Every year, about 50 Catholic schools close. The Villa Augustina School will not be one of them.

In December it seemed like it would be, when the religious order that founded it almost a century ago said it did not have the personnel or finances to continue to support the school and parents had no money and little time to go it alone. Five months later, the school has gone from near closure to a new beginning, as parents kept their faith in its future.

On Sunday, May 4, they voted to buy the Villa Augustina from the Religious of Jesus and Mary, two weeks after the religious order agreed to sell it to them.

“The deal is done,” said Carol Barrett, chairman of the Villa Augustina Leadership Transition Team. “It’s really just the mechanics of the lawyer stuff.”

The vote came after Barrett told the assembly of approximately 50 parents and school staff that the religious order approved a purchase-and-sale agreement for the school building and surrounding 32 acres, even getting the nod from its headquarters in Rome.

“It was wonderful, wonderful news,” said Russell Mann, of Henniker, who has one child at the school. “Honestly, I knew it would happen. I just had faith.”

The purchase-and-sale agreement, which parent leaders expected to sign Wednesday, May 7, was not the only good news announced at the meeting. Barrett said the school also received a $100,000 anonymous alumni gift for the purchase of the school.

The school has also benefited from a number of smaller donations that have made a big difference in the long run. Around Christmas time, another anonymous donor offered $200,000 if parents could match it. By Easter, the school had, thanks in large part to families that had given donations of $10,000 or less.

On May 4, Gary Bouchard, a spokesman for parents, said the school has also received $500 from the Pinardville Athletic Club, $1,500 from Bishop Guertin High School and $2,500 from Goffstown Junior Baseball, which for years has used the ball fields next to the Villa Augustina for $1. All three gifts are for a new gym floor in Rosary Hall.

“The local community support really means a great deal to us and we are especially gratified by the support of Goffstown Junior Baseball,” Bouchard said. “We look forward to having Goffstown Baseball as our neighbor for years to come.”

The Villa Augustina community has now raised a total of $737,336, with $516,136 for repairs and renovations and $221,200 for buying the school.

It will take $400,000 to buy the school. Barrett said she was confident parents would have that amount ready in time for the closing on the sale, set for the end of June.

Saint Anselm College has pledged to help out with fundraising, with the Benedictine monks of the abbey even donating the first $100,000 for the purchase price. If parents do not have the full $400,000 in two months, Barrett said the leadership team will be able to get a loan for the difference from St. Mary’s Bank.

The new relationship with the Benedictine college, a mere 4 miles from campus will extend beyond fundraising. Fr. Mathias Durette, the assistant dean of students at Saint Anselm, told parents that the school was making outreach and volunteerism at the Villa Augustina a part of the sophomore year experience program.

Durette said the college could loan student teachers and coaches to the Villa Augustina, send volunteers to do various projects at the school, and provide mentors to the pupils in the elementary-middle school. He said these were just a few examples of the many things the Saint Anselm students could do.

“This is something that money cannot buy,” Durette said. “I don’t know why we didn’t do this sooner. Sometimes it takes a crisis for clarity to come through — for creativity to come through.”

A few question marks remain. The leadership team is still working on finding a replacement for retiring Principal Jack Daniels and is hoping to boost enrollment from its current level of 175 students to 200 next year. The team is also not sure if it will be able to keep the Villa Augustina name, for legal reasons.

Once the sale is complete, the Religious of Jesus and Mary will have some property left in the area, including the cemetery, the ball fields used by the town Little League teams and the Emmaus House, where some sisters continue to live. Also, the order has an option agreement to buy back the school if, for some reason, it should close. That option expires within 10 years.

Lynn Mark, whose family donated $10,000 to ensure her four children could stay at the Villa Augustina, was left speechless at the all the good news. “I don’t know how to put it into words,” she said.

The Villa Augustina has several upcoming fundraisers. One is the Manchester Wolves game at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, May 16, at the Verizon Wireless Arena. Parents are selling special tickets to the game for $10. For each ticket, the Wolves will donate $5 to the school. If 400 tickets are sold, the team will let parents run a 50/50 raffle on game night.

More information on this event and others is available at www.villafuture.org.