A personal appeal

14 comments

• Jay, I dod recognize that I probably won’t be able to make a full-time income from the blog. I’m hopeful that it will be enough to go along with freelance work I’m doing to reach that goal. I should have clarified in the entry and I will edit it now to reflect that. Thanks.

• Papabile, thanks. I’m keeping a realistic, but open view on this. I need to know if it will work and I couldn’t not do it.

  1/10th of 1% of 4,000 is 4 people. Thankfully, I had a whole lot more people than that respond in previous donation appeals, so I think I can count on a slightly higher participation rate.

• Hi Dom:
  I love your blog because of your honesty and forthrightness – like Jay said. The other big plus for me is that you’re a local guy (for me) and I appreciate the work you’ve done on quite a few local issues.

  I can sign up for a monthly donation for now, but I am in great peril at work—my company was bought twice in two years, the latest by a huge conglomerate in the midwest and they are eliminating jobs at an alarming rate in my company – those jobs are leaving this state and moving to the midwest – so I could go at any time. I’m scared too. Have a daughter headed for college, a mortgage and a son headed for Catholic HS next year. At this point, we are in our late 40s and trying to save for our future old age and maintain the status-quo plus the future educational expenses of our kids. If not for family here in Mass and the fact that I do honestly love the area, for financial reasons, we would consider a cheaper state to live in. They nickel and dime you here via fees and taxes and of course housing is out of sight. 

  I think I told you before that we’ve been in the exact position you are in… went through every penny we had including 401k monies back @ 17 years ago. What worked for us is me taking any night job I could find (third shift for a while, second now) and my husband starting out again literally as a security guard during the day – just for the benefits – all so that one of us would be home with our infant daughter every day because we were not doing daycare. We worked our way up the ladder and my husband is into database something or other in the hospital field (now works for the diocese of Providence hospitals—and he with a PE degree!) and I do IT support for a retail chain… it’s a miracle how it worked out, but still, tenuous due to the job climate here (maybe everywhere, I don’t know).

  My advice is to take whatever you can find that will provide medical benefits, even if it is well below what you were used to,  financially and professionally… you never know where it may lead and at least it will pay the grocery bill, etc.

• Dom-  you have a great website here with what seems to be a broad and loyal base of readers.  I would hope that a percentage of your readers will donate.  Like you said, it may be as simple as forgoing 2 monthly trips to Dunkin Donuts – not hard for me, since we don’t have any in Memphis, and I’m not a huge Starbucks fan.  That, and I’d rather read you than ESPN The Magazine or Road and Track.  Just my 2 cents.

• I ponied up (is that how you spell the pony of ponying up?) for a year.  I feel your unemployment, I’m about to go job hunting myself.  But count me in until I die or go broke.  I’d SO much rather give Church money to your efforts than to give them to Cardinal Mahony’s lawyers.

• Dear Dom:

  I can only offer a small monthly assistance and my prayers.  I would greatly miss your site should you have to discontinue it.  Keep in mind the struggles and successes of Mother Angelica…knowing that the impossible only applies to men and nature, not to God.

  May the Lord bless and keep you.

  —John Hetman
    Niles, IL

• Hi Dom,

  I like reading yourself, but your primary vocation is to your family and their support.  I wish you luck in your fund raiser, but God may be calling you elsewhere.  Keep your ears and your heart open to whatver the call may be.

• To the few of you who have emailed with concerns that I’ve given up looking for permanent work and am now looking for this blog to be out sole means of support, I can only suggest you read my post again.

  Your concern is appreciated, but as I said this fundraiser is a way of determining whether I’m spending too much time on this blog or whether that time could be better spent on other activities that will bring in money.

  So far quite a few people have been very generous in their support and for that I’m grateful.

  I’m not looking for this to be our sole means of support. What I’m hoping is that I can bring in enough that it will supplement what I’m getting from other work and then I don’t have to take a job that will eat up all my time and prevent me from continuing this blog.

  And also thanks to everyone with concerns about health insurance. We currently get our insurance from a small business co-op that I’m paying out of our savings now. That’s the primary thing that I’m hoping this subscription drive will cover.

  So far, it will cover about two months of health insurance premiums.

  Thanks again everybody.

• Hey Dom,

    I am glad to read that y’all have health coverage.  We briefly went without early in our marriage (three decades ago) and were nearly bankrupted by unexpected surgery. Things have changed so much since that when my dh retires, we plan to carry only major medical & self-insure for the routine care. Many doctors will discount for cash up front.  Presently we pay approximately $5K per year in group premiums for family coverage through dh’s employer. I don’t know how most young families manage.

    Continuing prayers coming from Alabama –

• Because people who can afford to work should pay their own way. Why should the government provide health care? It doesn’t provide food to everyone either?

  If you’re too sick or unable to work or elderly, then you can get government assistance or go to a free clinic or get help from the Church. But for everybody else, health care is like food and shelter. It’s your responsibility first and foremost.

  Also don’t expect the blog to come back in another form if it goes away. If this doesn’t work, I’m not going to bother, at least with a news and commentary blog. At best it would be a family news blog of interest only to family and friends.

• Well, I did my bit, because you will be sorely missed if you can’t continue providing a voice for faithful traditional Catholics.

  Best of luck, my good man!

• Thanks for asking. You can send it to the address listed above.

• Why should the writing be more valuable if its printed on a piece of paper than if its stored on a web page? What’s the point? Is not the writing the same?

  Scripture says the worker is worth his wages. I believe that what I offer is worth something, that I am offering something you can’t get elsewhere. If you agree, then you can offer a pledge. If you don’t agree, then don’t.

  I think the fact that I allow folks to continue to read and post comments whether they’ve made a donation or not leads to the conclusion that it’s not worth the money. If so, that’s your choice.

• Gemma:

  Please give us some credit. We didn’t forget that Melanie has a teaching degree. For various reasons that’s not a viable option. But that is beside the point.

  Several people are laboring under a misconception that I’m asking for a handout because I’m not working full-time. I’m not.

  I believe that what I offer on this blog is worthwhile and of value and I asking those who frequent this site and agree to consider making a pledge or donation based on that value.

  Now, what I could do and did not, was to sell access only to those who are willing to pay, but I do not because I know there many people who can’t afford to pay for whatever reason and because it would make it difficult for more people to discover the site.

  So rather than going with a “cable premium channel subscription” business model, I’ve decided on a “public broadcasting pledge drive” model.

  Rest assured I am open to the Lord’s prompting at all times and that my constant prayer is for his guidance.