19, 1954
THE TWIG
Page five
ING OF DREAMS OF THE FUTURE
other additions projected in the sketch include classroom buildings, a gymnasium and
pool, head-houses connecting Vann and Brewer dormitories with Johnson Hall, an
infirmary, a student center, an outdoor theater and lake, a library, and a chapel (the
latter two buildings are not included in the present Expansion Program). Of partic^ar
interest is the long-range plan for a well-landscaped double drive leading to a Johnson
Hall without the present front steps.
44
Camoaign Worker Makes Direct Appeal to Alumnae:
A Gift from Every Alumna” and $100,000 Set as
Three-year Goal for Meredith Alumnae Association
year
By Ruth Couch Allen
Just so you will not forget the
figure, I repeat: the Executive Com
mittee of the Alumnae Association
has designated $100,000 as our
alumnae goal—as our special part
in the general Meredith Expansion
Program. Except for the immediate
family on the campus—the faculty
— who have already pledged, we
alumnae want to be the first to
bring our sifts. Let our slogan be
“A GIFT FROM EVERY ALUM
NA.” Our $100,000 is to be used
for a classroom building. In a con-
spicious place in the building we
shall have a plaque indicating our
part in the undertaking. We also
want a roll book of donors with
the name of every alumna in it.
The Challenge
One-hundred thousands dollars
is a lot of money; but the sum is no
bigger than the generous hearts of
Meredith Alumnae. It may be bigger
than our combined annual pocket-
books, but not bigger than our com
bined triennial pocketbooks. Re
member that it is a three-year
pledge that we want from each
alumna — either with or without
cash at the time of pledging. The
monthly bills plus March 15 may
have flattened the billfold tempo
rarily, but there are other months
coming, and Mae Grimmer is al
ways at home to alumnae letters,
especially cordial when they contain
checks. There is no gift too large
BUSY DAYS: Pictured above is a typical scene in the Alumnae House as Miss
Mae Grimmer, left, executive secretary of the Alumnae Association, and Mrs.
LeRoy Allen, alumnae director of the Expansion Program, lay plans for alumnae
participation in the drive.
and none too small; we must
give if we are to reach our goal.
all
Divisional Organization
We have been busy with organi
zation which we hope will make
possible a personal call on every
alumna in North Carolina. Since
our divisions are large, we have re-
ledule of Funds
, $1,230,000
' $300,000
300,000
300,000
ries) . . . 150,000
100,000
• 80,000
Lake
$ 50,000
50,000
50.000
25.000
25,000
200,000
200,000
500.000
120.000
$2,250,000
WE CAN NEVER BE DONE WITH GIVING TO A REALLY
GREAT CAUSE" —AN HISTORICAL SKETCH
ohnson Hall will receive attention in the long-
ding to the present library wUl be eliminate
lan attractive triple doorway.
By Mary Lynch Johnson
Meredith College was, in And
rew Carnegie’s phrase, “born to the
blessed heritage of poverty,” for the
whole history of the school has
been marked by seemingly insur
mountable obstacles, by financial
crises which threatened its very life.
Because of these, the College has
been the more keenly aware of
Tthe guidance of the good hand of
God,” “the Divine Favor,” “God’s
signal blessings,’-’ to which Dr. Vann
often referred with gratitude in his
reports to the Convention.
Initial Difficulties
It must have been difficult to see
the blessing of poverty when the
construction of the Main Building,
begun in 1895, had to be halted
several times for long periods be
cause there was no money to pay
for materials or labor. In 1896, the
chairman of the executive commit
tees of the trustees wrote in his re
port: “It was very trying to us to
see the pretty fall days passing by
while our walls stood day after day
without rising higher, but we were
forced to wait until money came in
before going further.” In 1897, he
reported to the Convention that the
roof was on the building and the
windows boarded up for the win
ter.
Renewed Determination
Yet the stopping of the work
brought no note of discouragement
into the report; instead, there was
renewed determination. “A female
university is a necessity to our
work,” that 1897 report asserted,
“and the heart of our people has laid
hold of it and said, ‘By the grace of
God it shall be’.” In virtually every
issue of the Biblical Recorder were
pleas from the editor, from the
trustees, and from pastors for sacri
ficial giving to “this struggling child
who so much needs and so richly
deserves it.”
“No work is sweet to us until we
have made sacrifices for it. . . Some
of us feel that we can never have
rest of mind until the institution is
open for our girls.”
“The slow pace of progress in
the completion of the institution
should draw our hearts closer to it.
. . . Educational institutions are
not made of bricks and mortar and
money. They are never great until
sanctified with sacrifice.”
The Women to the Rescue
In 1898 at the Convention, Fan
nie E. S. Heck and fifteen other
women pledged themselves, Miss
Heck afterwards wrote, “solemnly,
in the presence of God and in re
liance on His strength, to spare
neither prayer, time, thought, pride,
nor purse in securing among the
Baptist women and friends of edu
cation in North Carolina $1,000.”
This meeting led to the formation
of the Women’s Educational Union.
