May/June 2009

MoJo Readers to the Rescue

When Lewis Jackson and Marlene Feltus-Jackson read our profile of a Wal-Mart worker, they knew they had to help.

Photo: Courtesy Jackson Family

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in our January/February issue, Sasha Abramsky profiled Aubretia Edick, a full-time Wal-Mart worker from upstate New York getting by on as little as $10 a week in groceries. Subscriber Marlene Feltus-Jackson read the story and “looked at her picture thinking, This could be me.” Born and raised in New Orleans, Marlene and her husband, Lewis Jackson, lost their home and three cats during Katrina. Now, she says, all her paychecks go toward insurance payments, while Lewis’ cover living expenses. Still, the couple “made some alterations within our budget” and sent Edick a $500 check and a letter with their bios: “Marlene: Grandmother, 58 years old, part-time college math instructor, anti-war, Baptist (was Catholic), BIG Motown fan”; “Lewis: Grandfather, 62 years old, high school band director, Vietnam vet, anti-war, Lutheran, super Saints fan.” It concludes, “Hopefully Obama will do something about these slave wages of working citizens across America, for all of us.”

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

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