Re-Verse and Be Plaid

Consider this your all-access hall pass to the spot where the Catholic school legends will gather and your food & drink will be next-level. We’re talking complete cafeteria couture, your childhood classics upscaled and refined by none other than The Refinery, our neighbors just down the street in Tomato City. You’ll have the hottest - and most fun! - passed apps around plus can slide up to a gourmet slider station with fancy fries on the side. You’ll even get dessert. Hint: It’s not just chocolate pudding but WAY BETTER, and it’s an absolute Refinery knockout.

Our custom-crafted “School Spirits” cocktails also will be complimentary.

We do want the other fabulous Refinery fare to be a delightful surprise, but our friends at Holy Cross High School advised that if we tout #CheeseburgerWednesday, the people will indeed gather! #IYKYK

Before RE-VERSE & BE PLAID officially gets those rafters rattling, up to 75 guests can enjoy this elevated pre-event reception. Registered guests can come any time from sunset (4:54 p.m.) onward to begin enjoying the cuisine and cocktails and to mingle with some of the priests, Sisters, educators, alumni and friends who helped make our Catholic school days what they were. Some of our Faculty Lounge guests were given a coupon code for this event in return for their willingness to give us 15 minutes of their time to listen to a 15-minute presentation about the incredible impact of the Educational Improvement Tax Credit program (EITC) on our schools. If you have registered with a coupon code, we need you seated in our EITC viewing area from 6 until 6:15 p.m. Then you’ll have at least 25 more minutes before the big event to get back to your after-dark lunches and/or refresh your beverages and get comfortable for the main event.

What’s this about a 15-minute presentation?

Our pastors and administrators helped us identify alumni as well as parishioners who also are alumni who might be interested in EITC. Our EITC supporters not only change the lives of today’s Catholic-school students but also can do their parishes a big favor. In the 15 minutes we’re asking for, we’re going to show you how.

FULL DISCLOSURE: We are quite certain even our pastors and administrators missed a few good prospects who might like to join us for this exclusive event. So, if you are thinking, Wait a minute. I can probably do EITC, and I should be in the Faculty Lounge, give us a call at 570-591-5004.

There is just one small homework assignment:

We ask our guests with coupon codes to do just a little studying to make our shared 15 minutes count. If you’re not already familiar with EITC, please read up (or watch the video), and feel free to contact The Catholic Schools Office at 570-591-5004 with any questions you might need answered ahead of time.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN ABOUT EITC IN ADVANCE AND/OR WATCH AN EDUCATIONAL VIDEO.

After you read and watch, we encourage you to think this program over - and talk it over, if applicable, with spouses/business partners, etc. - so you might be prepared to make an official pledge while in the Faculty Lounge. Because we’re promising to take only 15 minutes of your time, we would love it if you would determine your Pennsylvania tax liability ahead of time. (It’s roughly 3 percent of your income.) A special incentive gift of a custom-made plaid flannel and Sherpa Shine His Light Catholic schools blanket will be offered to those ready to make a pledge before they leave:

Re-Verse and Be Plaid is NOT a fundraiser per se, and neither is The Faculty Lounge. But we know we have plenty of people out there who do not even realize they can redirect their tax dollars to Catholic schools, so we do want to spread the word. The fact is we are leaving tax dollars on the table that could be turning into scholarships!

We are limiting free attendance for this part of the evening — partly because we want it to remain an intimate, genuinely special prelude, and partly because when one invites The Refinery to elevate the cafeteria experience, one simply cannot order for the entire Diocese. We hope you understand. If you have no interest in our EITC presentation but would still like to meet and greet in our Faculty Lounge and enjoy The Refinery experience, you may use the $60 admission option on our registration page and feel free to leave your reserved table during the presentation to browse our lobby offerings, make a phone call, or maybe post some pictures on social media and tell others you’re here and this is fun.

Because some have asked, yes, of course you can pay the $60 admission as a donation - thank you for asking! - even if you do intend to listen to the EITC presentation. Donations are always helpful and more than welcome.

But for the nostalgic story-and-song portion of the event, the actual interactive concert? Come one, come all. We have room for 200. And those rafters aren’t going to rattle themselves!

Doors will open at 6:30 for our 7 p.m. main event, which is when the real nostalgia will begin, and the rafters will officially be in danger.

RE-VERSE & BE PLAID: THE CONCERT is our full-on Catholic school sing-it-over, with enough beloved hymns - some that you may not have heard in years - and joyful noise to last you all throughout next year.

We’ll have throwback food on hand for you so you can grab your own little cafeteria tray. We’ll also have at least one fun “school spirits” offering for all to share. But we invite you as well to bring your own bottle and/or “brown bag” with your fare of choice. Or, if you’re coming with friends, feel free to pack a group lunch-for-dinner and share.

Guests may browse our Catholic schools “museum,” have a little fun in our vintage photo booth, or enter our retro raffles any time between 6:30 and 7.