PROJECT RAINBOW
Project Rainbow A Little History Project Rainbow was started in 1999 as the result of a request from National at a workshop for State Officers in Belleville, Ill. The challenge was to brainstorm and come up with something new to present to Courts. The State Regent was Vickie Broussard, and she thought of the CDA Kid idea; a program to help severely sick or disabled children in dire financial need. Leona Vanicor, then State Secretary, thought of putting three projects together which is now known as Project Rainbow. When Vickie was a National Director, she mentioned the CDA Kid project to National. The National Regent later contacted Vickie and asked if National could adopt this project to present to all Courts. Many of the State Courts today continue this project.
Project Rainbow - Categories Project Rainbow consist of three categories. 1. CDA Kid One child chosen from each of the seven dioceses 2. Disaster Relief Awarded in times of disaster to area Court members (such as flood, hurricane, tornados, house fires) 3. Scholarships Senior Scholarship One from each of the seven dioceses Eight Grade Scholarship One from each of the seven dioceses These charitable causes are funded by your contributions to Project Rainbow. If every Court donated, that would amount to 93 Courts x $45 each for a total of $4185.00.
Project Rainbow - Disbursements Here is the breakdown of how the money is dispersed (if we have enough participants and entries in each category). CDA Kid 7 dioceses X $300 per child = $2100.00 per year Scholarships 7 Dioceses X $200 per Senior Scholarship = $1400.00 per year 7 Dioceses X $200 per 8 th. Grade Scholarship = $1400.00 per year Total $2800.00 per year Disaster Relief $300 per court per disaster (to be determined as needed) Total Unknown GRAND TOTAL $4900.00+ per year
Project Rainbow Restricted Funds Money held in a restricted fund means all money collected must be given for this purpose ONLY! Thus, all your contributions will be given out. We discussed this at workshops in the past whether to discontinue giving one of the scholarships, since so many of the Courts have their own scholarship program. We would hate to have to do this, but if funding is not available, we may have to. Remember part of the reason we joined Catholic Daughters is so we can do more as a group than individually. We humbly ask you to consider contributing in the future and possibly giving more than the recommended amount.
Project Rainbow Can You Help? This does not include any disaster, which we suffered many recently. As you can see, we don t get enough funding, even if every Court participated. The State Board would like to have all Courts throughout the state participant in funding this project. The suggested donation is $45 per Court to be divided equally among the three projects ($15 each). It is not mandatory to donate or to give the $45. We appreciate any amount and would like to thank those Courts who gave the $45 or less and to those who exceeded the suggested donation amount. Please try to include this in your budgets for the upcoming year.
CDA KID Helping Children with special needs
What is CDA Kids program? State project started in 1999. Part of "Project Rainbow." The State court gives each CDA Kid $300 which comes from money donated to Project Rainbow. Each diocese will sponsor a CDA Kid. The courts in each diocese pray for and provide monetary support for that Kid for the year. There will be postings on the State Website under the Prayer Line.
Nomination Process Each court submits a Nomination Form, which will be in our State Newsletter, for their nominated CDA Kid by October 31. Does not have to be Catholic. 12 years or younger with a life-threatening illness or in need of financial support. Resident of Louisiana. If you nominated a child this past year and they were not chosen, you may submit their name again. Chairman s nominations due to the State CDA Chairman by November 15. Beginning January 2018, the chairman for each diocese will be in contact with this child for any prayer needs.
CDA Kid Chairmen Diocese of Alexandria Diocese of Baton Rouge Diocese of Houma-Thibodeaux Diocese of Lafayette Diocese of Lake Charles Archdiocese of New Orleans Diocese of Shreveport Cheryl Verzwyvelt Alice Tassin Betty Melancon Jill Fontenot Linda Portie Glenda Wactor Mary Brinkerhoff
The CDA Chairman is responsible for documenting and administering the finances to meet the most important needs of their CDA Kid. If your local court chooses to donate to a CDA Kid in addition to the Project Rainbow donation, be sure to turn in a donation form at the Call to Convention. A Few Notes! It is not advisable to donate money or gift cards. By giving the parents money for the child, this could affect their financial funding from the government if they are on any sort of financial assistance program. Each family has to stay below a certain dollar amount before having to claim this on taxes, etc. We do not want to jeopardize these families from receiving any help. Instead, help with medical expenses or donate diapers, food, clothing, toys, medical equipment, baby items, or any necessary items needed
CDA KID - Alexandria 2017 Alexandria CDA Kid Kylie Renee Walleser Bush 11 years old She loves Disney, reading and playing board games. Nominated by: Court Bishop Greco #2072-Pineville
CDA KID Baton Rouge 2017 Baton Rouge CDA Kid Emmalyn Stewart 12 years old She loves Sponge Bob, listening to music and bright colors. Nominated by: Court St. Margaret Queen of Scotland #2678-Albany
CDA KID Houma-Thibodaux 2017 Houma-Thibodaux CDA Kid Marcella Grace 8 years old She loves baby dolls, make-up, And playing outside in her wheelchair. Nominated by: Court Pope Pius X #1883-Cut Off
CDA KID Lafayette 2017 Lafayette CDA Kid Victoria Lynn Landry 2 years old She loves Elmo, Bubble Guppies and books are her favorite. Nominated by: Court Sts Peter and Paul #2321 - Scott
CDA KID Lake Charles 2017 Lake Charles CDA Kid Elliot LaFleur 11 years old He loves planes, trains, Hot Wheels and reading books. Nominated by: Court St. Raphael #1377 - Iowa
CDA KID New Orleans 2017 New Orleans CDA Kid Halen Elizabeth LaGrange 9 years old She loves books, music and toys that dance and sing. Nominated by: Court Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal #2165-Algiers
CDA KID Shreveport 2017 Shreveport CDA Kid Olive Grace Williams 4 years old She loves her brother, Felix, and she likes music and lights Nominated by: Court Saint Matthew #1144-Monroe
DISASTER RELIEF Helping Our Neighbors
Disaster Relief How Does it Work? Disaster Relief is similar to that of National s Disaster Relief Program. When a Court reports loss due to disasters, the State Court would make a donation to the Bishop of that diocese to be dispersed by the diocese to those in need affected by the disaster. Due to the recent flooding of many of our Court members, the State Board requested money from National for this disaster. National sent money to the Bishops of each affected diocese to disperse to the needy. (This did not always see it s way to helping our members). We requested National give the money to the State Court to disperse between our affected Courts. The National Chaplain reviewed this and decided it needed to remain as in the past and go to the Bishops to give to the most needy. We as a board felt this needed to change. That our donations needed to go to help our members. You fund this program and we felt it needs to go to you when you experience casualty losses.
