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Our Vision 21 fundraising campaign has been
underway for the last 6 weeks and, as of this writing, some 160 of St. Paul's households
have pledged a little over $3,000,000 - funds which will enable us to finish the
iconography of our Church, build a much-needed education building and pave the rest of our
parking lot.
A special word of thanks goes to the following campaign workers who had the time
consuming and often difficult task of visiting many of the members of our parish family
and asking them to participate in our Vision 21 campaign by making a pledge:
Jim Alexiou, John Britigan, Mary Brown, Tykye Camaras, Greg Cladopoulos, Jim
Dargavel, Jim Eckstaedt, Elias Hanna, Jeff Kauttu, George Kateyiannis, Ted
Konopisos, Bill Lekas, Tassos Livitsanos, Chris Louis, Tom Mallos, Terry Marutsos,
Bob Martin, Ron Matthews, Tony Mastrangelo, Kevin Parker, George Poulos, Andy
Props, George Sardis, Lambros Sekeris, John Smith, Nick Speliopoulos, Steve Tibbs and Greg
Zappas.
Gary Arnold of Church Fundraising Services, INC - the professional fundraising consultants
we hired to guide our campaign - had originally estimated, following his preliminary study
of our parish, that we could raise $2.2 million. Mr. Arnold, in his exit report, following
5 weeks of being onsite here at St. Paul's, listed the following factors as contributing
to the success of our fundraising campaign: 1.) Good performance of the Lead Gift Section,
which was chaired by Tom Mallos; 2.) Excellent personal demonstration of
good giving by the Sunday speakers; 3.) A cadre of hostesses, led by Jeri Konopisos,
that assured good attendance at the congregational dinner; 4.) Moving, persuasive and
articulate demonstrations of good giving at the congregational
dinner; 5.) The good spirit and general willingness to implement the campaign plan
provided without resistance as well as the "ownership" of the campaign tasks by
the Teams Organizations Leaders; 6.) Good technical equipment provided, exactly as
requested, which made record keeping and large mailings easy to handle; 7.) Excellent
helpful support from all of the office personnel for more details than can be listed.
(Thank you Karen Pellinen and Dorothea Hartford!)
In concluding his report, Mr. Arnold stated: "CFS, Inc. will expect regular reports
on your progress with pledges through 1999. Following that, we will expect a quarterly
report on the pledge-payments and Continuation Committee activities designed to insure the
best possible results for St. Paul's Church. Now that you have some pledges, your work is
partially done. There are as many dollars yet to be sought as there are pledges.
Your congregation has made phenomenal progress for any church in 20 years. For a Greek
Orthodox congregation, St. Paul's is unparalleled in my experience. Congratulations! My
wife Jane (who volunteered over 120 hours of time to your campaign) and I have once again
enjoyed our work with you. You are grand people, good Christians and are part of the one
congregation in Greek Orthodoxy with the resources, intellect and resolve to lead your
entire Archdiocese into the 21st century with a wonderful, new and passionate
ministry for Jesus Christ."
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