3rd grader Katie Brown (Mason) sells cheesecake raffle tickets to 5th grade teacher Matt Schlotman (Mason) as 5th grader Bradley Wier (Mason) looks on.

September 28, 2005, Mason, Ohio – Royalmont Academy in Mason, a school with a total enrollment of 147 students, raised $10,000 from a bake sale Wednesday, September 14, that lasted one hour to benefit victims of hurricane Katrina.

Each grade was a separate bakery that could sell and market the products as they saw fit.  For example, a class could sell brownies for $25 a piece or raffle $1 chances to win a DJ Christi’s cheesecake.  Many unique themes and products were concocted.  The eighth grade tied their products and advertising to a Mardi Gras theme in connection to the hurricane victims in New Orleans, offering King cakes and cupcakes in colors of purple, green, and yellow.  First graders got very creative and sold complete lasagna dinners for a $30 donation.  In honor of college football, the sixth grade featured buckeyes and displayed their products in football helmets.

Although the grades competed against each other for a reward to the grade that brought in the most money, the competition remained friendly, in keeping with the school’s Christian values which promote such virtues as generosity, speaking well of others, and kindness.  Students were bound by rules that included good sportsmanship and positive advertising.  Pre-sales were permitted as were advance donations.

The winning class was

	5th grader Katie Hart (Springboro) checks inventory levels while shoppers buy at other booths.

the sixth grade, who earned lunch at a local restaurant, complete with dessert!  But of course the real winners are the children who will receive a Catholic education in the hurricane ravaged areas of the south.  One of Royalmont’s sister schools in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, provided the inspiration of where proceeds would be donated.  The Catholic Education Assistance fund has been established in conjunction with Catholic World Mission to assist families whose Catholic schools were forced to close. It helps students obtain a Catholic education in crowded neighboring cities to which Katrina refugees have fled.

The abundance of unsold baked items was given to local fire stations, police headquarters, churches, and a retirement community.

Royalmont Academy (www.royalmont.com) is a private school, chartered by the State of Ohio as a non-public school, offering an education rich in the Catholic faith for preschool through eighth- grade students.  It is affiliated with the National Consultants for Education (www.nceducation.org) and receives spiritual assistance by legionary priests. The Academy is located at 723 Western Row Road, west of the intersection of Mason-Montgomery Road and Western Row Road in Mason, Ohio.