ATLANTA—The fall semester will bring new technology for some Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Atlanta.

An anonymous donor, through the Catholic Foundation of North Georgia, contributed $40,000 to support Catholic school students in need of laptops for the next school year.

Nancy Coveny
President of the Catholic Foundation of North Georgia

Students at Our Lady of Mercy High School in Fayetteville will receive laptops in time for the fall semester. Chromebooks will be available prior to the new school year for students at Our Lady of Victory in Tyrone, St. Catherine of Siena in Kennesaw, St. John Neumann Regional in Lilburn, St. John the Evangelist in Hapeville and St. Peter Claver Regional in Decatur.

“We’re thrilled and grateful to be able to facilitate gifts like this,” said Nancy Coveny, president of the Catholic Foundation of North Georgia.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Catholic schools began online learning from home in March, which continued until the end of the school year. Some students faced challenges with the transition by not having the right technology at home and may have to prepare for online learning next school year. The donor reached out to the Catholic Foundation to help students in need.

With a donor advised fund already with the Catholic Foundation, the anonymous giver, a member of a large and longtime Atlanta Catholic family, helped with the contribution. Donors establish a fund, give their money to the Catholic Foundation and the organization invests it, said Coveny. The foundation handles their recommendations and grants coming out of the funds, she said.

The donor wanted people to know they can create funds with the money they invest at the Catholic Foundation and outline where they want the money to go, said Coveny. Donors can be anonymous if they wish and give to their own special interests.

The Catholic Foundation worked with the Office of Catholic Schools for the Atlanta Archdiocese to support locations with the greatest need. This led to a grant that will support students at six archdiocesan schools.

“We work closely with the Catholic Foundation of North Georgia on a number of projects and initiatives throughout the year,” said Brian Dooling, director of marketing and enrollment for the Office of Catholic Schools. This generous grant helps to “provide the financial resources for technology to serve our schools and make a real difference for our students–now and in the future.”

Cynthia Launay-Fallasse, assistant principal and advancement director of Our Lady of Mercy High School, believes the new equipment is essential for student growth.

“Being able to update our computer labs with new laptops will enable our students to have the best quality technology to enhance their learning experience,” she said.

The Fayetteville high school looks forward to using the laptops for the foreign language lab, as well as the computer science and robotics labs. The new laptops will help students access new software for audio and visual learning, gain access to digital textbook features and use applications to develop authentic projects, explained the assistant principal.

“We hope that this technology will allow for flexible learning and customized lesson plans for our students,” said Launay-Fallasse.

Coveny hopes this gift inspires others to consider the Catholic Foundation for their giving intentions. We are here to help facilitate giving and help Catholics make a lasting difference in our community, she said.