Phonathon at North Shore

Tonight I will work the Phonathon. I try to work the Phonathon every year. It is over Interim Week which is typically a quiet week for me in that we don't have games in the evening to supervise.

I work the Phonathon for a whole bunch of reasons

Reason #1: I want to support the Development Office. Development is an important part of our school. Even though it costs a lot to send your child to North Shore Country Day School, we cannot do everything we want on tuition dollars alone. The Development office fills in the gaps for us and once a year I can show them that I appreciate their efforts. Although I have been at North Shore now a long time, I have worked at three other independent schools and am in one way or another associated with a couple others. So I think I am a pretty good judge of Development Offices, having a few hitting me up every year. And I know that ours is the BEST and I like being associated with the BEST!

Reason #2: I work in honor of Mac McCarty. I only knew Mac at the end of his life. We worked together for the last five years of his life. He did all sorts of terrific things for the school and its students, but in the last five years here with us, he was an incredible fund raiser. He would come over to the Mac Gym and brag to me about how much money he raised around Phonathon time. I figure if he could call I can too.

Reason #3: My first year of teaching, I worked at Culver Academies in Culver, Indiana. Every other night and every other weekend I had barracks duty. That meant I had to monitor study hall. I typically had to monitor study hall in a dorm (or barracks as they called it) of 60 boys. This was an especially tedious job unless I was partnered with someone interesting. The most interesting guy I worked with was from the Development office at Culver. I wish I remember his name, but I don't. He taught me a lot about Development and about life. I asked him what was it like to get rejected when he asked for money for the school. He used to say, if you are going to be great at Development you never worry about the no's. You always assume your next call will be a yes. I liked his optimistic view on his job and on life, and I loved doing barracks duty with him. So I do the Phonathon every year for him, and I assume every call I make will be a yes.

Reason #4: I like connecting with alums. They are truly the ones who tell us how we are doing. I especially love speaking to members of classes in the late 1950's and early 1960's. If I get someone on the phone, I do not ask for money straight a way. I try to ask in some way about the school and their experience at North Shore. After doing this for a while, I know that depending how long ago you went to North Shore, your perspective on the school changes. I happen to believe that the classes in the late 50's and early 60's have the best perspective now. They are typically in their later 60's or early 70's. They are retired and they have a full perspective on life's ups and downs. Every one I get to talk in those classes about the school usually raves about the influence the school had on their life or at the very least has some great story. These stories have become quite sustaining to me.

Reason #5: One day I would love to convince someone to give a million dollars to the school. I won't be asking for that tonight. Most of the time I just ask for $50 or $100 gift. If someone says "how about $10" that is just fine. But I figure there is someone out there who could give a million and it would certainly be cool if after a long conversation about the positive influence the school had on their lives, they said  to me"how about a million." I would think Mac would be pretty impressed by that and the guy at Culver would say, "see I told you keep asking." I also think it would be a very satisfying feeling to walk out of a night working phonathon and be able to say "yeah, I raised a million dollars tonight."

So tonight I work Phonathon. I work in honor of a number of people here at the school and previously in my life. I hope to get all yes's. I know I will hear some great stories, and maybe someone will surprise me when I ask "can you repeat last year $100 gift" and respond with "well, this year I am thinking maybe I can support a little more.  2014 was a good year for me. How about a million dollar gift this year."

Regardless of the size of your gift or even if you cannot give at all this year, I look forward to speaking to you.