Saint Lawrence Parish, Buffalo
Contact: Luke Dyer
Priority: Parishioner engagement and outreach to the neighborhood.
Purpose: Create new opportunities for parishioners to be involved and schedule these opportunities most conveniently to the most active of the parish. Use signs, ads and social media to generate interest for parish activities in the neighborhood.
Method: Implement a census of parishioners that includes interests and schedule availability. Share findings with ministry and organization leaders. Develop a plan for scheduling parish activities and meetings based upon census findings. Obtain an automated phone dialer to announce activities and services to those in need. Revise websites, develop search engine optimization plans and social media outlets to be welcoming and provide spiritual resources. Publish a parish booklet of ministry opportunities.
Priority: Parishioner engagement and outreach to the neighborhood.
Purpose: Create new opportunities for parishioners to be involved and schedule these opportunities most conveniently to the most active of the parish. Use signs, ads and social media to generate interest for parish activities in the neighborhood.
Method: Implement a census of parishioners that includes interests and schedule availability. Share findings with ministry and organization leaders. Develop a plan for scheduling parish activities and meetings based upon census findings. Obtain an automated phone dialer to announce activities and services to those in need. Revise websites, develop search engine optimization plans and social media outlets to be welcoming and provide spiritual resources. Publish a parish booklet of ministry opportunities.
March 2012 - Attendance at the Fish Fry was 348 paid dinners! Based on the preliminary tally, this represents a 45% increase over last year. Both were held the fourth Friday in Lent. Two things were done this year that weren't done last year, the dialer campaign and a 4' by 4' sign, bigger and brighter than last year. Ten people from the neighborhood reported coming because they saw the sign.
February 2012 - St. Lawrence received delivery of a mid-level phone tree system which delivers phone messages. This machine multiplies the capacity of the parish to reach out and promote congregational events. This type of system can cost anywhere from $1400 to several thousand dollars. St. Lawrence paid $2700 for a mid-level machine with considerable extra functionality.
The first campaign publicized our fish fry scheduled for Friday, March 16. I will have comparisons to last year next week. The second campaign was to the members of Pat's cluster committee. Lots of good anecdotal feedback, but no concrete results to report because we did not promote any event, just the machine itself. The machine is now calling to promote our St. Joseph's Table and Mass on Monday March 19th and I will have results to compare to last year next week.
The mid-level machine can:
February 2012 - St. Lawrence received delivery of a mid-level phone tree system which delivers phone messages. This machine multiplies the capacity of the parish to reach out and promote congregational events. This type of system can cost anywhere from $1400 to several thousand dollars. St. Lawrence paid $2700 for a mid-level machine with considerable extra functionality.
The first campaign publicized our fish fry scheduled for Friday, March 16. I will have comparisons to last year next week. The second campaign was to the members of Pat's cluster committee. Lots of good anecdotal feedback, but no concrete results to report because we did not promote any event, just the machine itself. The machine is now calling to promote our St. Joseph's Table and Mass on Monday March 19th and I will have results to compare to last year next week.
The mid-level machine can:
- place two calls at a time allowing it to place 300 calls with a 45 second message in about four hours when using two lines. As we build our database we plan to add a second phone line.
- allows for touch tone receipt codes to confirm message delivery. Our food pantry coordinator, Vicki wanted this feature to confirm message delivery to pantry patrons.
- inbound messaging and answering service. The machine allows the creation of up to 999 messages which are accessible using touch tone codes and a Q & A logic tree. This feature also allows a faxback function for PDF files. Our capital campaign committee wanted this function.
- SMS text messaging and email messaging are also included at this level, and the parish chose this feature to maximize the delivery for each message.
