St. Vincent s Academy Tour of Homes & Tea

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1 St. Vincent s Academy Tour of Homes & Tea 207 East Liberty Street Savannah, GA June 25, 2015 Dear Friend of St. Vincent s: We are inviting you to take a leadership role in an important historic restoration project for Savannah. The Convent of St. Vincent de Paul is a large and architecturally significant building designed by noted architect Charles Clusky that was completed in It is located in the Historic Landmark District of Savannah and has continually served Savannahians for nearly 170 years. Your generosity through the St. Vincent s Tour of Homes & Tea is a major source of the funds used for vital repairs to this building. One hundred percent of the dollars generated by this annual tour goes directly to The 1845 Foundation for building restoration, renovation, and preservation. The Convent is the home of Sisters who serve our community as teachers. These Sisters are among only 82 Sisters who serve the entire Diocese of Savannah s 37,038 square miles. Not only is the building a Savannah treasure, but keeping it in good repair enables it to remain a residence so these exceptional women remain available to our community. With the support of the St. Vincent s Tour of Homes & Tea, scheduled for Saturday, October 17, 2015, vital repairs are made to preserve the 1845 building and property. Two years ago, windows and metal work on the south side of the Convent were prepped and painted. Last year, repairs and painting was done to save the windows on the east side of the building. In just two years, prevention of further deterioration cost more than $65,000. This year, peeling and stripped paint on interior windows in the Convent will be repaired. We also hope to prep and repaint the rusted iron fence on the Liberty Street side of the property. The cost will be more than $30,000. All efforts to protect this historic property are primarily made possible by the generous donations of sponsors for the St. Vincent s Tour of Homes & Tea. Last year, the St. Vincent s Tour of Homes & Tea was privileged to have three presenting sponsors: St. Joseph s/candler Health System, Optim Healthcare, and an anonymous donor. This year, we invite your business to become a sponsor for this great event to preserve the Convent building. For the second year, we are featuring a level of sponsorship called Convent Restoration Trustee. Those who participate on this level will be named on a permanent bronze plaque in the Convent, and names will be added every year as we move forward with the ongoing restoration. Additional levels of sponsorship are included in this package. We are most grateful for your kind consideration of this worthy preservation project. God bless. Sincerely, Sister M. Jude Walsh Religious Sisters of Mercy Mary Anne Hogan Principal Jennifer Sheppard Katherine Weeks 2015 Tour Co-Chair 2015 Tour Co-Chair

2 St. Vincent s Annual Historic Tour of Homes & Tea Sponsorship Opportunities Proceeds from the annual St. Vincent s Tour of Homes & Tea, scheduled for Saturday, October 17, 2015, are the major source of funds to preserve the Convent of St. Vincent de Paul. Convent Restoration Trustee $10,000+ In addition to all benefits listed as a Sisters of Mercy Presenting Sponsor, your corporation or family name will permanently be listed on a plaque in the Convent. Sisters of Mercy Presenting Sponsor $5,000 $9,999 Twenty complimentary tickets for the Tour of Homes Logo on brochure, rack card, poster, ticket, web site, Facebook, and signage in the courtyard at the Tea and Walsh Hall (Logo must be received by Friday, July 31, 2015) Platinum Sponsor $2,500 $4,999 Ten complimentary tickets for the Tour of Homes Logo on poster, web site, Facebook, and signage in the courtyard at the Tea and Walsh Hall (Logo must be received by Friday, July 31, 2015) Gold Sponsor $1,000 $2,499 Six complimentary tickets for the Tour of Homes Silver Sponsor $500 $999 Four complimentary tickets for the Tour of Homes Bronze Sponsor $250 $499 Two complimentary tickets for the Tour of Homes Friends and Family Sponsor $100 $249 Listing on web site and Facebook, and signage in the courtyard at the Tea and Walsh Hall Business Name Address Phone Contact Person Title Please complete this form for both Sponsorship and Advertising and submit it along with your check made payable to St. Vincent s Tour of Homes by August 30, The mailing address is 207 East Liberty Street, Savannah, GA , Attn: Loretto Lominack. The nonprofit tax identification number will be provided along with a tax deductible receipt. If you have any questions, please contact Katherine Weeks (svatourofhomes@gmail.com or ). Thank you for your support, and God bless. Total Amount of Sponsorship/Advertising:

