The Blessed Sacrament School Tuition Assistance Fund
This Designated Fund was established in May of 2019 by the Knights of Columbus Father Raho Council #4194 in Morton, IL. The purpose of the Fund is to provide support for Blessed Sacrament School students in grades K-8 with tuition assistance. Grants will be sent to Blessed Sacrament school and recipients of tuition assistance shall be determined by Blessed Sacrament School’s financial needs-based program.
Dorothy’s love for Blessed Sacrament School lives on through her $720,000 estate gift
Dorothy was a devoted member of Blessed Sacrament Church who cared deeply for her faith community. She was especially proud to be part of the first 8th grade class to graduate from Blessed Sacrament School in 1959, and she often shared fond memories of her time there.
Dorothy, age 80, passed away on Tuesday, January 7, 2025, at her home in Morton. She was born May 7, 1944, in Whittemore, Iowa, to Walter and Cecilia (Besch) Fandel, and her family moved to Morton in 1955. Dorothy is survived by many cousins and her Blessed Sacrament Church family.
After graduating from Blessed Sacrament School and later the Academy of Our Lady Catholic High School in Peoria, Dorothy worked in Morton’s local grocery stores until her retirement. She and her parents lived a very modest life, yet through careful stewardship, they accumulated significant resources over the years.
It was Dorothy’s heartfelt wish to support families in our community by helping children attend the school she cherished. She demonstrated this by leaving her entire estate of $720,000 to the Blessed Sacrament School Tuition Assistance Fund.
To honor Dorothy’s memory, donations may be made to the Blessed Sacrament School Tuition Assistance Fund. Your generosity will carry forward her love for Blessed Sacrament School and help ensure that future generations of students grow in their faith, learning, and spiritual development.
BSS has a strong Catholic Identity by developing students intellectually, socially, culturally, and physically, centering on the teaching of Jesus Christ and the Roman Catholic Church.
In order to provide an atmosphere that allows our students to develop their individual God given talents, Blessed Sacrament offers a number of activities to enrich their interests and abilities.
We are proud that our school ranks in the upper 15% nationally in the Iowa Test of Basic Skills.
Blessed Sacrament School serves Preschool through 8th grade students in Morton, Illinois, and the surrounding area. Blessed Sacrament School is committed to providing our students a positive learning environment in which they can develop intellectually, socially, culturally, physically and most importantly spiritually centering on the teaching of Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church. Blessed Sacrament School provides a full curriculum including a foreign language (Spanish K-8), a 30 - station computer lab, SMART boards, a Glynn STREAM lab, a 10,000 volume library, and resource teachers. We have iPads available in each room - 1:2 K-4th grade and 1:1 5th-8th. Some teachers have implemented Google Classroom, where notes are uploaded online so students can download them from school or at home. We use the Iowa Test of Basic Skills as our assessment in grades 3, 5 and 7 and our scores rank very high nationally. We also use MAP testing. (Measures of Academic Progress)
If you feel you may qualify for tuition assistance to send your child to Blessed Sacrament School, you may apply online HERE.
To make a tax-deductible donation to this endowment fund, you can:
Donate by check: Make it payable to Morton Community Foundation and mail it to 135 S First Ave, Morton, IL 61550. Please write “BSS Tuition Assistance” on the memo line.
Make a tax-advantaged gift of stock…Visit our stock gifting page by clicking HERE.
For more ways to give, CLICK HERE.
Give online by clicking the button below.
Are you a Caterpillar Employee or Retiree?
The Caterpillar Foundation is proud to offer the year-round Matching Gifts Program to support their employees, U.S. retirees and board of directors in their contributions to worthy causes. Eligible Caterpillar participants may request an annual total maximum 1:1 match of $10,000 USD each calendar year to eligible charities to which contributions are tax deductible. The Morton Community Foundation is an eligible charity. So, if you are an eligible Caterpillar participant, you may submit any donations to this fund for an equivalent match, up to your total maximum of $10,000 per year. CLICK HERE to link to the Caterpillar Foundation’s Matching Gift website.