p. 18 | Harvest Ingathering at Mount Vernon by W. E. H.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 9, 1914

Harvest Ingathering at Mount Vernon

By W. E. H.

For its suggestive value to other schools, we give below the plan followed at Mount Vernon College in giving the students an active part in the Harvest Ingathering campaign. If all was not accomplished that the president and his faculty had hoped for, it was certainly not due to any lack of thorough planning and study beforehand. The faculty is to be commended for the pains taken to instruct students who were taking part in this work for the first time. President Salisbury writes as follows:—

"In harmony with the recommendation of the Columbia Union Conference, the faculty decided to use the envelope plan for soliciting funds for missions. This seemed to us a better way, inasmuch as 'most of those who went out from the school were students who had had very little experience in soliciting.

"About six weeks beforehand we began to talk of the Harvest Ingathering work in chapel, and when we placed the matter before the students, over one thousand papers were called for. When we went out with the papers, there were one hundred students, bearing ten papers apiece, who went to the city of Mount Vernon.

"Our plan was to give the students opportunity to become well acquainted with the paper, so we ordered a few early, and placed them in their hands. Those who had ordered papers were divided into groups of from four to seven, with a member of the faculty to lead them in a critical study of the magazine, so that all were fairly well acquainted with the contents of the paper. We also studied the booklet on 'General Information,' with our students, and gave several chapel talks on the importance of the Ingathering work and the proper way of representing it before the contributors.

"The same bands who met for the study of the paper, with a teacher at the head, worked particular sections that were assigned to them in the city of Mount Vernon. A committee procured a blue print, and divided the town into sections, so that our school worked fairly well the whole town.

"After distributing eleven hundred papers, the total receipts were over sixty dollars. This is not so much as we hoped for, but the old members of the faculty say that in the past it has been very hard to secure donations from the residents.

"The Lord is blessing us in our school work." W. E. H.