In Every Home

by Jack Dozier

The New Era is important. It’s a great magazine, and it should be in every home where there are youth and youth leaders in the Church (and it’s a great missionary tool as well).

So when the Columbia Maryland Stake ad hoc youth committee got together to plan a service project, as the stake Young Men president I was pleased when they decided to try to place the New Era with every young person in the stake.

We organized a pledge drive to solicit contributions of $2.00, $4.00, and $8.00 (an annual subscription is $8.00), making sure to explain what the funds would be used for. Then we contacted ward magazine representatives and used information from the Church Magazines heads of households list to target prospective subscribers.

Based on that information, we allocated a quota of pledges to each ward or branch, based on population. The largest ward was asked to raise enough to pay for 25 subscriptions; the smallest branch was asked to raise enough to pay for three.

There wasn’t a lot of hoopla, although we announced our activity and asked stake members for their support. We coordinated with bishops and branch presidents to make sure we wouldn’t ruffle anyone’s feathers. The bishops also helped us determine which families would have the greatest need for the magazines.

We were able to provide 67 households with subscriptions to the New Era, and we feel this has done a lot to benefit the youth in our stake.

“Not everybody gets around to renewing,” said Jason White of the Glen Burnie Ward. “People pay a little more attention to it now.”

“It was easy getting the pledges,” said Ryan Viens of the Fort Meade Ward, “but harder getting the money.”

Stacey Wolfe, of the Severna Park Ward, said, “At first it seemed like just another project. But then it felt good inside, because I really love the New Era, and it’s nice to share it. My best friends hadn’t been receiving it, and now they really enjoy it.”

Photography by Brent Petersen