MADISON, Wis. -- A young Roman Catholic man is out to save the Madison diocese's multicultural center and has raised more than $8,000 on a Facebook page to do it.

The Catholic Diocese of Madison closed the $3.5 million outreach center last Friday with only two days notice. Officials said the budget cut was needed after the economy lowered its investment income, WISC-TV reported.

However, Timothy Huegerich has $8,000 in 25 pledges and he's trying to get the diocese to reopen the Catholic Multicultural Center soon. He created a page, Save the Catholic Multicultural Center, to kick start the process.

"To me, it (the center closing) didn't make any sense from I what knew, and so I just thought the right response is to start ... raising money," Huegerich said. "I would be really surprised if it didn't reopen this week, that's my personal feeling about it."

The St. Paul's University Center parishioner said that he has yet to speak to any diocese official directly.

The center provided free meals to hundreds of residents each month, and helped many more with other social services.

The bishop was unavailable for comment, according to diocese officials.

The center, founded as St. Martin House by the late Bishop Jerome Hastrich, has been around for 64 years.

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To learn about the effort, e-mail savethecmc@gmail.com