Miss Heck’s example reinforced
her precept, “Give first yourself
until sacrifice brings joy, and then
you will be ready to influence others
to give.”
Sacrificial Giving
There were generous responses
to these pleas. Some gave hundreds
who could ill afford tens; many
others gave dollars who could ill
afford dimes. With her gift of ten
dollars a school teacher wrote, “I
can do without the clothes I meant to
buy with this, but we cannot do
without the school.” (Those who are
considering giving ten dollars now
might remember that the average
pay of the North Carolina school
teacher then was less than twenty-
five dollars a month for terms rang
ing from three to eight months.) A
country preacher barely able to make
ends meet wrote: “I can’t pray if
I turn my back on a work like
this.” A drayman pledged twenty
dollars to be paid in hauling; a
childless widow gave her husband’s
watch.
As the CoUege Opens
The College opened in 1899 with
a debt of $35,000 instead of the
endowment of $100,000 for which
its friends had hoped. At the Con
vention of 1901, with the third aca
demic session well under way, Dr.
Vann reported:
“A debt of $43,000 on a property
worth $100,000 with no endowment
is a load which no enterprise can
carry. The income from students
has been large beyond all expecta
tions, and yet because of this debt,
with its annual interest of $2,50()
we have been compelled to over
draw our bank account and de
pend on outside collections from our
brethren to meet the deficiency. This
course, if pursued, can have but one
result, and that will be swift and
fatal.” The following extracts from
articles in the Biblical Recorder and
from letters to Dr. Vann make clear
how the “swift and fatal” result
was averted:
“I feel as if many of us could
afford to do as the early Christians
—sell our possessions and pay the
debt that the institution might be
raised to that high place of useful
ness to which the Lord has called
it.”
“Your burden is greater than ours,
no mqtter how liberal we are.”
“As per your plan in the B. Re
corder, I will joine the hs of 500
to send you $1.00 for the B.F.U.
hope you will meet with Success.”
“Enclosed herewith find check for
$100.00 for you to use for the bene
fit of the Femail University. Ought
of sent it sooner. But the condition
my family is such that keeps me
short with my work. May the Lord
bless you in your work.”
“We have built this institution to
last as long as Baptists have any
thing to do with education. ... It is
nothing that many of us have been
called on before. We can never be
done with giving to a really great
cause.”
The College was successful in
meeting the offer of the General
Education Board made in 1910 to
give from the Rockefeller Fund
$25,000 if the College raised
$50,000.
Her Darkest Hour
What was perhaps the darkest
hour in the history of the College
came after it had moved to the new
site. The new buildings were financ
ed by bonds issued in one of the
financially roseate years, 1923.
When they had to be paid off in the
grim days of the depression, with
numerous rooms in the new build
ings empty, financial disaster seemed
(Continued on page eight)
zoned them into working areas. In
the Elizabeth City Division we have
six areas—Scotland Neck, Rocky
Mount, Goldsboro, Greenville, New
Bern, and Elizabeth City; in the
Greensboro Division, three areas—
Raleigh, Greensboro, and Oxford;
in the Wilmington Division, four
areas — Smithfield, Fayetteville,
Lumberton, and Wilmington; in the
Charlotte Division, five areas —
Winston-Salem, Statesville, Shelby,
Charlotte, and Rockingham.
Because the Land of the Sky is
always in a class by itself, the Ashe
ville Division does not have to con
form to the divisional procedure of
the rest of the state. There will be
a planning meeting in Asheville to
which representatives from all towns
within a reasonable driving distance
will come. The other alumnae of the
area and I will work out a special
technique for their smaller groups,
but, barring unrecorded changes of
address, not an individual will be
overlooked.
Details of Procedure
In each of these area towns we
shall have a planning meeting to
which representative alumnae will
come (a committee meeting), or in
divisions where the regional vice-
president prefers it so, there will
be a meeting to which aU alumnae
of the area are invited—a combined
general rally and committee meet
ing. To every meeting we shall take,
from the alumnae office, pledge
cards for all alunmae of the area,
with names already on the cards
ready for distribution to the work
ers. We also have information leaf
lets presenting in concise form some
facts about the College and the
alumnae which may bring up-to-
date news to some alumnae who
have not visited Meredith recently.
We hope, too, that workers may
present some ready-made arguments
for active participation in the Ex
pansion Program—if anyone could
need argument other than the
prompting of her heart. Our Briej
for Workers, to be distributed at the
meetings, has specific suggestions
about campaign procedures.
In each hostess town the chair
man of that town with her commit
tee will arrange the meeting (in
many cases has already done so)
and notify chairmen in her area
towns. Before the meeting, she will
have set up her organization of ma
jors, captains, workers — if her
alumnae group is large enough to
justify that particular organization
(Continued on page six)
ANSWERS:
MEREDITH I.Q.
(1) 8,000. (2) 3,400. (3) 625.
(4) 79; 10 and the District of Co
lumbia; 1 (Rotary scholar from
Denmark). (5) 50. (6) 71.9 per cent.