Texas Catholic Letters
August 21, 2008
Sister Gloria Cain, SSND
Superintendant of Schools
Diocese of Dallas
Dear Sister Gloria,
Thank you for allowing me to come to your Principals meeting last week at Bishop Lynch High School to announce the 2008-09 Work of Heart program for our Catholic schools. The program is the only one like it in the United States and I hope that the enthusiastic reception the principals gave it was a good indication to you of the importance of the program in our schools.
Work of Heart is focused on recognizing the “Excellence in Catholic Education” that our Catholic school employees deliver to students everyday. The awards are presented monthly and are taken from nominations received from throughout the community. Nominations can be mailed to The Catholic Foundation or emailed to workofheart@catholicfoundation.com.
The selection committee looks for the following traits in a nomination:
- Traditional Merit including tenure and leadership
- Enthusiastic instruction
- Individual or unexpected acts of kindness or charity
- Christian example
- Mentoring
- Simply going the extra mile for a student, family or the community.
The Work of Heart program was initiated in 2005 by a generous Dallas family which wished to be anonymous. More than 500 individuals in our Catholic schools have been recognized with Work of Heart $500 grants since that time. This year, The Catholic Foundation accepted a challenge from the founding family to match their innovative contributions and this wonderful program will continue for another year.
Best wishes for a successful and exciting school year. We are happy The Catholic Foundation and the caring Dallas family will recognize outstanding individuals again this year.
Sincerely,
Edwin M. Schaffler
President and Chief Executive Officer