{"id":245210,"date":"2026-05-27T15:51:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T15:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/245210\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T15:51:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T15:51:09","slug":"st-joan-of-arc-raises-35000-for-school-initiatives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/245210\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Joan of Arc Raises $35,000 for School Initiatives"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSON HEIGHTS \u2014 On May 22, students at St. Joan of Arc Catholic School<\/a> poured out of the building and into the streets for their annual Walk for Education.<\/p>\n

The cheer and the sneakers were familiar. The dollar figure was not.<\/p>\n

This year, the event raised more than $35,000, a record high and over seven times last year\u2019s total, according to Father Christopher Heanue, pastor of St. Joan of Arc.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re spending a lot of effort and attention on the school,\u201d Father Heanue said. \u201cWe value Catholic education here at St. Joan of Arc, and our parishioners do too.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year, the walk-a-thon included more than just the walk.<\/p>\n

They set grade, class, and individual-level fundraising goals and enabled people to pledge donations online.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe excitement was palpable,\u201d Father Heanue said. \u201cAnd look at it \u2014 it returned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the walk began, the school community honored Father Heanue, who arrived in 2025. Students circled around him as a teacher read an Irish blessing. They sang \u201cYou Are My Sunshine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, while on stage, a row of children held signs spelling out F-A-T-H-E-R H-E-A-N-U-E, each child reading aloud what their letter stood for \u2014 and what makes their pastor special to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an honor to be honored,\u201d Father Heanue said. \u201cI\u2019m so happy to be in a parish \u2014 a dynamic parish \u2014 with a great school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Father Heanue has prioritized education since his installation on Sept. 28.<\/p>\n

The \u201cInstallation Challenge\u201d he created when he first arrived \u2014 a five-year giving commitment from vendors, donors, and family friends \u2014 has pulled in more than $160,000 for school scholarships, well past the $100,000 goal.<\/p>\n

Principal Agnes Mosejczuk said Father Heanue had barely \u201cunpacked his suitcase\u201d in June before he was unloading ideas for the school.<\/p>\n

RELATED: With Suitcase Yet Unpacked in Queens, New Pastor Father Christopher Heanue Raises Funds for St. Joan of Arc School Scholarships<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe work hard to improve our school each and every day, with a lot of energy and dreams, and now Father Heanue has come in and shared his support and his vision,\u201d Mosejczuk said. \u201cHe encourages us to dream even bigger.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving his support allows us to reach high, and that is what we are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Father Heanue framed the fundraising surge as the fruit of a deliberate shift.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to change culture at St. Joan of Arc,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want everyone to be actively engaged and involved for the benefit of their parish, of their school.\u201d<\/p>\n

He included himself in the goal-setting. His personal target for the walk-a-thon was $1,000. He raised more than $2,000.<\/p>\n

Mosejczuk, however, raised even more than her pastor \u2014 a detail Father Heanue volunteered with a grin.<\/p>\n

Students also had a stake in the walka-thon. Whichever grade raised the most money would lead the procession through the streets. That honor went to the fourth grade, which raised about $3,500.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Rubio, a fourth grader, said the school coached each child on how to make donation requests \u2014 and she put the lesson to work by canvassing neighborhood businesses with her classmates.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe made a lot of money. So that was really awesome because we all did the hard work,\u201d Elizabeth said, adding that the school\u2019s advice was helpful. \u201cI entered the store, and I had my piece of paper so I would know what to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Walk for Education was also held in honor of the late Antoinette Balzano, a longtime school secretary, who organized the event for years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe miss her every single day,\u201d Mosejczuk said. \u201cThis walk-a-thon was her baby. Every year, she put a lot of her energy into the fundraiser, so we continue her legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Father Heanue, like Balzano and Mosejczuk, sees the value of the fundraiser in investing in the school\u2019s students.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at the excitement on these children\u2019s faces, you see the future of our society, of our diocese, of our nation,\u201d he said. \u201cYou see them with such potential \u2014 and the potential is discovered here. We treat our students with great love, great care, and affection. You can see that lived out here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSON HEIGHTS \u2014 On May 22, students at St. Joan of Arc Catholic School poured out of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245211,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-245210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}