Welcome to the Evelyn Gammons Costello Fund.
The Costello Fund was established in 1993 to honor the memory of Evelyn Gammons Costello by providing scholarship monies to children of single parents who wish to attend Mount Saint Joseph Academy in Rutland Vermont. This is an especially well suited memorial for Evelyn because she was a school teacher herself and when her husband died he left nine children under the age of seventeen to feed, cloth and educate, including two in the womb. The eight youngest all attended MSJ beginning with Bartley who was enrolled in the first class to accept men. All of her children went on to lead full and compelling lives and were among the first to contribute to this effort to help others follow in their footsteps at the Mount.
Everyone needs help. And like most Americans during the Great Depression, Evelyn Costello needed help as well. But with hard work and the generosity of kith and kin she maintained the household and nurtured her brood to adulthood. Through the Costello Fund, donors seek to offer a small assistance to single parents and their children who find themselves in similar circumstances. Since its inception in 1993, the Costello Fund has helped dozens of children attain the best secondary education available in Rutland.
Mount Saint Joseph is a bulwark of Catholic education in the state of Vermont. A genuine sense of community is developed among students through small study groups, sports, music, theater and participation in activities that focus students' attention on their place in greater Rutland community and the world at large. Says Principal Paolo Zancanaro, "Our students flourish in an environment that allows them to express themselves with all their interests.....MSJ is a place where teenagers can find their niche in life." And the payoff is measurable. According to Guidance Counselor Connie Whalen, MSJ ," provides unlimited support for all students applying to colleges, and this has translated [in 2010] into 100% matriculation into four year institutions with scholarships and grants totaling over $3.5 million." She also noted that she has " a great job that allows me to help students and their parents plan for a solid financial future and to help foster their child's future career development."
Rutland Vermont was the landing place and safe haven for many Irish, Italian, Polish and French immigrants. It was in Rutland that they married, raised their children and educated them at Mount Saint Joseph. From the Mount, their children and grandchildren have spread throughout the United States and across the world. They've started families of their own. These families are smaller and they are more prosperous and better educated. But it began for them all with people like Evelyn Costello.... and it begins for the children of today with people like you.
Everyone needs help. And like most Americans during the Great Depression, Evelyn Costello needed help as well. But with hard work and the generosity of kith and kin she maintained the household and nurtured her brood to adulthood. Through the Costello Fund, donors seek to offer a small assistance to single parents and their children who find themselves in similar circumstances. Since its inception in 1993, the Costello Fund has helped dozens of children attain the best secondary education available in Rutland.
Mount Saint Joseph is a bulwark of Catholic education in the state of Vermont. A genuine sense of community is developed among students through small study groups, sports, music, theater and participation in activities that focus students' attention on their place in greater Rutland community and the world at large. Says Principal Paolo Zancanaro, "Our students flourish in an environment that allows them to express themselves with all their interests.....MSJ is a place where teenagers can find their niche in life." And the payoff is measurable. According to Guidance Counselor Connie Whalen, MSJ ," provides unlimited support for all students applying to colleges, and this has translated [in 2010] into 100% matriculation into four year institutions with scholarships and grants totaling over $3.5 million." She also noted that she has " a great job that allows me to help students and their parents plan for a solid financial future and to help foster their child's future career development."
Rutland Vermont was the landing place and safe haven for many Irish, Italian, Polish and French immigrants. It was in Rutland that they married, raised their children and educated them at Mount Saint Joseph. From the Mount, their children and grandchildren have spread throughout the United States and across the world. They've started families of their own. These families are smaller and they are more prosperous and better educated. But it began for them all with people like Evelyn Costello.... and it begins for the children of today with people like you.
