(Brad Puckett / American Press)
(Brad Puckett / American Press)
St. Louis Catholic, St. Charles Center have 'bully good time' with fundraiser
Last Modified: Monday, July 09, 2012 5:14 PM
By Warren Arceneaux / American Press
MOSS BLUFF — A not-quite-so-intimidating set of bulls were set loose at the St. Charles Center Saturday in a fundraiser for the center and St. Louis Catholic High School.
Unlike its traditional Spanish counterpart, this edition of the Running of the Bulls featured nothing more dangerous than high school students and teachers on roller skates, decked out in bull costumes and protective gear, including helmets with decorative horns attached. Instead of gorging the people running with them, they merely tapped them with foam tubes.
The event was the idea of center director Rev. Whitney Miller, who had seen a similar event in New Orleans. Miller borrowed the idea to help raise awareness of the center and raise funds for the St. Louis fine arts programs.
Prizes were awarded for best costumes and the runners who managed to avoid the bulls the longest.
Miller said the event produced as much fun as he hoped.
“It was fun to see the enthusiasm of the runners and bulls, who were mostly members of the band’s flag corps, they really seemed to have a good time,” Miller said.
“Their costumes were great. The runners were sponsored by generous people. To see the enthusiasm once the run took place was fun. It was good to see the various students involved. We had members of the female chorus, a couple of members of the drama department did a skit, we had a trumpet player and different people from the student body being involved from the planning and preparation. There was a very enthusiastic response from everyone. I love working with the students and always have. I was the rector there from 1999-2007. I loved those years, to work with them again was terrific.”
Miller said he hopes the event will help often-overlooked programs at the school and help encourage more people to make use of the center.
“Half of the funds raised went to the fine arts department, half went to the retreat center,” he said.
“During my time at St. Louis, I found it was challenging to raise money for the fine arts, so I thought this would be a good way to do that. We had 35 runners, each of whom had a sponsor, and 12 bulls. We had lots of participants, but would like to get move people out to watch next time. I think it will grow. We wanted to do this to get folks out to the center. A lot of people have never been here, this was a good way to get people to see the center. Now that they have, maybe they will come back to make use of the spiritual services as well. The center is used for days of recollection, days of prayer, weekend retreats, seminars, workshops on prayer, spiritual direction, it is mainly a spirituality center.”
For more information on the center, call 855-1232.
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