Canvass Comments - Bill Haigh

February 24, 2008 

Good morning.  My name is Bill Haigh and, I'm a member of your 2008-2009 IMAGINE Pledge Committee.

We are in our final days of our official Pledge Drive and, as you can see.... we've not yet attained our goal.  The numbers you see on our giant Imagine guitar here show that we are at about one half of our goal.

When I was thinking about what I wanted to say this morning – and of course it's about money – my thoughts immediately went to the current state of the economy in the United States and even the World.  You cannot help but be constantly bombarded by news of our stumbling economy and, the news these days is rarely good.  You can't open the newspaper, turn on the TV, listen to the radio, or even have coffee at Starbucks without hearing mention of our economic woes.  It seems like every time we turn around.... someone wants more of our money.  Our variable rate mortgage payments have increased, utility costs are on the rise, it takes a small fortune to fill up the gas tank and, even Publix wants a bigger “bite” of our flatlined earnings.  At times... it seems this is completely out of our control.  I mean really, what can the “little guy” do?

But folks, while the national economy is out of our individual control.... I would submit to you that the economy here at First Unitarian is COMPLETELY under our control.  And you know, in a world where control of our economic destiny seems to slip ever further away from us each day.... that in and of itself, is a comforting thought.

WE have complete control over what happens economically at First Unitarian.  So yes, the Beloved Community is asking each of us to dig a little deeper this year.  We have a challenging year ahead of us.  We have amazing programs that we want to continue and expand and of course, we have the challenges ahead of hiring an Interim Minister on our path to calling a settled minister in a couple years.

So, I invite you to feel empowered!  It certainly does nothing for one's self-esteem to begrudgingly agree to pay more for gas, groceries, and housing payments.  But, in this climate that has made most of us economic followers rather than leaders... what better way to empower ourselves... than to vigorously support the Beloved Community that supports each of us every day?

If you've not yet returned your generous pledge card, I urge you to do that.  If you feel like you can IMAGINE our community at a higher level... I heartily invite you to increase your pledge if you've already submitted your card.  There are pledge cards in the pews this morning.  Please just submit a second card and note that it is a revision.  We'll figure it out, I can assure you!

As an aside, some of you may know that I'm the “Excel Guy” on the Pledge Committee.  Now, this exciting post pretty much is exactly what it sounds like.  I keep the records of the campaign.  I enter all the pledge cards into a massively intricate spreadsheet and generate reports for the Pledge Committee, the Board of Trustees, and our minister.  So yeah... if you submit a revised, increased card... it will mess up my spreadsheet.

I BEG you..... please MESS UP MY SPREADSHEET!!!

On behalf of the Pledge Committee, I thank you for your continued support of the Beloved Community and from the bottom of MY heart, I invite you to IMAGINE the possibilities. 

Thank you.