Small army of volunteers giving school a new look
BY MARY ANNE ROSS
Correspondent

MILLTOWN - Fifty is a good age for a make-over, and that is exactly what Our Lady of Lourdes School will get this week.

Built in 1957 on Cleveland Avenue, the school and its grounds have been well maintained, but are nonetheless starting to show their years.

"They were due for a face-lift," said Jim Lukach, who volunteers with the School Advisory Committee and serves as chairman of facility management.

Fortunately, the school was chosen for an "extreme make-over" by the corporation Music Choice.

"This really fell into our lap," Lukach said. "One of our parishioners has a son-in-law who works for the company."

Music Choice provides music programming for cable television stations, the Internet and various businesses. It has locations in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

According to Lukach the company chooses a nonprofit organization to work with every year.

"Usually it's a school. This year they chose us," he said.

Today, 120 of the company's employees will be working to create a new look for Our Lady of Lourdes School. They will be painting the classrooms and hallways and creating murals for the walls of the cafeteria, gym and computer rooms. They planned to re-do the landscaping and plant a butterfly garden. Even the parking lot will be repainted and laid out with designs for a basketball court and hopscotch for the little ones.

"We feel so blessed by their generosity," said the Rev. Ed Czarcinski, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes.

In preparation for today's big event, about 30 volunteers from the school community gathered on Aug. 11 to get the grounds ready.

"We did the paint-prepping. We put tape around the windows, doors and ceilings. We even painted the parking lot so they would have a smooth surface to work on," Lukach said.

Our Lady of Lourdes School has 154 students registered for this fall. Classes, kindergarten through eighth grade, are taught by teachers as well as by nuns who are members of the Little Servant Sisters of the Immaculate Conception. There is also a prekindergarten program on the premises.

During the school year, more than 300 students will be enrolled in CCD (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine religious education) classes. In addition to academic and religious education, the school offers athletics and extracurricular activities.

"We are a small school, but we offer something special. It's a real close family type of environment. Most of our students are from Milltown, North Brunswick and East Brunswick, but some come from as a far away as Carteret," said Lukach, whose two children attended the school and who now has three grandchildren there. His wife, Evelyn, is the parish secretary.

Father Czarcinski also feels there is an advantage in the school size.

"We are able to give each child a lot of personal attention, and we work very hard to help them develop their individual potential. The staff is very dedicated," he said.

Members of the school staff and parish community expected to be on hand today to provide support to the volunteers from Music Choice.

"We will be carrying ladders, providing refreshments and doing whatever we can to assist them. We are just thrilled about what they will be doing," Lukach said.