It’s May!  Mother’s Day, spring, green grass – green trees!  Rain – cool evenings, warm days.  Wendy referred recently to the break buds as “spring green”.  It has a vitality to it that is reflected in the colour. May – flowers bursting forth, blossoms on the trees, dandelions in gargantuan proportions!

May use to be Red Shield month and the first Monday in May, when we did door to door collecting, was always – it seemed like an “always” – wet and rainy and windy and cool….no make that cold.  It was a tough night.

One of the last times I collected for Red Shield I walked an entire block – 49 houses – knocked on 49 doors and in the end had $2.50 for my efforts.  I wrote on the outside of the booklet we carried: “I will give you $5 if I don’t have to do this street again”.

Since then we’ve learned that we can do better raising funds in other ways.  In fact it was John Goulding who was the mastermind behind proving that there were other/better ways of raising funds.  Thanks John!

Of course in raising funds we also were visible.  Thousands of people identified with The Salvation Army were on the streets of almost every major community in Canada.  It gave us exposure.  Did people understand us more?  Perhaps not but it depends on what you’re trying to measure.  So in some ways it was time and energy well spent – but as a fund raiser it wasn’t too productive.

Today fund raising is about using technology to connect.  It’s about being seen by the average Canadian as being a trustworthy recipient.  Thankfully  TSA continues to hold public trust.

I’m just glad I don’t have to face May’s weather for $2.50.