BNSF awards grant to help St. Jude's renovate original school

BNSF Railway Foundation presented St. Jude Thaddeus School a $10,000 check Thursday, during the school's first through eighth grade Christmas Program, a donation to help the school get its original building back in action.

"The BNSF Foundation is donating $10,000 to St. Jude Thaddeus School for expansion and rehabilitation efforts,"  BNSF Railway Public Affairs Director Maia LaSalle said.

St. Jude Thaddeus School Principal Mike Haugen said the money will be used for remodeling the original part of the grade school building on the northeast corner of the 400 Block of Sixth Avenue. 

"We are moving into the third floor of the old grade school, so we need to replace windows. Basically, this remodel is for the four classrooms and putting in a bathroom on the original building," he said. "We would like to make it happen in a couple of years."

He added that the building was built in 1916, but has not been used for classrooms for some time. The school has used the building for space such as the school library and a faculty lounge, but St. Jude's is running out of space in the grade school building that was built in 1955 and needs to start using the original building for classes once again.

"We are very (grateful)," Haugen said. "Burlington Northern Santa Fe is a huge part of our community and we are just very appreciative that they feel this is an important enough project that they were willing to accept the grant (application)."

"BNSF takes pride in partnering with the communities in which we serve, and we hope that our small contribution will help strengthen educational opportunities for those in the Havre community," LaSalle said.