Articles - Miscellaneous

An Unsuccessful Target

The St Edmund's stewardship committee realised that we had never received a donation from one of Leeds' most successful businessmen, who happened to live in the Parish and worshipped at St Eds.

The committee chairman called on him to persuade him to contribute and said, "Our research shows that out of your substantial annual income of at least £250,000, you give not a penny to the Church. Wouldn't you like to give back to the community in some way?"

The businessman mulled this over for a moment and replied, "First, did your research also show that my mother is dying after a long illness, and has medical bills that are several times her annual income?"

Embarrassed, the stewardship committee chairman mumbled, "Um... No."

"Or," the businessman continued, "that my brother, a disabled Falklands war veteran, is blind and confined to a wheelchair?"

The stricken chairman began to stammer out an apology but was interrupted when the businessman added, "Or that my sister's husband died in a traffic accident," the businessman's voice rising in indignation, "Leaving her penniless with three children?"

The humiliated chairman, completely beaten, said simply, "I had no idea..."

On a roll, the businessman cut him off once again, "And as I don't give any money to them, why should I give any to St Edmund's?"

David Everett

2 January, 2005