Chuck Pickhardt

As a parish member of St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, I was asked to serve on an ad hoc committee some months ago to help interview and recommend a campaign consultant firm to our vestry for their action. Not only did we decide on JDKlote, but we also unanimously expressed our fond hope in our representative consultant. As you know, all that came to pass, for which we are most grateful. At this time, as we are moving through the last weeks of our campaign, I want you to know what the consultant has meant to us, not only as a knowledgeable consultant, but also as a new friend and neighbor.

Your consultant came into our midst when we understandably had real difficulty accepting the premise that we could raise more money for our parish than had ever before been accomplished. We had our share of sceptics who said that it might happen elsewhere, but not here. The consultant skillfully helped us build a strong team, trained us in methods we found foreign and a bit intimidating, and helped us come to fully believe in those methods. He has been at our sides patiently and confidently, and, through our Advance Phase recently completed, never flagged in his support and belief that we could and would succeed. At our spectacular Kickoff Dinner, we were able to announce over $1.5 million pledged to date against a listing of needs totaling $2 million. Now, in our Victory Phase, which I chair, the team is fully engaged and moving forward to complete our task with remaining visits and resultant additional pledges. As a bonus, our annual pledge drive, being held in concert with the capital drive, is evidencing a significant growth trend over last year’s figures.

We look forward with confidence and high spirits to the completion of our campaign. When we ultimately say goodbye to the consultant, he will remain in our thoughts and prayers as he gets well deserved rest and moves forward to his next and fortunate needful organization. He has been everything to us that we could have hoped for, and we will be delighted to stand as a solid reference for him and your firm. We are forever grateful that the consultant has been here as our mentor and our friend.