Money vs Happiness

This is a clever and true video.  Enjoy!

Looking back, looking forward

The carcasses of spent balloons litter the floor.

Someone rigged the coffee machine with duct tape and an urn receptacle.

Staff shuffle chairs and video equipment in preparation for the afternoon seminar - perhaps a little more slowly than usual.

The post-apocalyptic state of the course room indicates its recent use as a child room.

All indications point to the fact that we had a New Year's event last night!

 What better way to say "Goodbye" to 2012 than to watch as the St. Louis Way to Happiness chapter was acknowledged in a 20-minute segment at the event!

And why not?

The St. Louis chapter has done something that hasn't been done in many other places -

We have now distributed copies of The Way to Happiness to over 20% of the population of the city.  Distribution of the booklet continues right now with the help and participation of both government groups and numerous non-profits.

Barry and Claire have now been asked to speak at an upcoming international convention to help other cities repeat their successful pattern.

2012 was a phenomenal year in other ways as well.

The St. Louis Church doubled the number of auditors and supervisors this year - and every one of our auditors is now Clear or OT.

Adam Heft is back from his training at Flag, on fire and productive.  I'm already getting rave successes from the parishioners who he's overseen, and the auditors are beaming with pride.

The designs and plans of the new building and our test center are now fully done.  Next will be the construction documents, then the permits, and then...

We recently took a group of building fundraising advocates to LA - the second-largest group to ever attend this event - and we all toured the facilities that create the new building plans and toured the Los Angeles church.

I couldn't ask for a better year... or a better group to work with.

Now that we have officially begun 2-0-1-3, let's name some goals to accomplish over the next 365 days.

1.  Continue The Way to Happiness distribution.

Barry and Claire have set a target for 1 million booklets distributed over the coming year.  Distribution of this booklet is always accompanied by a drop in crime - a proven fact.  This is an excellent strategy to lessen the danger of the environment.

2.  Double again the number of supervisors and auditors.  

This target gives the Church a better chance to help more people.  An org is an auditing factory that also trains people to audit.

3.  Finish the tuck pointing and windows in the new building.  Get permits for construction approved by all agencies. 

 The tuck pointing and windows can be done in the spring.  This gives a short-term fundraising goal... and it'll make the building look purty.

4. Double the number of Humanitarians for the Church fundraising project. 

 Humanitarians are the keystones of the fundraising project.  Every new Humanitarian sparks dozens of more participants and additional donations.

I am looking forward to a very productive year with all of my friends.  You are an incredible group of people to work with and I am fortunate to be a part of this group.