CFI's Office of Public Policy recently launched an online blog to inform members about CFI's legislative activities on the Hill. The OPP blog will include press releases, OPP updates, and action items which will allow readers to learn about and participate in the legislative process. The blog is located at www.cfidc.wordpress.com and can also be found on the CFI-Washington, D.C. website at www.centerforinquiry.net/dc For more information about CFI-OPP, please contact Toni Van Pelt, the Director of Government Affairs, at tvanpelt@cfidc.org

The Grand Opening Conference of CFI Indiana on Sunday, September 23 was a great day for secularism at the Crossroads of America.   Our visitors from CFI Transnational were very impressed with our center and with all of you who came and especially with the number and dedication of our volunteers. 

Pledge forms were available at the end of the conference.  I want to make it clear that if you want your donation and/or pledge to go toward our Indiana Center you must designate it so.  Donations and pledges made on line or on forms that do not have Indiana written on them go into the general fund at CFI Transnational and do not go to support our Indiana Center. 

I also prefer that those donations and pledges designated for our Indiana Center be sent to me at 350 Canal Walk, Suite A, Indianapolis, IN 46202 so that I can keep a record of them before I send them on to CFI Transnational.   CFI Transnational signed the lease for our center and pays the rent but they expect that we will have enough money in our “pocket” with them to meet these expenses.  

If you did not get a pledge form on Sunday, please let me know and I will mail one to you.  A brochure was also handed out with the pledge form which explains how to give through wills, trusts, securities, etc.  One time gifts are also appreciated.

Below is a quote from my speech which explains the need for us to have money designated toward our Indiana Center. 

Thanks for all of your support.

QUOTED FROM REBA’S SPEECH ON SUNDAY:

While one term we use is freethinkers,  it does not mean that our location and programs are free and come without a financial price tag.   If we are to keep our home—our center—we need your help.  CFI Transnational has been supportive in letting us open and there are donors who have stepped up in support of our Indiana center. We will need financial support from more of you to keep our new home.  CFI Transnational expects us to support our center from resources within our own state.   They are busy and obligated in funding the many other programs you have heard mentioned today. 

The Center for Inquiry Indiana development committee met a few weeks ago and set a goal of raising $150,000 in pledges over a three year period by the end of our first year of operation.  We opened the center on April  1, 2007. This is really just the amount needed to continue to operate at the level we are now.   If we are to expand staff and programs we will need more.  

A pledge of $28 per month over a three year period will equal $1000 at the end of three years.  I would urge all of you to consider a pledge of at least this amount.   A pledge of $50 per month would equal $1800 and a pledge of $100 per month would equal $3600. Of course, larger gifts would be greatly appreciated and your support at any level that you can fit into your individual financial situation is also appreciated.  We want everyone to feel an “ownership” in the center.

At this point we have pledges equaling almost a third of that amount.  Those donors will be recognized at the banquet this evening.   It is hoped that some can increase their pledges.   If you can increase your original pledge and/or make a pledge today, it would be greatly appreciated.

Members of our Indiana development committee will be available with pledge forms at the close of my speech at the table in the hall,   at the center during the reception, and at the banquet tonight.  Please help us make our dream a reality.  Please help us promote science, reason, and freedom of inquiry at the Crossroads of America now and for many years to come.

I thank you for your attention and for your support.

One of those in attendance at the conference was John Loftus, author of Why I Rejected Christianity: A Former Apologist Explains.  Go to his blog at http://debunkingchristianity.blogspot.com/2007/09/eddie-tabash-recommends-my-book.html  to see what he had to say.   A new version of his book published by Prometheus will be coming out in February and we are planning a book signing at CFI Indiana in the future. 

We have a full schedule of events for October.  Hope to see you in attendance at as many as possible.

Reba Boyd Wooden, Executive Director, Center for Inquiry Indiana