Cedar Rapids couple donates $4.5 million to Catholic schools, churches

CEDAR RAPIDS - School construction projects and financial aid for Eastern Iowa Catholic students got some help Friday, when a Cedar Rapids couple announced a $4.5 million donation to five Catholic institutions.

The gift will be divided between the St. Jude and St. Patrick Catholic churches in Cedar Rapids ($1 million each), Loras College ($1 million), Mt. Mercy University ($1 million) and Xavier High School ($500,000). It comes from Mike and Jo Cambridge, a retired couple who owned a Cedar Rapids-based staffing company for 33 years.

Almost half of the money - about $2.1 million - will go toward high school and college financial aid, the schools and churches said.

That includes $400,000 for each Loras and Mt. Mercy that will create scholarships named after the couple. The Loras scholarship will be for students from Cedar Rapids and Iowa City; the Mt. Mercy scholarship will be for Linn County business students.

Mt. Mercy also will use $300,000 of the donation to fund its new athletic complex and training facilities. The complex will give Mt. Mercy student-athletes a home-field advantage, said the school's president, Laurie Hamen. Outdoor sports teams at Mt. Mercy previously have used other schools' facilities, she said.

'What we think this will do is create a ripple effect both across our university and across generations,” Hamen said.

At Xavier, $50,000 of the donation will go toward the school's scholarship fund, and $325,000 will fund the purchase of new iPads, laptop computers, projectors and software.

The school also will put $125,000 of the donation toward the renovation of its library, which will include new collaborative work spaces and a broadcast studio, as well as space for tutoring and quiet reading.

'We're excited,” said Tom Keating, the Xavier principal. 'We think this is going to give us a boost.”

For the churches, the donation will fund debt payments, scholarships, a retirement fund at St. Patrick and a new parish center, as well as Holy Family School expenses, at St. Jude.

'This gift, and what it's going to do, are immeasurable,” said John Winkel, a deacon at St. Jude.

Mike and Jo Cambridge graduated from the former St. Patrick High School in Cedar Rapids in 1959. They were among the donors who helped fund the construction of Xavier in the late 1990s, Keating said.

Mike Cambridge graduated from Loras in 1963. And Jo Cambridge attended Mt. Mercy for two years and studied business and accounting, Hamen said.

Mike Cambridge said he and his wife did some estate planning this year and wanted some of their money to go to institutions in the archdiocese of Dubuque.

'This was the best way to help the most people and yet monitor the results,” he said.

The donation will be disbursed over 10 years, with 25 percent of it coming in the first five years, Mike Cambridge said.