A generous donation of prize money will help De La Salle Blackfeet School (DLSBS) in Browning, MT fund its daily expenses.
Father Edward Kohler, Pastor of Little Flower Parish where the school is housed, was named the recipient of Catholic Extension’s 2010 Lumen Christi Award. That honor comes with a $50,000 award that is split between the winner and the diocese.
Fr. Ed is donating his $25,000 to the school, which DLSBS President Brother Paul Ackerman says will be used for necessities like supplies and salaries. “These are tight times we always depend on providence to provide us the funds we need,” said Bro. Paul. “This is just another example of providence.”
It was at Fr. Ed’s urging that the Brothers of the Christian Schools started DLSBS in 2001 after the parish struggled to independently start a school for students on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. The San Miguel school is now housed rent-free in the parish building with the parish paying for utilities. “My heart is in the school and those kids and the success of the school,” said Fr. Ed. “It’s so fragile because it’s so new and schools are so expensive.”
Fr. Ed was chosen out of 25 nominees for the award, which is given annually to an individual who works to help strengthen communities located in the poorest, most isolated regions of America.