St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church

St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Valley, Nebraska, has been blessed with strong growth. But that trend also placed a strain on parish facilities. The parish needed more space for meetings, adult programs, faith formation classes and staff offices. St. John’s developed plans for a 7,500-square-foot Faith Formation Center that would address the parish’s needs. The project included adding 11 rooms to create new meeting and conference space for parish committees and ministry groups. The project would also provide additional office space and more parking. The parish teamed with the Steier Group for a capital campaign to help fund the project. Any fundraising effort is challenging. But historic flooding in spring 2019, which led to the evacuation of the parish’s town, presented additional hurdles. The Steier Group’s professionalism, experience and flexibility kept the campaign on track, enabling the pastor to focus his energies on those in need. The parish showed strength, resilience and a passion for its community as the town recovered from the flooding. Despite the extra challenges, the successful campaign helped raise about $1.2 million toward the parish’s important goals.