Mater Dei Volunteers

from Red & Gold, Volume 38, Number 1 - Winter 2020

In Memoriam

Mater Dei

Volunteers

By Dennis Niemeier ‘70

Mater Dei has long been blessed with a group of volunteers consisting of alumni, parents, grandparents, and friends that help keep the school and grounds in tiptop shape. Their efforts have helped the school save untold hundreds of thousands of dollars in labor costs through the years, expenses that otherwise would have had to be passed on to parents in the form of higher tuition costs or funds raised elsewhere.

Carpentry: Kenny Miller ‘75 and Jerry Kirchoff ‘70 seem to have been a team forever at Mater Dei. Kenny, a retired carpenter of Local 224 in Evansville, has an unseen autograph all over the building. From bookcases, to storage rooms, drywall to doors, frames and windows; Kenny has donated untold hours to our school. In the last five years alone he and Jerry have worked in the cafeteria kitchen, artroom, auditorium, girl's locker room, boy's locker room, various classrooms, the new conference room, and teacher’s lounge. Jerry, a retired teacher from the EVSC, was involved in home-building and remodeling on the side for years. He could easily pass as a carpenter who has done it all for 50 years. Let us not forget Al Weinzapfel ‘55, again, who faithfully builds the wooden base when MD brings home another state championship trophy!

Mowers: We have quite the army of mowers including Al Weinzapfel ‘55, Tom Wilson, Larry Schuble, Dan & Kathy Schenk ‘70, Mike Folz, George Folz, and Tom Niemeier ‘55 who has since “retired” from the regular crew of rotating mowers. Maurice Berendes ‘60 has a history of being a “doer of all things” and has also “retired.”

Snow Removal: Since the sale of Industrial Contractors, Steve Muensterman and son, Jeremy, have offered their time and trucks to remove snow from the parking lots when necessary for years. Not a fun job at 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning when temperatures are freezing!

Contractors and Vendors: Midwest Roofing/Sheet Metal, Muensterman Plumbing, Ohio Valley Insulation, Deig Bros. Construction, IC Skanska, Altstadt Hoffman Plumbing, TMI Contractors of Mt. Vernon, Capital Electric, Blankenberger Brothers., Lehman Roofing, Goedde Drywall, Schaffstein's Truck Clean, and others have donated their services and materials repeatedly through the years. Miscellaneous grounds and facilities work: For several years, there has been a small storm drainage project that needed to be done in between the school building and the big flat grass area west of Harmony Way. It hasn't been a high priority, but the earthen berm that bounds the west side of the area was slowly eroding away. Thanks to the efforts of Bob Neisen, long-time adult coordinator of Mater Dei's Supermileage program, that job has been completed. Bob took the lead to obtain a donated concrete structure, purchased the necessary 60 lineal feet of 12' pipe, scheduled the mini-excavator to do the work, and ordered and received a load of crushed stone that was needed among other tasks. By installing the pipe underground, the erosion has been eliminated. Helping Bob, a retired equipment operator from ICI Skanska (in rear of photo), was his dad, 90-year-old Charlie. Brad McVeigh, another ICI comrade, is not pictured. 29