A group of parents, parishioners and community members has raised more than $400,000 in two weeks to keep their small Catholic school from closing this summer.

After 62 years, school leaders of Our Lady of the Lake Catholic School, a pre-K through eighth-grade school, announced in December that the school was scheduled to shut down this summer because of a dramatic decline in enrollment and funding the past few years, from 238 students in 2002 to this year's 117 students.

But families fought to keep the school open and raised enough money to keep the school operating for the next three years.

"Your giving of yourselves has saved so much more than just a school," the parent committee behind the fundraiser wrote in an announcement earlier this month. "You saved a glorious past, an amazing present and a very bright future!"

The community turned what was supposed to be a pep rally on March 1 into a celebration of the school's future.

KELLY SMITH

@kellystrib