September 6, 2024 // Diocese

Parishioners in Avilla Donate Solar Energy System to School

Kevin Kilbane

A Gift that Will Keep Giving

St. Mary Catholic School in Avilla will save more than an estimated $300,000 in electric utility costs during the next three decades thanks to a new rooftop solar energy system.

Longtime parishioners Eric and Kimila Hesher donated the solar energy system through his company, Renewable Energy Systems in Avilla. Founded in 2008 and located about 20 miles north of Fort Wayne, the company installs solar energy systems at residences, businesses, and schools in northern Indiana, southeast Michigan, and northwest Ohio.

“All three of our kids went to [St. Mary],” Eric Hesher, the company president, said of making the donation. He and Kimila, who want the dollar value of the donation to remain private, are also very active at St. Mary Parish.

Kimila leads religious education for grades 1-6 and teaches religious education on Sundays for children who don’t attend Catholic school, Eric said. She also serves as an extraordinary minister of holy Communion, while he serves on the parish’s Facilities and Capital Improvements Committee.

St. Mary School serves students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.

The Heshers’ donation and Eric’s work in renewable energy grow from their Catholic faith and their concern for the environment.

“I’m very cautious about the earth and the environment we live in, trying to make it better,” he said. Those efforts include reducing carbon emissions through renewable energy use.

He and Kimila, who is a public school teacher, also want to invest in their church to help it save money and be environmentally conscious, he said. In addition, he believes the solar project will have great educational value for the school because math, science, and other teachers can use data from the solar energy system in classroom work.

“Education is an inherent part of our company,” Eric said, noting the staff includes engineers, people with other advanced education degrees, and skilled technicians. The St. Mary School solar project allows his staff to educate the next generation about how things can be done, he added.

“It’s a wonderful thing,” said Brian Myers, Chairman of the parish’s Facilities and Capital Improvements Committee. “It will give us the ability to put more money back into the school.” Savings on electric utility costs can be invested in school programs or in building improvements and maintenance, Myers added.

The solar energy system, which was scheduled to begin operation on Saturday, August 24, also improves the school’s energy efficiency and can be used to promote the school to parents who are interested in care for the environment, Myers said.

Planning for the solar project began last year with studying the school’s electrical bills and evaluating its energy needs, Eric said. The solar energy system will provide power only to the school building because the parish church is on a separate electrical meter.

Early this year, they began developing the design and layout for the solar panel array on the school’s roof, he said. This spring, he made a presentation about the system and its installation to the parish’s Facilities and Capital Improvements Committee, which approved the project. Work began in June and included installing composite trays on the roof to hold each solar panel. Workers then installed the system’s electrical wiring before attaching more than 270 individual solar panels in late July.

Under full sunlight, the solar energy system will generate about 80,000 kilowatts of power, Eric said. That output should cut by 59 percent the amount of electrical energy the school consumes annually from the Avilla electrical utility, he noted.

Electricity generated by the solar panel array will feed into the Avilla electrical utility for use by the school, Eric said. The school will draw electricity from the town utility when it needs more energy than the solar project generates. Currently, if the solar energy system produces more power than the school needs, the surplus will just flow into the Avilla electrical utility for use by other customers.

St. Mary School’s solar energy system should produce renewable energy for more than 30 years.

Myers said St. Mary Parish and the school don’t have specific environmental programs or initiatives. However, school and parish leaders have tried to act frugally over the years. That approach fits with Pope Francis’ urging in his encyclical Laudato Si’ about taking care of the earth, our common home. St. Mary School’s solar energy system makes use of a generous donation and free sunlight provided by God, Myers noted.

The school will realize energy savings immediately, Myers added, because the Heshers donated the system. Solar energy systems typically have a payback period of at least six to seven years, noted Myers, who has one at his home. The payback period is the amount of time it takes for energy savings to equal the cost of the system and its installation.

“This is like giving an endowment to the parish,” Myers said, because the school will reap energy savings for more than 30 years.

Other parishes may not have members who work in the solar energy field, he added. However, he believes many parishes have people who make donations that could be put toward installing a solar energy system that will benefit the parish long after the initial gift.

In addition, the federal Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 now makes it possible for churches and other nonprofits to receive an investment tax credit that pays back the organization for as much as 30 percent of the cost of installing a solar energy system, Eric said.

“The incentive was not used for the St. Mary solar project since the system was fully donated,” he added, “but the new 30 percent incentive will be a valuable financial tool for other churches and nonprofits to use to lower their funding requirements for solar projects.”

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SEASON OF CREATION

The Season of Creation spans five weeks between the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation (September 1) and the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi (October 4). This “time for creation” offers, in the words of Pope Francis, “individual believers and communities a fitting opportunity to reaffirm their personal vocation to be stewards of creation, to thank God for the wonderful handiwork which He has entrusted to our care, and to implore His help for the protection of creation as well as His pardon for the sins committed against the world in which we live.” To learn more about the Church’s teaching on caring for our common home, visit usccb.org/environment.

PRAYER FOR CREATION

We praise you, O God, Creator of all things, whose mystery unfolds in “a leaf, in a mountain trail, in a dewdrop, in a poor person’s face.”

Jesus, your Son, taught us to wonder as He made his way throughout the land, contemplating the beauty of creation.

We pray, O God, that you may stir in us a reverent awareness of our invisible link with the entire created world.

We pray for humility – to remember that we, too, are created and are not creation’s masters.

We pray for compassion – for open eyes and hearts to welcome those forced to flee from their homes due to rising sea levels and drought.

We pray for repentance – so that our thirst for power and domination may be transformed into service.

We pray for simplicity – and the will to turn from our greed which impacts vulnerable people everywhere.

We pray for cultural conversion – that we may simplify our lifestyles, reduce pollution and waste, and exercise prudence in our decision making.

We pray for policy changes – that as a nation and world we may work together to reverse the course of climate change.

Our hearts ache as we ponder: “The world sings of an infinite Love: how can we fail to care for it?”

We praise you, O God, confident that you work in our hearts and through our actions, so that we may better care for our common home.

Source: USCCB.org