Asking for money at the hall. (page 2)

chickpea

the KH i attended had the same routine
of asking, at a tues night special needs
talk, for the congro to pledge
a level of support to pave the parking lot....
after a distasteful row over the issue
including a separate "box" titled
DRIVEWAY FUND, placed next to
the worldwide fund contribution box

Black Sheep

I remember something similar in the 70s in NZ.

My contributions came to a halt when Jebooboo slept in.

angel eyes

yes that happened in our old congregation,but they never did ask any of us for any money.It wasnt said in a begging or harsh way,they were kind and were just asking if any could help,but that they knew many had mortgages etc,it was said most lovingly although im sure some may not wish to believe that,but the ones on here who know me, know ive always been honest, and im the first to support you when I know for sure that things are right.

I think its lovely,I love to help Jah out as much as possible,actually when we use to have turns in cleaning the kh,each bookgroup would be assigned each month,i asked an elder could i help out every week,yet he lovingly declined because it was others who should be sharing in that role.There truly are some of us real genuine lovers in the truth.....

carla

I just love these asking for $ threads, my jw still maintains that jw's are so special because they don't ask for money. Jw's have the most warped sense of how other churches work in re: to money, of course they wouldn't know any better because they are not allowed the freedom to actually check any facts, they must believe all the nonsense from a bunch of twisted old men in NY.

Angel, your not helping jah by cleaning toilets you are helping yourselves and doing the responsible thing by taking care of a building you use on a regular basis. ALL churches do this, I remember spring cleaning in my church as a kid, all the wood was polished and a good old fashioned spring cleaning was done by all the ladies and men would be there doing odd fix it jobs. We had regular volunteers that mowed the lawn, cleaned, etc... this is not unique to jw's and the other religions do not see it as a personal favor to God.

It is ony the high control groups that need to put it in those terms, that you are helping God Himself in order to get any help. Coersion and guilt are not needed by other groups to accomplish mundane tasks.

OnTheWayOut

I have seen the same thing. I love to pick on all things JW, but this is just counting the cost before getting into something that cannot be afforded. If the members want to write a low amount that they know they can handle or write nothing, they are free to do so. If they want to write anonymously, that is fine. When it happened where I was, I didn't turn in the paper because my contribution was not going to go up to cover some new expense.

I only wish more people were honest about the amount they would contribute and would slow down to actually calculate it. So many would write an amount and faithfully start giving it for one or two months, then stop because it was too much on their budget.

Bangalore

Maybe they should hold garage sales at the KH to help raise cash.

Bangalore

NewYork44M

I have seen this practice several times. They need to gain an understanding of the generosity of the congregation before pursuing a major construction project. In the cases I witnessed they did not ask for names, just amounts.

The strange thing in your example is that the did this after they purchased the building.

MissingLink

It happened here about 7 years ago. Everyone put down big numbers to get the elders to commit to the remodel. But when it came to actually putting in the money, well, we weren't so good about that. And there would be special needs talks reminding us of our initial commitment.

JWoods

I remember something similar in the 70s in NZ.

I also remember what Black Sheep may be referring to - and it was a national thing in the U.S., not a local congregation issue. What happened was that the Society was undergoing a fundamental change in the way they did the printing - changing from the manual linotype and rotogravure presses to computer typesetting and the newer offset presses.

It was costing a tremendous amount of money - and for the first time after having been around the witnesses for 12-15 years, I actually heard speakers stand up and tell people to find extra money to send into the society to assist with these costs. It was also said that the loan program for kingdom halls was being suspended until this junk could be paid for. I for one thought this was BS - they had good working machinery and had just bought the new MAN rotary presses to great fanfare; as far as the labor issue that had an army of no-cost slaves to do that. And, wasn't the end coming within a few years???

Many faithful rank & filers were shocked - they had always been told the Society NEVER solicited funds - and there we saw it with our own eyes, and in print too, IIRC.

blondie

They were going to revamp the entire hall and need to know for sure what donations would go to cover that. So we were asked to fill in 2 sheets - 1. an immediate donation 2. a montly donation.

This was the procedure when contemplating building a new KH or an extensive remodel. It was done anonymously. It was not done weekly or monthly just for that construction project.

The WTS used to have the accounts report read once a month at the service meeting. It was a way of letting the congregation know if they were meeting their bills, mortgage, utilities, etc. This money came out of the funds for the congregation only, not the worldwide work box which was sent only to the WTS. Periodically the WTS reminded the congregation in the KM announcements that the worldwide monies were not to be used to pay the mortgage or utilities.

Also, the WTS would send a bread and butter letter thanking the congregation for their contributions which was another indirect way of reminding them to contribute.

*** km 1/02 p. 7 Announcements ***When the presiding overseer receives the New York Corporation Statement each month, he should see that all acknowledgments of contributions for the Society Kingdom Hall Fund and for the worldwide work are read to the congregation with the next accounts report.

Once a year in November or December, there is a side article about how to make contributions to the WTS in more specific ways.

Asking for money at the hall.

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