciation Dinner: Mr. Timoth McMahon, executive director of Catholic Charities &
Mr. Kevin Kielier, Partners in Charity committee member.

Bishop Daniel P. Reilly and Mr. Russell Lindquist    

Ms. Ellen Peloquin, Manady Nguyen, and Tim Phan, and Margaret Zapatka.

Father Robert Grattaroti, Father James Houston, Patricia Ahern and Father Timothy Brewer. 

Irene Harvanek and Anna Naum

It was a good year for the annual Partners in Charity Appeal, according to Michael Gillespie, director of the Office of Stewardship and Development. The fund drive finished with $5,076,252 in gifts and pledges, topping the $5 million goal.
 
Of that total 688 gifts and pledges totaling $115,430 came from new donors. Another $161,111 came from 111 priests. Altogether, the fund drive received 16,454 gifts and pledges, Mr. Gillespie reported.
 
Another good sign is that more parishes went over goal this year than last year, he said. Sixty-four parishes or missions met or exceeded their goals this year. A complete listing of parish returns is on Page 10 of this week’s edition.
 
The campaign ended Aug. 31, the end of the fiscal year. Last Thursday donors from the Holy Family Society,   St. Paul Society and the St. John Vianney Society were the first to learn of the final tally of the appeal. At a dinner held at Tower Hill Botanical Garden in Boylston, more than 100 people were thanked for their generous contributions. 
 
After Mr. Gillespie announced that the fund surpassed its goal, Bishop McManus thanked the people and noted that the Partners in Charity money comes in and goes out in support of 28 agencies and ministries in the diocese. 
 
The bishop then informed the crowd that his advisers had told him “we need to do a capital campaign.” He introduced the $32 million “Legacy of Hope” campaign which will establish endowments for the other responsibilities the diocese has. A video produced by Guidance in Giving, the company that was hired to run the capital campaign, was presented. The bishop praised the video, which he said “brings together the pastoral life of the diocese.” 
 
“Our responsibility is to take what we have received as a gift and pass it along to our children and grandchildren so they will grow in the life of the faith and be able to know, love and serve God, the way it has been passed on to us,” Bishop McManus said.