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,PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, MARCH 21, 1986
PAGE 5
cassette from Pasadena, Tom Root also receives one. With the help of the
Television Department, a stereo cassette is prepared with the English
original on one sound track and Tom Root's simultaneous interpretation in
German on the other sound track. This is then sent to us in Datapost,
enabling us to play the cassettes or videos in services with the original
English being played over the loudspeaker system and the German sound
track over the infrared interpreting system.
Our Newsstand Program is progressing well.
When we started our pilot
Newsstand Program in June of 1985, the response was 0.9%. This increased
each month, giving us an average response rate for 1985 of 1.7%. Results
are still coming in for February 1986 but January's response was 2.1%,
which is the highest yet. We now have 10 outlets, through which 3,000-
3,500 magazines are distributed monthly.
Donation mail income also looked very positive this month. The month-to
date increase was 26.0%, which brought our year-to-date increase to 17.0%.
Since the budget had been set for a 4.0% increase, this will help us
greatly.
(Submitted by Frank Schnee, Regional Director)
From Italian Office Circulation of "La Pura Verita" climbed to a record
breaking 91,449 this month, topping the 90,000-mark for the first time.
This recent growth spurt is the result of a direct-mail campaign in
Italian-speaking areas of Switzerland as well as responses from a space ad
placed in an Italian T.V. guide.
Our full-page color ad entitled "What Next for Europe?" drew over 2,900
responses as a result of its November, 1985, run in SORRISI E CANZONI,
Italy's most popular T.V. guide.
It was, however, positioned by the
publishers on a left-hand page instead of a right-hand page, as had been
requested. This mistake proved to be a profitable one:
to compensate,
SORRISI E CANZONI reran the ad in January at no extra cost. Responses
from this second free ad rapidly surpassed those of the first, bringing
the combined total to just under 7,000 to date, representing a commendable
$3.00 cost per response.
Incoming mail this month was up 53% over the previous year. We received
11,075 pieces of mail, 7,140 of which were new subscribers. Outgoing mail
was up an amazing 181%, with 4,027 envelopes being sent out.
The fields in Italy were certainly "white to harvest" this winter, but in
more ways than one -- minister Michael Caputo battled deadly snowstorms
and thick fog in North Italy as he conducted a week-long visiting tour
this month. Genoa, Trentino, Venice and Milan are among the cities on an
820-mile circuit where members and prospective members were visited. Says
Mr. Caputo: "After leaving Venice, we went to the Friuli region where
horrible blizzards had left a disaster area.
In the towns we visited,
they had had a half meter of snow the day before, all of which had melted
off the road when we arrived. Many of the visited areas were ravaged by
severe storms and flooding up to the day of our arrival." Mr. Caputo was
accompanied by Mr. Carmelo Anastasi, a church employee and long-time
member.