December, 2011.
Dear Friends,
So many of you were appreciative of the sentiments expressed in last year’s appeal letter that I have decided reissue it this season. Read it or discard it for your evening’s pleasure, but please help us advance the actor’s voice in this society. To donate online please visit The Actors Center.
December, 2010
Dear Family and Friends of The Actors Center,
I remember a time when “annual giving” was a rite and a soul cleansing act of service to one’s fellow man. No matter how poor we were, one gave a little more than you could or prudently should because you knew that others were extending themselves as well, and in the end we would all be the better for it. There was always someone close by that was clearly worse off and needed help. Annual giving was a rite and a privilege. Now I feel it should be called “annual dunning”. There is nothing annual about it. It is like a drone constantly circling above us, creating a sucking vortex that robs us of any sense of true giving or of joy in common cause, because it seems to prey upon you rather than ennoble you. Or it resembles an ugly baby bird with its beak open wide in full expectation of its gullet being stuffed, not only by its exhausted parents, but by every passer by. I think we all remember our own experiences of a giving that felt good, that cleansed our psyche by helping us reach beyond our own self interests. I think my first experience of that kind was in the fall of 1945, when I was ten. A young man who worked on the farm just down the road had contracted polio. He had just turned 18. He had played baseball in high school, and I thought he was just who I wanted to grow up to be. I was devastated to learn that he was sick, then to learn that he was in NYC in a hospital, and then to learn that was being kept alive by an iron lung and would never play baseball again. Our church took up a special collection for his family on Sundays, and my mother would give me a dime to put in the plate. A dime was a big deal to me then, and frankly to my mother and father as well. But it paled by the experience of giving it away to save my boyhood hero’s life. Now I understand that it was in my own self interest as well. I felt that I was helping him, which made me feel bigger and more of a consequence in his life.
Forgive me that Mark Twain, Norman Rockwell picture of rural community life and sense of personal connection to others, but there is a reason I addressed this brief note to “Family and Friends.” The Actors Center has a very particular purpose, and I believe a large number of devotees to that purpose see The Actors Center as the institution that best represents their long term goals. That is our family. Then there are our friends, those of you who admire and support the purpose and the family members who pursue it. Together we need to support the institution that serves us and binds us together. In our fourteen years of operation, we have had a large national impact, and continue to be embarked on programs of national import and service. The leadership of the organization, namely Ron Van Lieu and myself, work pro bono. Our Board contribute generously of their time and their money yet we operate on a budget of just over $120,000, and struggle from month to month to meet payroll, for our two fabulous, underpaid, part time employees. Our goal is to raise $10,000 through this end of the year appeal. Your participation in this is central, because you are a member of our closely allied community and your dimes, dollars, and generous checks will make a very real difference in our ability to continue our work. Bless you, happiest of holidays, and every best wish for the new year.