3 St. Vincent s Annual Historic Tour of Homes & Tea Advertising Opportunities For the first time, we will be offering advertising in our brochure, which will be handed out the day of the Tour (Saturday, October 17, 2015) at all homes and at the Tea. We will print 1,000 brochures. Full-Page Ad... $500 (5.5 inches wide x 8.5 inches high) Half-Page Ad... $250 (5.5 inches wide x 4.25 inches high) Quarter-Page Ad... $125 (2.75 inches wide x 4.25 inches high) Brochure artwork to be provided by: Donor Tour & Tea Committee The brochure artwork may be mailed to the address listed above or ed to winters15@comcast.net. The deadline is Friday, July 24, 2015 at 4:00 p.m. The Convent of St. Vincent de Paul, and its Sisters of Mercy, have founded/staffed: St. Vincent s Convent St. Vincent s Academy St. Joseph s Hospital, Savannah St. Joseph s School of Nursing, Savannah St Vincent s Kindergarten, Savannah St Vincent s Grade School, Savannah St. Mary s Home, Savannah Mercy Housing, National Organization Blessed Sacrament School, Savannah Nativity School, Savannah (today St. Peter the Apostle) Cathedral Day School, Savannah Staffed Forest City Marine Hospital, Savannah Staffed Camp Villa Marie, Savannah St Joseph s Hospital, Atlanta St. Joseph s Nursing School, Atlanta Immaculate Conception School, & Convent, Atlanta St. Joseph Mercy Care Services, St, Joseph s Hospital, Atlanta Assumption School & Convent, Atlanta St. Pius High School, Atlanta City Hospital, Augusta St Mary s Academy, Augusta Sacred Heart Grade School, Augusta

4 Convent of St. Vincent de Paul: Savannah s Living Legend Savannah is a unique American experience that allows people to actually be part of real American history. We walk on cobblestones that arrived on ships from England, when we were King George s Coastal Empire and Low Country settlement. Our warehouses on the river held the cotton bound for ports all over the world. We have residences that have been restored and have survived from Savannah s first settlers. We share our history every day with visitors from around the world. However, there is one Savannah story that not even all Savannahians know. A dignified, historic building has stood on the corner of Liberty and Abercorn since Throughout these years, this Convent has served hundreds of Sisters of Mercy in residence. They were among the first teachers in Savannah. They built and opened St. Joseph s Hospital. They established St. Vincent s Academy, the oldest Mercy secondary institution in continuous existence in America. All of these women, every year since 1845, have served Savannah s sick, her poor, and her children. They have been, and remain today, a formidable part of Savannah s ongoing history. It all started when two of these dedicated women arrived in Savannah from Charleston in Within two years, the construction of this Convent was complete, and more Sisters arrived to help with the task of making the building among all of the other service they were responsible for a home for the orphans of Savannah. For 30 years, they took in children of war and disease, eventually establishing actual orphanages to serve Savannah s orphans. The Convent archives have harrowing accounts of these women going into the streets to help those sick with Yellow Fever in 1854 and Records show the scores of dead bodies they would drag to areas where they could be picked up for burial and of the many orphans they would collect and take with them into the Convent. In 1876, more than a thousand people died within two week of this virus. Thousands fled the city, leaving businesses closed and inextricable confusion. More than 60 percent of the victims died over a period of six or seven days. These women stayed and worked night and day to serve Savannah. The Archives of this Convent are probably the most reliable, unbroken reflection of life in Savannah for the past 170 years. We have no way to estimate how many lives these Sisters and their building have saved and shaped no way to estimate how many neighbors would not be here if their great, great, great, (great??) grandparents had not been saved by the kindness of these Sisters. So many generations have been affected by service and kindness provided in this building. Today this Convent is still home to the Sisters of Mercy who are teachers or administrators at St. Vincent s Academy. St Vincent s has generation upon generation of class photos on the walls. It provides the finest private education for girls in Savannah and, no doubt, throughout the state. Throughout these 170 years, thousands upon thousands of Savannah s young women have learned, grown, and flourished in this building.

5 For the past 10 years, the Sisters and dedicated volunteers have organized the St. Vincent s Tour of Homes & Tea. One hundred percent of the money raised from this effort is used for the ongoing restoration of the historic building. To date, the tour has produced more than $280,000 and has remained the only source of funds for much needed restoration and preservation of this historic building. Year after year, generous and kind Savannahians have opened and shared their homes to support the Convent building restoration. Always as part of this Tour, the Sisters invite everyone into their home, the Convent. They also put on a proper Tea in the courtyard, with St. Vincent s students serving the tea. This part of the tour is a most charming experience. Come be part of Savannah s Living Legend, where notables like Flannery O Conner attended school, where the daughter of Jefferson Davis participated in the commencement exercise of 1865, where strong women are good today and better tomorrow. (Catherine McAuley, Founder, Sisters of Mercy).