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SOAR! Support Our Aging Religious, Inc. (SOAR!) is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) grant-funding organization that assists Catholic religious congregations in the United States and Puerto Rico. Assistance must be focused on the aged and infirm religious members in the various congregations with grant request ranging from projects such as handicap bathroom renovations to wheelchair accessible vans.

Recognized by the Official Catholic Directory and the National Catholic Development Conference as active members, SOAR! has been steadfast in ensuring that the brothers, sisters, and priest who have devoted their lives to such a higher calling have not been forgotten about especially in their golden years. According to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, there are currently 49,883 sisters, 4,318 brothers, and 38,275 total priest in the United States with over 90% being over 40 years of age since 1990. These numbers are a scary reality that the same men and women who have touched our families, our communities and our nation in unparalleled contributions will go into old age unsure of whether or not they will be cared sufficiently. SOAR!'s goal is to alleviate that struggle through the allocation of money through grant proposals so that the millions of us who have been educated, cared for, comforted and prayed for by these women and men will be able to support our aging religious.

The mission of SOAR! is to not only help ensure the safety and comfort of our aging religious but also enable all members of those congregations to continue to be active in their ministries. SOAR! seeks to accomplish this by: religious;
 * Raising and providing funds for congregations to meet immediate needs of their retired members;
 * Educating the public about the serious retirement needs confronting elderly
 * Developing a national network of concerned individuals who wish to respond to this need.

History
In the 1960s, the Catholic church saw a surge in young people experiencing vocations and answering that call through sisterhood, brotherhood, and priesthood. By 1964, 179,954 women were sisters, 12,271 were brothers, and 58,632 were priest. These record numbers were met with the huge influence the Catholic church played in the religious, educational, and healthcare systems in the United States, however, this massive fluctuation ran into grave a financial crisis in the 1980s when these young nuns, friars, and priest aged, and needed more care options.

A life devoted to service with very modest or no compensation and no provisions for retirement created the situation of insufficient funds across the nation. It was John Fialka, a journalist for The Wal Street Journal, who saw this issue and wrote an article on it's current state. What Fialka did not know was how much his words would resonate with the public. The Wall Street Journal began seeing letters from people across the nation with checks and the request for the money to be given to the various parishes in need. At that time, there was no organization for this cause, so Fialka and

the dramatic rise in the median age of religious due to a precipitous drop in younger members (the median age for religious in 2008 is 69.8 for women and 64.7 for men); insufficient funds to care for elder members (many religious received modest stipends or no compensation and there were no provisions for retirement); and Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities (FADICA)'s Frank Butler along with the advice and counsel of one of the founding chairman of Mothers against Drunk Driving (MADD)John Wheeler agreed that there was a potential to establish a national network of concerned donors who would educate the public about the retirement challenges facing religious.

In the summer of 1986, at a meeting on the campus of Trinity College in Washington, DC, Support Our Aging Religious, Inc. (SOAR!) was created by a group of disparate Catholic and non-Catholic lay people such as K. Peter Schmidt and Patrick Weschler who gave free legal counsel, Kathleen Nilles who led the search committee for management positions, Jim Dimond who orchestrated their first direct mail marketing campaign, and Denise Hattler of the Loyola Foundation who volunteered to chair the board of directors and who suggested the name for the organization. The Loyola and Leavey Foundations and the Catholic Daughters of the Americas provided the seed money to open the first office.

SOAR!'s creation was met with immense support and has received the United States Conference of Catholic Bishop Annual Retirement Fund for Religious to alleviate financial stress for congregations since 1986.

NRRO and SOAR!
The National Religious Retirement Office (NRRO) coordinates the annual national appeal and distributes financial assistance for retirement needs to eligible religious institutes, therefore, it is easy to see how the two organizations can be seen as similar. However, the NRRO assist religious institutes in assessing their current states in terms of retirement and helps sets up implementation plans to prepare for aging sisters and brothers wisely. They also focus heavily on developing various outreach materials to serve as educational tools for programs and services. SOAR! focuses on the same fundraising efforts but caters to the immediate needs of retired members through a grant system. Monies are allocated based upon proposals annually for projects ranging from infirmary renovations to wheelchair-accessible van purchases. Both dedicated to advancing the cause of retired and infirm religious in the United States.

The Vow of Poverty
A person who has been initiated into a Religious Order may take a vow of poverty, which means that the person does not claim private ownership of any possessions; everything they have is used for the common good of the Religious Order including any salaries or compensation one receives working. So when it comes time for retirement, Social Security benefits are 1/3 that of the average American with religious receiving $4,290.08 while a U.S. beneficiary gets $12,024.00 yearly.

Most people are under the impression that the Catholic Church takes care of all those who sign up for religious life while others believe that aging religious qualify for the same Social Security and disability benefits as everyone else. These beliefs are not true and more reason why

Today, more than 37,870 religious men and women who taught in Catholic schools or worked at Catholic hospitals or charities have reached the age of 70 and require eldercare. More than 5,000 of these women and men require skilled nursing care. While costs for care in a skilled facility in the U.S. average more that $65,000 annually, religious congregations have kept their average cost of care to $49,850.

The gap has widened between assets available for retirement, the cost of living, and health care for elderly women and men religious from $2 billion in 1986 to $7.5 billion today. Based on 2006 data from the NRRO, the projected shortfall between funds needed and funds available is $7.5 billion. Combined Social Security benefits for all retired religious is projected to be $184 million per year in 2023, but the cost of care will total more than $1.6 billion annually.

Contributions
SOAR! collects contributions through direct mailing campaigns and annual gala dinners held in Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, DC. In the 2012 - 2013 fiscal, SOAR raised $2,343,990.

Grants
Religious orders in the United States and Puerto Rico with retired, aged and infirm members men or women may apply for funds to assist with an immediate retirement need. The average grant is $15,000, and makes grants between $1,000 and $25,000.

Priority funding is given to the following:
 * Therapeutic and medical equipment
 * Handicap-accessible Renovations
 * Adequate and safe housing for retirement