Catholic Newman Club Budget

All retreats occur at the Rednal retreat house in Ligonier, PA. We drive (a van, and several individual's cars) to Ligonier on Friday evening and return by early Sunday afternoon. We cook our meals at the retreat house and provide for different activities. Last school year, we had 19 people attend our spring (13) retreat, and food cost us $150, which we asked the attendees to help cover. This year, we asked retreat attendees to help cover the cost of both the fall13 and spring14 retreats. 20 people attended in the fall, and 25 in the spring.

As we work with the Pittsburgh Oratory and Ryan Catholic Newman Center, we do benefit from their financial help. They provide a bus for retreats, and for our retreat in the Fall of 2012, covered the cost of gas for others who helped drive to the retreat, which for two cars was around 30 dollars. Their donations are limited as the diocese has cut their budget, and they provide for the Pitt Newman Club as well.

We held a cookout last year after the orientation Mass on campus for incoming freshmen and their families. We bought chicken breast and wings, pierogies and drinks for 80+ people. The total was more than $200, and we would like to do this again for fall 2014, with more food, as we ran out early last time.

For the cookout, we also needed to buy disposable plates, utensils, cups and table cloths. We bought a large package of each item and used them throughout the 2013-2014 year at large group events and various social events. It was around $30 for the events in Fall of 2013.

We host bi-weekly large groups events to further educate the Catholics and to educate people interested in Catholicism on different topics. This past year we have consistently had 20 to 25 people at each event. We often ask priests to come and give presentations, and in the spring of 2014, Bishop Zubik, the leader of the Diocese of Pittsburgh came to speak with us. We like to make people feel comfortable and welcomed, and food is always a good way to do that. Usually we ask a member of the club to bake, cook or provide a snack for the evening. There are eight large group events per semester, and we are asking for a budget of $150 to help with providing for the larger events, such as the visit from the Bishop or various priests, to make sure guest speakers and guests feel welcomed.

We host several social events throughout the year, with a focus on Catholic history (for example, pumpkin carving) or on practice of the faith (making rosaries to use and to give to others). In Fall 2013, the Oratory covered some of the cost of pumpkin carving, which totaled $35 and I have donated rosary twine for making rosaries, which over the year totals $30. We also like to have various icebreakers for events, which incur some costs.

In addition to social events on campus, we like to get out as a group! Ice skating, which we did in Spring14 with 15 people is $97; 2 games of bowling, which we did in Fall13 with 15 people at Forward Lanes is $58. It would be nice to provide a free outing once a semester for the members of the club.

We also host several Masses on campus (All Saints Day and Ash Wednesday), and to encourage fellowship, we like to provide food afterwards, if the feast day calls for it. This past fall, we we fortunate to have a late night after our All Saint's Day Mass, but in the future, that may not work out as planned, and there are other Masses that occur on Campus, where we'd like to provide fellowship and food afterwards. We usually have a large turn-out for Masses on campus, with upwards of thirty to forty members, and providing sandwiches or salad and pasta (which has been provided by members in the past) is something we'd like to continue to do.

As we expect our retreats to grow as we gain new members, we expect to require more funding to have meals at retreats. We attempt to keep the cost down by cooking ourselves and planning the meals carefully. This would be the cost for two retreats with 25 people each, based off of the attendance at the spring 2014 retreat we held with 25 people.

Gas - to cover the cost of three cars (for twenty-five people; we have a van provided by the Pittsburgh Oratory and then various members drive) to Rednal and back is calculated to be $90 for the year, calculating for two retreats.