Wildlife Management Tip

Wildlife management tip (I’m an expert): You can drive mice from your wall by annoying them — loudly. Hence, ye olde boom box (remember them?) pointed at the affected area. I find modern country music or sports talk radio is most effective.

Last Friday morning, I left before Carol, so she set it up before she left for the day. That night:

Me: “You can’t drive the mice away with National Public Radio!”

Carol: “Fall pledge drive.”

Look, we all know these seasonal fundraising pitches are annoying.

If you’re like me, you’ve been clearing out your in-box of all those worthy requests for money. And, you are likely feeling a little twinge of guilt or regret when you send to the virtual trash can those pleas from worthy causes that you might otherwise support.

But please give the Reformed Journal online another thought.

If my schedule is correct, I get to be on the very last day of the campaign, among the last of the bloggers to make the pitch this year – which is sort of fitting.

If you are still reading this and haven’t contributed, you are among the procrastinators and wafflers in our online community.

My peeps!

So please. If you are reading this, you already know what a unique thing this is. You already know about the breadth and grace and fearlessness of the offerings, the poetry and book reviews and podcasts, the longer-form articles and the daily blogs where we explore our world through the lens of a shared faith.

As befits the little thread of Dutch heritage that still persists, this thing runs on a shoestring, all duct-tape and baling twine and the energetic diligence of volunteer writers, editors, IT experts and behind-the-scenes saints. But even the duct tape and baling twine have a cost.

We have committed and engaged readers and this yearly pitch is the big enchilada in terms of fund-raising to keep the community not only extant, but vibrant.

At the risk of driving you up the wall (instead of out of it – get it?), please consider giving to support the community for another year.

And because it cannot be said enough — Thank you.

Here’s the boilerplate: This year, we’ve created an incentive program designed to motivate our readers to give at a higher level. The incentive is available for gifts of $300 and above given between November 25 and December 31.

It’s a But wait, there’s more offer, shamelessly copied in the spirit of the Amazing Ginsu Knife and the Vegamatic: donors can choose to receive one of three books now (April Fiet’s The Sacred Pulse, Deb Rienstra’s Refugia Faith, or Jeff Munroe’s Reading Buechner.)

But wait, there’s more. They will also receive a copy of Kyle Meyaard-Schaap’s forthcoming book Following Jesus in a Warming World (set to release in February) AND be invited to an exclusive author event for Reformed Journal donors with Kyle. But wait, there’s more. Donors will also receive a copy of Jennifer Holberg’s forthcoming book Nourishing Narratives (planned to release in July) AND an invitation to an exclusive RJ donor event with Jennifer.

The Reformed Journal is a registered 501c3 nonprofit.