NCCA Fundraiser Tonight

This year’s annual fundraiser for New Covenant Christian Academy will reflect the times, co-founder Stephanie DeGeneste said Friday.

Enrollments are down from 52 last year to 38 now, as some parents have lost jobs and one student no longer has a benefactor paying tuition.

Economic circumstances make the school’s annual scholarship fundraiser all the more important this time, she said.

The event is 6 p.m. tonight, July 24 in the sanctuary of First-Park Baptist Church, 315 W. Seventh St.

Local artists are donating their talents in music, spoken word and dance, and admission is free, although a “love offering” will be accepted at the event. Those unable to attend may send a donation to the school.

The school currently offers K-8 education and hopes to offer high school classes soon.

The school’s tuition is only $4,500, compared to what DeGeneste said was about $15,000 for public school tuition.

As a private religious school, DeGeneste said, “We fill a particular niche out here.”

DeGeneste wrote a book about what she called “the miraculous journey” of the school, which began four years ago on a $250 shoestring. The book, “WHAT GOD CAN DO With a Slice of Bread and a Teaspoon of Peanut Butter,” was released in May and has brought widespread attention to the school, she said. It is currently available only through the school office and proceeds of its sale benefit the school.

DeGeneste said the school family is very excited to have a student accepted into the NJ SEEDS program, which "prepares academically talented, financially limited youth for success at competitive secondary schools," according to its web site.

For more information about New Covenant Christian Academy, click here.

--Bernice Paglia