We now have the final results in for Pentecost, and we are pleased to
report an encouraging 5.5 percent increase over last year for a total of
$867,000. In fact, each of the Spring Holy Day offerings this year has been
encouraging. The final results for First Day of Unleavened Bread was a 3.9
percent increase over last year for a total of $856,000, and the final results
for Last Day of Unleavened Bread was a 3.1 percent increase over last
year for a total of $828,000.
As reported earlier, the months of February (9.39 percent increase), March
(8.78 percent increase) and April (6.8 percent increase) were all trending
higher than the 2 percent increase in income that we were experiencing
year to date. The last two months, however, have not been as encouraging.
In the month of May regular mail income was down 4.9 percent compared
to last year; and for the month of June (through June 25) income is down
2.8 percent compared to last year.
While just a month and a half ago, I was confident that we would close the
fiscal year with income $23,500,000 or higher, we will most likely end the
year slightly less than that – somewhere between $23,400,000 and
$23,500,000. Even with the sluggish last two months of the year, we still
expect to end the year with close to a 2 percent increase in income over
last year, and we can be thankful for that.