Giving of Thanks Day

Giving of Thanks Day

-Faire, Food, Faith, & Festival-

Consider…

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is uniquely hypocritical in an “Only in America” kind of way. While it serves as the unofficial kick-off to our nation’s season of Home, Hearth, Faith, & Family, it is wholly secular and commercial in an increasingly obscene way. However, since it is a secular ‘holiday’, (except for those of the Muslim faith), it presents a unique opportunity for those of various faiths and denominations to come together in common cause.

Consider…

On that day, like no other day of the year, we wake up with a generosity of heart, a pocketful of expendable income, and the seasonably unique desire to use it to bring joy to the lives of others. For one brief shining moment we are the best that we can be.

Then we go to Wal-Mart…

Just Wondering…

How many hours would those in your congregation, and those they are able to convince to join them, devote to their creative passions throughout the year, or donate from their place of business, for a Black Friday event whose proceeds went to benefit the Church, either as an outright sale or as part of a raffle, auction, coupon book, or meal?

Grass Cutting—Haircuts—Snow Removal—Elder Companionship

Dental Work —Tax Prep—Oil Changes—Babysitting

Gift Wrapping—Knitting—Recipe Books—Embroidery

Carpentry—Baking —Portraits—Personalized Xmas Cards

Caricatures—Deer Steaks—Canned Veggies—Steeler Tickets

Symphony Tix—Embroidery—Lunch w/ Father—Foods of the Month

Baby Clothes—Bus Tickets—Timeshare Weeks—Hand-Painted T-Shirts

Memberships—Xmas Cookies—Car Detailing—Frozen Homemade Meals

Artwork—Houseplants—Pet Stuff—Legal Advice

Leaf Raking—Greens Fees—Car Rides—Handyman Saturdays

Holiday Decor—Birdhouses—Homemade Jellies—Coupon Books

What can be offered is limited only by the imagination of the members of your congregation and those they can convince to help them. Virtually every youth group member, senior citizen, or business owner ought to be able to come up with something.

A Unique Fundraising Opportunity…

Donations solicited in the Spring for collection the following year are more likely to elicit generosity in our buy-now, pay-later culture. And, since both the preparation of donations, and their eventual purchase, would be tied to people’s passions, it would maximize the giving experience without coming across as the usual begging for money. While ‘Grandma’ would never consider asking Junior or the Grandkids to donate money directly to ‘her’ church, she might very well be enticed to convince the Grandkids to shovel some snow and Junior to throw in a few free haircuts or oil changes at his place of business. The beauty of this is that ‘donations’ would be coming from outside the congregation, as would the funds pouring in from the sales, buffets, and raffles at your location on Black Friday.

(But it sure does need a New Name!)

So Let’s Just Imagine…

(and since we’re imagining, we might as well imagine BIG.)

Giving of Thanks Day

2016

-Faire, Food, Faith, & Festival-

“Over 200 Pittsburgh places of worship have been competitively-decorated and knowledgeably staffed, throwing open their doors to members of every denomination, offering sumptuous breakfast and lunch buffet spreads, heart-warming, hand-crafted, neighbor-made treasures, unique raffle gifts, free parking, and shuttle service between congregations.”

Just imagine starting your Holiday Season with a delicious home-made breakfast with members of your congregation, then spending the day visiting the houses of worship of your neighbors, buying gifts made by those neighbors, (instead of China), with all proceeds going to the churches. Sounds a whole lot like the way we used to do things, doesn’t it? At the very least, it would completely alter the mood and flavor of the Holiday Season, taking on a life of its own that it doesn’t take much imagination to see going national.

What’s At Stake Here…

We are talking about a definable percentage of America’s holiday gift-giving dollar being diverted directly into church coffers, much of it from outside the congregation. We are talking about a whole new way of doing things that does more to make faith again central to the Season than anything that has happened in decades.

Throw in the one-of-a-kind nature of the neighbor made & contributed gifts, the uniqueness of the shopping experience, the ability to leave your car in the church lot, and it starts to sound like a good way to spend the whole day. And who will be able to resist the allure of being welcomed into the Houses of Worship holy to our neighbors? That being said, it isn’t inconceivable that a definable percentage of the gifts under Pittsburgh’s trees would bear a sticker saying “Made in Pittsburgh and benefiting This-or-That Congregation”. How can that be a bad thing?

Hi There…

I’m Bob Smith, and the above is what I want to do. …and I want to do it in all the right ways and for all the right reasons, encompassing the good in us in a way that so few things do these days: Opening our doors and bringing us together with our neighbors. But obviously I can’t do it without you and your congregation. I have a rather unique set of fundraising, advertising, and organizational skills to bring to the cause. Below is how I propose going about this and with this email I am formally soliciting, initially your feedback, and eventually your involvement.

The Plan…

-The first step would be to assemble some sort of board of advisors composed of leaders of the congregations such as yourself.

-Next, recruit a co-ordinator from each participating congregation, preferably a retiree or someone else with the ability to grow into something full-time as the Holiday Season nears.

-The Congregation co-ordinators would form committees early in the year to oversee the solicitation of goods, services, and food offerings. These would morph into two others, one to oversee the actual logistics of the day, and another to co-ordinate all food-related offerings.

-The Service Corps of Retired Executives, SCORE, would be contacted to provide support at each congregation until things were up and running.

-Weekly church bulletin inserts and posters would be distributed to keep all congregation members abreast of events. The week prior to the event a map & guide would be inserted into each church bulletin as well as the Sunday Papers.

-As the event draws nearer incredible amounts of free publicity and airtime ought to be available, so a PR campaign would be instituted to bring attention from local and hopefully even national media.

-The raffle drawings would be held at some sort of event on New Year’s Eve, providing an additional fundraising opportunity and the kick-off for Giving of Thanks Day 2017.

 

To find out a bit about me and some of the other parts of the PIIN proposal, Click on the links below:

 

In Conclusion…

I seek feedback & involvement, not only from yourself, but from any of your Parishoners who might have input.  Also, feel free to forward this to other congregation leaders.  Sooner rather than later would be good.

Sincerely yours,

Bob Smith

415-802-4361

Hey.There.Bob.Smith@gmail.com