Dollars pour in for World's $400,000 fund drive

By Tim Wheeler

The mail often brings letters like the following from Kelly McConnell in Los Angeles:

McConnell writes, "We have been having many anti-war demonstrations here in L.A. where I and others have handed out the People's Weekly World ... I have collected $28.50 in donations from some very appreciative demonstrators on the picket lines. I am enclosing their donations and some of my own money to make $40. I am going to work hard to send more money to our paper, the very best working class newspaper in the country."

In Eugene, Ore., Frank Soifer, a retired ironworker and Communist, was the subject of a column in the May 20 Eugene Weekly.

"Still active at age 76, Soifer hits the streets every week with a stack of the People's Weekly World, selling each copy for 50 cents," the paper reported.

A few weeks ago, the Eugene Register Guard carried Soifer's letter to the editor denouncing the NATO air war against Yugoslavia while schools in Eugene crumble.

Kosovo peacekeeping "is a job for the United Nations, not NATO," Soifer wrote. Soifer sends every dollar he collects from Eugene readers to the People's Weekly World Fund Drive.

Right now, we are in the middle of our 1999 fund and circulation drive. So far, we have raised $130,114 or 33 percent of our $400,000 goal. More than $58,000 has been sent in by readers answering this year's $1,000 challenge.

One California contributor sent in $5,000 with the message, "We must keep our precious People's Weekly World going!"

The people who contribute $1,000 are mostly people of modest means, senior citizens on fixed incomes or wage earners with families to support. When they write out a check for $1,000 it means sacrificing somewhere else in their budget.

Whether it is "World Builders" selling the paper on streetcorners in L.A. or Eugene contributors sending in checks for $5,000, these are readers who have their eyes and and their minds fixed on the future.

We all have to set aside some whim if we are to reach our goal, sustaining the People's Weekly World and increasing its circulation. Won't you please send in your contribution today?