Theos-Talk Archives (May 1997 Message tl00438)

At my lodge we always kept a basket near the door, with a sign on it, but
there was no crass demand to contribute. I don't think our dues money was
enough to cover our costs, which consisted mainly of renting our meeting
hall, and mailing notices.

I can see a study center not charging, usually, if they can help it. Perhaps
an alternative would be to have a fund raiser once or twice a year. We once
had a very successful one, but it was work. We had a pot luck dinner, during
which a few amateur musicians entertained (without fee), such as a
guitarist. People ate on little card tables with pretty checkered table
cloths. After dinner we showed a video tape. It happens to have been one of
the Krishnamurti ones, because that's what we were studying at the time, but
Wheaton has enough interesting video tapes to borrow, to suit various
tastes. We had quite a nice turnout for that event.

Someone remarked that they attended several mediocre programs. I think
that's very detrimental to our cause, however small the study center. That
should not be allowed to happen very often. I think Wheaton should be able
to fire the imaginations of the program chairmen enough so that the
presentations aren't mediocre. There surely is enough material on hand.

One of our favorites, which was easy enough to put on, was several months
before the event, the Librarry sent us a cartonful of books on the subject
we requested (we once did Hodson during a backyard picnic). Everyone took
one or more books, and was asked to report back on a certain prearranged
facet of the subject. So we had a uniform topic, and each one of us covered
the subject from a different angle. Everyone (almost) participated, and
everyone learned something on a subject we all liked.

Liesel