Phone-a-Thon

The time was 9:30 p.m. and I was hard at work alone in the office as I often am late in the dark summer evenings on a daily basis in spite of the fact that I regularly arrive long before the sun has come up on the eastern horizon due to my high level of commitment to the cause....perhaps I slightly overstated the hour and the context. It was about 5:30 p.m. and I was already planning on sneaking out to get a jump on my evening blog, when my plans were detoured by a group of six young students from Thunderbird Academy who paraded into my office for no apparent reason.
I had not been expecting visitors at such an hour as this. I should have been. My mind quickly assessed the situation (being a trained professional assessor of situations). I recalled a conversation I had previously had with Mark Tamalea'a, I believe it was a couple hours earlier in the day, when he had reminded me that the Phone-a-Thon was scheduled to begin today. He was hoping I would at least lend my support through my presence at the two venues, the conference office and the school library.
I welcomed the young men and asked them how the school year was going. I remembered most of them from Week of Prayer. One of the young men came up and shook my hand. Very polite young people at Thunderbird! They were the boys who would be making the phone calls from the conference phones. The supervisor, Oliver, quickly passed out the script, the pledge sheets, and a tab of paper for prayer requests. They dispersed to various cubicles around the building and began the task of working their lists.
I observed a couple of them. They were nervous and more than a bit apprehensive. I said something about standing at the edge of a pool and dreading the first contact with the water. "Jump in!" I said. They gave me a polite smile and continued to stare at their lists. One boy secured a $25 pledge and the ice was broken.
I knew I would not be able simply to wander around the room watching the poor boys, so I decided to do the right thing. I excused myself and packed up my things to head out to the school library. Actually, I asked Oliver for a sheet of names to "work.". He handed me a list and said, "You speak Spanish, don't you?" I responded that I did when needed. He gave a nervous laugh and moved on. Yes, I made some calls to the Apache Junction Spanish SDA Church members. Cold turkey!
I was not very successful. Most of the phone numbers were out of order or disconnected. I got to speak to about six people out of 52 members in the church. One hung up on me. Another told me they had just started working that week. One told me to call him back after he asked his wife. Another one said "Thank you" politely and then hung up very gently. And then, unexpectedly, sweet success! One fine individual asked for a pledge card for $25. I thought to myself, "If one out of every five people we actually speak to gives us $25, we will be fine." I was jazzed!
I found out as I was leaving that the school library group had been assigned the alumni lists. We had gotten the church list. They fared much better. I understand one of the people in the library was able to secure a donation from every person on her list! It's a challenge, but I give kudos to the students and the staff that put themselves out there risking hang-ups and rejection. It's nice to see a group of people working together to problem-solve. I will keep you posted.
It’s time for me to go to bed. I hope I don't get a phone call tonight!