Did you always turn in *all* your donation money?

by asleif_dufansdottir 14 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  asleif_dufansdottir

  I went out in service for the first time at about the same time the "donation arrangement" was put into effect.

  I heard one or two brothers (when they were in 'safe' company) thinking out loud that if the money was really for the "world wide work"...that maybe it would be ok to use some of it, sometimes, to put gas in the car to go out in service (our congregation had some really poor people and our rurals covered 4 or 5 counties and hundreds of square miles).

  I was wondering if anyone actually did that? I wonder if pioneers who were used to getting a price break kept keeping a percentage?? (a couple I knew were unhappy to lose the source of income!)

  Some people I knew could sure have used the money...old clunkers they drove...I remember getting towed in by a towtruck from out in the country one particularly memorable field service experience! Not that anybody I knew really got that much in donations anyway...I suppose those who had mag routes from when there was a specific charge kept getting money, but I rarely got even loose change...I used to keep it in sealed envelopes so it didn't get mixed into the change lying in the ashtray of the car. I'm guessing I rarely was given even as much as $5 total a month.
• 

  Valis

  No, as soon as I learned the value of money and didn't have to be accompanied by an adult instead one of the few friends I had, much more of it went to the 7-11 candy fund versus the WTBTS coffers.

  Sincerely,

  District Overbeer
• 

  freedom96

  Never.
• 

  onacruse

  I stopped asking money for the lit many years before the "donation" arrangement. Sometimes I was questioned about it, and I simply said "Jesus said give freely..." End of discussion.

  Of course, the lit was still getting paid for, out of my own pocket at the lit counter (or the "donation" box 5 feet to the right or left), so the WTS was still getting its money.

  As I recall, in 10 years I got maybe a total of $100 in voluntary donations. Not much of a salesman, eh? LOL

  Craig
• 

  ikhandi

  Almost all the time, some times I would borrow the money and forget to put it back.
• 

  Sunspot

  Yes, I did. I was disgustingly honest....oh, well...I still am! Just me I guess! LOL!

  Hugs,

  Annie
• 

  Azalo

  i used to "borrow" a little but i turned in most of it.
• 

  Azalo

  i used to "borrow" a little but i turned in most of it.
• 

  outnfree

  What donation money? I brought a separate envelope out in field service with me prominently marked "DONATIONS", but rarely got more than $1 or $2 per month for magazines. Which I usually turned in, eventually...

  I didn't like to ask for a donation, no matter what the Society said. Somehow it was much easier (and more honest, too, dear friends of Jimmy Swaggart) to end the little sermon with "And these magazines can be yours for a contribution of ..." than to point out how "valuable" the literature was and feel like one was "fishing" for a donation...

  I almost always drove out in field service, but sometimes I bought gas for the pioneers' cars out of the meager donation money. I, too, figured I'd already contributed plenty for it at the literature counter.

  The only exception was when I offered a book to someone. Then, I'd mention the donation arrangement and if they gave a few bucks that would see its way into the contribution box.
• 

  shamus