The Vermont Catholic Community Foundation, a separate nonprofit from the Diocese of Burlington created to strengthen the Catholic community, has more than doubled the number of designated funds (53) during the last year to support

Catholic schools, parishes, cemeteries, ministries and charitable causes throughout Vermont.

Last fall, more than 160 Catholics representing parishes throughout Vermont gathered for the second Vermont Catholic Community Foundation Annual

Meeting to honor people in three categories: family, community and charity.

The Fitzgerald Fuller Family was honored for establishing the Rice Memorial High School Fitzgerald Fuller Scholarship Fund to provide financial aid scholarships to eligible students at the South Burlington Catholic high school. John Fitzgerald and Mary Ellen Fuller, classmates at Cathedral High School in Burlington, sent their eight children and nine grandchildren to Rice and established the fund to ensure

others could afford to attend. All eight of the Fitzgerald children surprised their mother last Easter with a gift doubling the fund and financial aid capacity.

The St. Augustine Soup Kitchen volunteers were honored with the Community Award and a $1,000 donation to purchase food for those they serve.

Founded in 1988 by a group of concerned parishioners who wanted to provide a sandwich and soup in the parish hall to local community members down on their luck, the soup kitchen now serves an average of 75 people per meal.

Burlington Bishop Christopher Coyne presented the Charity Award in memory of Antonio Pomerleau and acknowledged that his generosity would be impossible to calculate: “To calculate his generosity over the course of his lifetime would be impossible, but to give you an idea of his support, the foundation he created to carry on this effort beyond his lifetime has donated almost $7 million since its inception in 2005 with almost $1 million of that directed to Catholic churches, schools and charities. Tony’s life was truly an example of faith in action.”

The Antonio Pomerleau Emergency Aid fund was established in his memory with a $10,000 gift from the Pomerleau Family Foundation.

Founded in 2015, the Vermont Catholic Community Foundation has a mission to support the apostolic activities of the Church and support the most vulnerable among us. VCCF provides philanthropic individuals with a mechanism to establish and grow resources for

the Catholic ministries that matter most to them.

To learn more about the Vermont Catholic Community Foundation and established funds, visit vtcatholicfoundation.org or contact Ellen Kane at 802-658-6110 ext. 1226 or ekane@vermontcatholic.org.

—Originally published in the Spring 2019 issue of Vermont Catholic magazine.