Money will be used to provide free Catholic education to students throughout diocese
CHARLOTTE — An estate gift from a credit card executive who went on to create a nationally-recognized personal finance curriculum to help young people manage debt will soon help pay for children in the Diocese of Charlotte to go to Catholic school for free.
Before his death earlier this year, C. Philip Johnston set up the “C. Philip Johnston – Aline W. Kaneer Scholarship Fund” with $4 million from his estate.
All 19 Catholic schools in the diocese will be able to request money annually from the fund, which is expected to generate approximately $200,000 in scholarships each year. The money will be used to pay the full tuition cost for students who qualify for aid.
Johnston, a Catholic convert, was born in Charlotte but lived all over the country before retiring in the Southeast. He attended Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Md., which is where he made the decision to enter the Church, according to his nephew Greg Johnston. He earned a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in 1958. He worked in the entertainment industry, but when acting work became scarce, he took a “temporary job” working for Conrad Hilton in a new credit card venture called Carte Blanche.
He rose to success in the emerging credit card industry and, after reaching the position of senior vice president at a large regional bank in St. Louis, he left the banking side of the credit card industry to lead a non-profit organization specializing in consumer credit counseling. Johnston had recognized the need to teach people how to manage personal debt, so he partnered with a national group of educators and economists to create a curriculum in personal finance for children in kindergarten through 12th grade.
He passed away in April at the age of 88.
“We have known since 1989 that Mr. Johnston was going to do something in the way of an estate gift,” said Jim Kelley, diocesan development director.
“We are so grateful for this transformative gift.”
Those like Johnston who make a planned gift to the diocese or any of its parishes, schools, ministries or agencies become members of the Catholic Heritage Society. The society is the diocese’s way of honoring the Christian generosity of Catholic friends who are providing for the future of the Church in western North Carolina.
The Catholic Heritage Society is comprised of more than 900 people in the diocese, many of whom are leaving gifts to the Diocese of Charlotte Foundation in their wills. Since 1994, the foundation has distributed more than $7 million to the diocese and its parishes, schools and ministries.
Johnston’s gift is the second gift of at least $4 million to the diocese in the past year.
The other gift was an endowment bequeathed to St. Barnabas Church received through the generosity of Dennis and Mary Kushler, who quietly left the parish a $4.1 million endowment after their deaths. It is the single largest estate gift in the history of the Church in North Carolina.
The Kushlers’ endowment will provide the parish with an estimated $205,000 annual income initially, and it will grow over time. It is a general purpose endowment, so the money can be used to help in whatever way the parish decides.
Kelley noted, “More and more people across the diocese are remembering the Church in their estate plans – gifts from thousands of dollars to millions – and we are thankful for their generosity.”
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter
CHARLOTTE — Jack Deering doesn’t know which career he’ll choose, but he knows he wants to make an impact on the world around him.
The recent Charlotte Catholic High School graduate has spent the summer working as a Bank of America Student Leader at the YWCA. He will be attending the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill this fall.
The Bank of America Student Leader program connects students to employment, skills development and service. They’re awarded paid summer internships with local non-profits. Deering was recognized as a student leader because of his numerous community and volunteer activities.
“My volunteer work is who I am. I know no matter where I go in life, I always need to be making a positive impact on the people around me,” Deering says. “That’s my driving force. Wherever I go in my career, it needs to make a positive impact on the world around me. It’s a rewarding experience for me.”
He’s considering majoring in pre-med with a biology concentration, or economics and a business school major, he says.
“Faith plays a big role in my drive to volunteer,” adds Deering, a parishioner of St. Gabriel Church in Charlotte. “A big part of emphasis during our education at CCHS was service. Through our religion classes, it’s been instilled in us that we need to give back.”
The goal of the Student Leaders Program is to connect community-minded kids to each other and then invest in them so they keep bettering the community in the future, Deering says.
As a student leader at the YWCA, Deering spends some of his days on “intern tasks” like cleaning out filing cabinets or working on marketing materials. Other days, he’s helping at the YWCA’s learning centers, which run after school and all day during the summer, on literacy-based learning programs for kids in grades K-5.
“It’s great to help give these children the one-on-one reading time and academic help that they need,” Deering says. “It’s super important to help these kids get up to their reading level, and it’s great to see improvement.”
During his last day at one of the centers, the children gave Deering thank you cards – the highlight of his summer, he says.
“They said things like, ‘Mr. Jack, thank you so much for helping us to read’; ‘You are brave to show up here’; ‘Thank you for helping me when I didn’t know how to swim’; ‘Thank you so much for coming out here. Thank you for working for the YWCA, we love you,’” he read.
“Not even being there that long, it’s great to see the impact you can have on the children. It doesn’t take a lot to help the kids in a tremendous way. Some just hit a roadblock when they’re reading on their own and won’t understand the book. It’s good to be there to help them.”
Before spending this summer at the YWCA, Deering has been an instructor and team captain for Carolinas Healthcare System’s Adaptive Sports and Adventures Program, an intern at the Charlotte Mecklenburg Main Library, and served on the superintendent’s Student Advisory Board.
Carolinas Healthcare System’s ASAP provides sports opportunities for physically disabled athletes and facilitates practices. Deering says he was inspired to get involved after he watched his brother play a match against a young man who competes in a wheelchair. Additionally, he has led a team of 10 able-bodied players to participate in the annual Strokes for Spokes Tennis Tournament, where his team raised more than $8,000 to help buy more wheelchairs.
Deering is very much in tune with the issue of economic mobility after serving on the North Tryon Cultural Collaborative. He helped to analyze the challenges that contribute to communities having a lack of access to resources.
There, he and the other interns learned about the problems affecting Charlotte residents and studied how people move out of poverty, he says. Their team made recommendations on how to expand access to services in North Tryon, including a discount app and a free community fair.
Part of the Bank of America Student Leader program includes a week-long summit in Washington, D.C., with more than 200 student leaders from across the country.
“We’re proud to offer this program that teaches the next generation of leaders valuable skills that will help them in their professional careers and build better communities where they will work and contin-ue to contribute,” said Charles Bowman, Market President.
After meeting his peers, some of whom have started non-profits and helped write legislation, Deering says he was inspired to want to do more. He also realized he needs to learn more about current issues, going beyond the headlines, he says.
“I’m doing well, but there’s more I can do,” he says. “I need to know more about what’s going on in my community. I need to engage more with local elected officials because that’s where we can have the most impact.”
— Kimberly Bender, online reporter