LAWRENCE ¬­— Notre Dame High School raised $598,000 in five weeks and for its efforts will receive another $500,000 from a local foundation toward its $5 million construction and renovation project.

The school at 207 Hampshire St. will receive the matching donation from the Ibrahim El-Hefni Technical Training Foundation of North Andover.

"It's incredible how in one month the community supported us the way they did," said school P resident Sister Mary Murphy. "It is so affirming because we are a new school."

School officials received contributions from 70 donors in the Merrimack Valley and as far away as Florida, Pennsylvania and California. Contributors included a retired sister of Notre Dame who gave her stipend and a 91-year-old alumnae who gave $5,000. Other donors included foundations and the 25 members of the Incarnation Church of Malden where Murphy attends.

Suzanne Wright, daughter of Ibrahim El-Hefni and trustee of the Technical Training Foundation, is just as ecstatic.

"I am thrilled that Notre Dame was able to surpass its fund-raising goal," she said. "I am so pleased that the matching grant program perhaps helped more people become familiar with the incredible work that the Sisters of Notre Dame are doing for children in Greater Lawrence."

Wright, who now lives in California, admits she was "a bit worried" that the current economic climate would make people reluctant to donate.

"However, it is obvious, from the amazing results of this fund-raiser, that a lot of people understand the critical importance of supporting education, especially in this time of shrinking school budgets and government funding," Wright said.

Wright said the foundation supports Notre Dame High School for several reasons.

"Their results speak for themselves: Every single graduate was accepted into a four-year college or university. When you find an organization that is run by such dedicated, intelligent people with the single purpose of improving the lives of children, how can you not support it?

"The work that Notre Dame is doing now will not only improve the lives of the students who attend the school, but the families that those students eventually have," Wright said.

The school launched the public phase of its Making History Capital Campaign in October 2007 and started construction last month at the former St. Mary High School.

When all the construction and renovations are complete in about eight to 10 months, the school will have 12 refurbished classrooms, chemistry, biology and physics labs, a technical resource center with computers, teleconferencing equipment and SMARTboards in each classroom. An elevator will also be added for people with disabilities and the 97-year-old building will have new railings, plumbing, heating and a sprinkler system.

So far, the front stairs are in place and the windows and roof have been replaced.

The school has in total raised $3.2 million in gifts and pledges toward a $5 million goal to upgrade its building, said Jane Shawcross, development director.

The school still needs $500,000 and may borrow a bridge loan to pay for construction while waiting for the five-year pledges to come in.

Notre Dame High School, a college preparatory school, sponsored by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, opened in 2004. It has 234 students, who come from Lawrence, Methuen, Haverhill, North Andover, Lowell and towns in Southern New Hampshire.

The co-ed Catholic school is based on the Cristo Rey model, a national association of schools in which students work one day a week at entry-level positions at 60 local companies to pay for 60 percent of their tuition.

The school held its first commencement in June and all 51 graduates were accepted to four-year colleges and universities.

The academic year began with 72 freshmen and eight students who transferred from other schools. The graduating Class of 2009 has 44 students.