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newman center budget includes 'personal' air conditioners

Story and photo by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

With outside temperatures rising, musicians began playing and people began taking their seats for a day of prayer and reflection May 31 at the Newman Catholic Student Center in Carbondale.

Center director, Jeff Jenkins, opened windows, turned on ceiling fans and began passing out “personal air conditioners” to the more than 135 people seated in the room.

Yes, the building is air-conditioned, and no, he wouldn’t be turning it on for the half-day gathering. His budget was just too tight, and it wouldn’t be cost-effective to crank up the compressors to cool down the building.
At the end of this fiscal year, with less than a month to go, Jenkins is “stretching the budget as far as I can.”
The fans were used and then kept. “I thought they would leave them, and we could use them someplace else,” Jenkins added.

Jenkins shared some statistics about the Newman Center’s budget for the last three years: in 2005-2006, the center received $142,000 from the diocese through the annual appeal, now called the Catholic Service and Ministry Appeal (CSMA).

That was 40 percent of the center’s $332,000 budget. The next year, the center asked the diocese for $142,000 but received $127,000, a $15,000 cut from a $326,000 budget that year.
In 2007-2008, the center asked for $127,000 from the diocese and received $115,000.

While he tried to keep his request the same as the previous year, the diocese continued to decrease its allocation.
To meet his budget, Jenkins, who was campus minister, said he has been forced to cut corners. His bookkeeper is now part-time instead of full time, and this year, the campus minister will be an intern who will receive a monthly stipend, health benefits and free housing in one of the center’s facilities.

On the day of prayer, people from the diocese were treated to one of his energy cost-saving strategies.
Jenkins is trying to use his resources for students, sending them to leadership training sessions and providing transportation to students on “alternative” spring break to build houses in Mobile, Ala., he said.

“I would like to expand” the volunteer group, he said, but with energy costs rising, “ don’t know if I can.”
Instead of spending money on energy costs at the end of his fiscal year, Jenkins prefers spending it on students and programs to train them.

He said he realizes he will probably have to turn on air conditioning at the center before July 1, and he will do that when it becomes absolutely necessary.

Jenkins is also diocesan director of campus ministry for various colleges and universities.

“I would like to have a presence at John A. Logan,” a community college not far from SIU Carbondale that serves as a feeder school to the university for many of its students from southern Illinois.

However, funding prevents Jenkins from placing a campus minister at Logan, part time or full time.
Jenkins has seen his CSMA money reduced every year for the last three. He’s caught in what he sees as a “Catch 22.”

He turns in numbers of people served and would like to expand his programs and services to include more people but without the funding that is impossible. The CSMA looks at his numbers of people served and sees they are not large.
“I’m not discouraged,” Jenkins said. “I really trust that we will make it work. The community here has some very resourceful people.”

Jenkins said the Newman Auxiliary continues to support the center although their members are aging. “I’m thankful for what they do,” he said.

The Knights of Columbus also supports the center, but again, their support depends on numbers of students on campus and how many staff members the center has.

Jenkins’ optimism, he said, is relying on Sunday collections remaining the same, or even increasing by 10 percent and no maintenance issues to be addressed.

Jenkins said he “will invest in the students” and offer them what they might describe as “life-changing” experiences where they learn to “integrate faith with life.”