Disaster Relief What Qualifies? At a state board meeting a vote was held and it was decided that the money would go to the Courts affected and they could decide at a meeting how best to help their affected members. An amount of $300 per disaster per Court was set, as long as the funds are available in that restricted fund. Disasters could include flooding, tornados, house fires, hurricanes, or any other cause of severe loss to our members. A local Court regent should send a request to the state regent whenever anyone of it s members are affected. And as a side note, we want to commend all the Courts who recently donated extra funds for all the flood victims. We had over 200 members affected. I live in St. Amant and we flooded Still many of the people here have not yet begun to build. Please keep them in your prayers.
STATE SCHOLARSHIPS Advancing Education
State Scholarships The State sponsors two scholarships: One for a Senior going on to an accredited college or university and one to an eighth grade student going into a Catholic High School. There is only one selected from each of the seven dioceses. This amounts to 14 scholarships at a cost of $200 each for a total of $2800. Many times we do not get any submission from a diocese and that s a shame. All courts should make the effort to get these forms out to the students. With the cost of education constantly rising, we have so many in need. These scholarships are awarded each year. All applications are sent to our Scholarship Chairman, Pat Myers. She and her committee will select one winner for each diocese. The winners are notified by the local courts. We try to get this done prior to any awards ceremonies. Currently this is how the Scholarship Contest is set up.
Scholarship 8 th. Grade Requirements for Eighth Grade Scholarships are as follows: Applicants (male or female) must have resided in Louisiana at least one year prior to high school graduation. The applicant must have an overall academic grade point average of 2.5 or higher for grade 7 and the first semester of grade 8. All eighth grade students are eligible regardless of race, creed or religion. The applicant must be sponsored by a local CDA court. Local CDA courts may sponsor as many eighth grade students as they would like.
Scholarship Documents Needed The following documents needed for Eighth Grade Scholarships are as follows: An application form for this scholarship signed by applicant, Court Regent and Scholarship Chairman of that court. Middle School transcript for grade 7 and first semester of grade 8. A copy of the student s latest achievement test scores. A letter of recommendation on applicant s academic references, school involvement and character from at least (2) members of the schools administration and/or faculty. An autobiography written by the student. (Since this is a faith based scholarship, we need to know not only of your academic accomplishments but how you give of yourself, and how your faith defines you). A letter of sponsorship from the regent of the local CDA court.
Scholarship High School Graduate Requirements for High School Graduating Senior are as follows: Applicants (male or female) must have resided in Louisiana at least one year prior to high school graduation. The applicant must have an overall academic grade point average of 2.5 or higher for grades 9, 10 & 11 and the first semester of grade 12. All high school seniors are eligible regardless of race, creed or religion. The applicant must be sponsored by a local CDA court. Local CDA courts may sponsor as many high school seniors as they would like.
Scholarship HS Documents Needed The following documents needed for High School Senior Scholarship are as follows: An application form for this scholarship signed by applicant, Court Regent and Scholarship Chairman of that court. An official transcript of the student s grades for the 9 th, 10 th, and 11 th grades and the first semester of 12 th grade. A copy of the student s latest ACT or SAT test scores. A letter of recommendation that refers to the applicant s academic references, school involvement and character from at least (2) members of the schools administration and/or faculty. An autobiography written by the student. (Since this is a faith based scholarship, we need to know not only of your academic accomplishments but how you give of yourself, and how your faith defines you). A letter of sponsorship from the regent of the local CDA court.
Scholarship Proposed Changes Proposed changes: Award only two High School and two Middle School Scholarships per year at an award amount of $500 each. Education cost are rising every year. We feel as a board that $200 does not help much, $500 would be better. This would also save the state $800 per year. How do you feel about this? Any other suggestions?