Parents Save OLL Catholic School from Closing

We first introduced you to 6th grader MacKenzie King in January when she making signs to save her school, Our Lady of the Lake in Mound, from closing at the end of the school year.

"I would have to start over and it would be really hard," said King.

"Right away my initial response was, 'What do we do? What do we do? How do we change this?" said her mother, Molly Price-Munson.

Enrollment at the private catholic school was dwindling and tuition wasn't getting paid but in just a few short weeks, parents have pulled together more than $400,000 dollars in donations to keep the 61-year-old school up and running.

"Most of the fund raising was done with modest checks," said parent Danny Patterson. "It was just the sheer volume of support that we got that helped us reach our goal."

The fund-raising efforts equal enough to keep the school in operation for three more years - buying enough time for parents and parishioners to build an elected school board to manage the school's future financials.

"I don't think anyone has ever seen an effort come together this quickly and with that much passion," said Price-Munson.

"When I saw all the parents working for it I thought they must really care about us and really love us that much to want to do all this," said King.

MacKenzie is now one of almost 100 students enrolled to go to school here in the fall.

"If you set your mind to anything, you can accomplish it," said her mother. "All it takes is heart and passion and we have a lot of that at this school."

"If you think and you put all your effort into something you can accomplish it," said King.

It's a lesson in perseverance she couldn't have learned in the classroom. 

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