Page 43 - Newsletter_Spring_2020

16th Annual Appeal Nears Its End Amidst

Unforeseen Worldwide Concerns

By Jon A. McLaughlin ‘73 • Fundraising Co-Chair

Wow! What can be said about the world we live
in now? It certainly a different place than when I
reported on the results of the 15th Annual Appeal
in the Fall/Winter ’19 issue of the North Star
News.
In that same article I stated that the Association
was about to kick off the 16th appeal. It started
in September with the annual appeal letter going
out to all alums for whom we have addresses. The
results were much as planned from the mailer with
contributions coming in at about the same level as
the 2018-2019 appeal. We were pleased with it.
This year we embarked on a different approach
about half- way through the fundraising process.
In the past years, we have organized several teams
to hold a one night phonathon in which as many
of our alums as possible are called that have not
given to the annual appeals at the time of the
phonathons. This always raised several additional
thousands of dollars in contributions.

During these evening phonathons, there were
always several hundred alums that were unable to
be reached. The last couple of years we turned
the names of the alums that had not been reached Dave McGillicuddy `62 calling at a past alumni phonathon.
during the phonathon over to one of our local
alumnae that enjoys calling people.
Most of our regular phonathon callers disliked calling but did it out of loyalty to the alumni association. This particular caller was offered
a slight commission to make calls on her own time and she was very successful not only in the number of successful calls she made, but
the average value per call was greater than during the phonathon and the majority were paid via credit card which gives the association
immediate access to the contribution. With her success at calling the past couple of years, and the inability to continue to find sufficient
calling teams, we opted not to have a phonathon this year, but to turn all names that had not given to date directly to our calling wizard.

She started in calling in mid-February and was doing a superb job in contacting alums and being very productive in receiving positive
responses. Then you all know what hit in mid-March!!!! We made a conscious effort to forego calling for the immediate future as everyone
had too much in their personal lives worrying about jobs, personal safety, and the safety of their families.

This has been a disruptive and unusual time. Like other schools, Houlton had to transition to remote learning. Students, faculty, and
families had to adjust to the changes. At the same time, the members of the Senior Class missed moments and memories that they can never
get back. With one important segment of our fundraising on hold, the personal calling, we needed to do something to help lessen this loss a
bit as the time was nearing to present scholarships to the Seniors in one form or another.
As HHSAA President Ketch said in a recent request letter to all alums, “We can’t replace these things for them. What we can do, however, is
help make the next stage of their lives a little easier by continuing to provide scholarships for their post-secondary education. We rely on our
alums to help make these scholarship presentations possible.”
You came through once again and the Association was able to put together a scholarship package worth almost $53,000 to the Senior Class
of 2020!

Look for the final update on the 2019-2020 campaign in the Fall/Winter ’20 issue in which not only will the recipients be revealed but you
will learn about the forward thinking ways that the administration handled Senior High Last Chapel and Graduation during the Covid-19
crisis .

Once again, the Houlton High School Alumni Association was and is....

SUCCESSFUL – Because of you!

www.houltonalumni.com PAGE 43