Okay, I may show my age, but Teachers were sent out every fast Sunday to collect fast offerings. I was always given the Jack Mormons, inactives. Why? cuz I was recipient of Deseret foods and church welfare. I was South Park's "Kenny". It's funny now; I just hope no one else has to suffer the bullying, shunning, name calling.

Oh, THATS who was prowling through the neighbourhood about 2 pm today. I didn't know they still did that.

I will show my age as well.
We also went door to door, but oddly enough during church, so the only ones home were the inactive or the invalids.

I went door to door but it was during the morning time slot of preisthood meeting.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/04/2013 11:17PM by Dave the Atheist.

I went out once to collect them....absolutely hated the experience. I know that peoples doors I knocked on were poor and it made me sick and angry that I had to ask them for money. I refused to do it again. That was a long time ago...and I don't remember what, if anything the fallout from my refusal was. My Dad never mentioned it.

Ron Burr

Fast offerings really bothered me. Our ward wasn't very consistent in sending us out to collect. But there would always be surges "I know we haven't been doing this very much, but we HAVE to collect fast offerings." Every couple of months there would be a big push, a new effort to organize it and then it died off again and repeated for awhile. I always remember being uncomfortable with the practice because the members weren't really used to it and
I certainly wasn't used to it. It just didn't really feel right as to why I had to go door to door collecting money for a church, especially when that money was required ON TOP of tithing. These people payed 10% of their income to the church, and then they had to pay the church again for not eating food that day. It's just... not right.

JUST REMEMBER, EVEN THOUGH Kennys poor. He always seems a step ahead of the gang! That being said. as a female I never had to do that. But It always struck me how uncomfortable the kids looked. They always had a look like they didnt want to be there.

Yes, they still do door-to-door fast offering collections.

The AP in our ward go out every fast Sunday and do them. Then, on the second Sunday they go back out to all of the houses that didn't answer or donate on the first Sunday. They call it "call backs." Every house, member or not, is hit up.

My son says that hardly anybody is donating anymore. It's definitely decline over the last year or two.

"Call backs," really?! I thought the door to door collections were bad enough, but with those kind of tactics the church should hardly be calling them "offerings." How very uncomfortable for the boys who collect.

Yup, when I was finance clerk, we would look in the F.O. envelopes. If it was empty, it got put back into the rotation to go back out the next week for callbacks. It's still done the same way today.

The boys hate doing either one. People really get irritated at them.

As young deacons, we'd always peek into the stringed envelope to see if they actually placed something in there. You know, if you live outside of the morridor, the wards can be really spread out. So basically they'll ask a parent or a YM leader to taxi these kids around, proly putting 100 miles on a car, spending upwards $30 in gas to collect maybe 70-100 dollars in fast offerings. Seems like a bad return, but the elderly 15 don't care because they don't take the hit on the time and gas.

I thought this went away! Some 14 yr old boys show up once a month to hit you up for "fast" offerings; while you're having a Sunday sit down meal w/family.

quite early before meeting time. We were an active family, but I saw them go to the inactive widow lady's house as well.

I live in California now and saw a kid going around a nearby neighborhood here just a couple of years ago.

You only had to collect money?
Lucky you!
We had carts because older members still donated food.
I am sooooooooo old :(

Well, I knew this happened in frontier days but I didn't realize it happened in the last 100 years.

That's interesting. Thanks for sharing.

Wow! thought I was old; late 70s but I did temple pre-90's did mission in early 80's

Yeah. I used to do that too. People would come to the door with a wad of food in their mouth (hahaha) and put like fifty cents in the envelope. What a waste of time.

If that happened to me now I would certainly donate real food to the kids rather than money in an envelope.

1/3 of a gallon of milk, may be a couple of frozen things. That ought to keep the kids busy. Maybe go real old school and throw in a live chicken.

Same thing 1950-51
Same thing only between SS and sacrament meeting.
Got run off more than once.

Oh these are painful memories when I had to do this in SLC during the winter and the summer. I would be starving and half would say we paid at church, 1/4 would put coinage in the envelopes, and 1/4 would look at me like I was an idiot for showing up.

What do you mean, "I may show my age"? Is fast-offering collection not practiced anymore? I actually remember doing this in my ward about 5 years ago when I was a teacher. I'm not sure if it's still being done though. (I'm in Canada btw, if that matters at all).
I never thought about it before and simply did what I was told with a smiling face, going so far as to think I was doing these people a service. Now I understand how uncomfortable it must have been, to be asked by some smiling and faithful 14-year old to pay your dues to tscc. I tried to avoid thinking this, but something was definitely wrong if they said they had nothing to put into the envelope when I came by..

Tithing, building fund, fast offerings, missionary donations were supposed to be all inclusive. I just remember I got the Jack Mormons (inactives) and it was on fast sundays

They come to our house every single first Sunday of the month at around 12:30 p.m. They don't even know us since we've only been to their church a handful of times since moving here 10 years ago, and not at all in at least 3 years. I never answer the door, and usually my husband is asleep or at work when they stop by, but once in a while they'll catch him mowing the lawn or working on his car and he'll give them $20. It kind of makes me mad, but I don't want to argue with my husband about his generosity.

They came like clock work up until two years ago. They got a new bishop, and everything came to a screeching halt. No more money collecting, no more VT. Nobody liked the new bishop.

I trained them to not come during dinner time. They learned real quick that Sunday was cookie baking day in the winter. If they didn't show up until 3pm they would get cookies right out of the oven.

This is my first time commenting on this site but I couldn't help but to partake of this special opportunity.

The kid I collected with always handed a pencil to the victim long with the envelope. In those days they had to fill in a date and amount of the offering on a small card. He would look in the envelope and if they had given cash he simply erased the amount, changed it, and pocketed the rest. He was pretty gutsy as he would often swipe 90% of it. Never got caught. They learn'em young in that church.

I couldn't bring myself to do it but I hated going to church so much it kind of felt like justice.

That is the exact reason I think LDS Inc is in dire financial straits. There have been generations taught that it is ok to steal,and the Utah securities and mortgage fraud epidemic is the example.

Combine that with senile leadership and a signature machine, and I would not be surprised if there is not anything of value that LDS Inc owns that does not have a lien on it of some type.

This is a community of embezzlers.