Update January 22, 2016 A.D.
9:00 PM CST
Where Does $100,000 Go?
First, to be clear, we are not changing the home page of Medjugorje.com. All work being done is internal and extensive. Even as there is no comparable Medjugorje site that produces the way Medjugorje.com does, we have been analyzing new functions, platforms, and “turbo-ing,” many parts of the site, upgrading them. For several years, we’ve put off these changes, but now is the time to implement these upgrades and modifications.
Why is all this necessary? So we won’t crash.
On June 25, 2009, the internet crashed. What caused the crash was the news of the death of the falsely idolized Michael Jackson. The network glitch that caused the crash, was initiated by 5 million people doing a Google search in one single second. Five million people is not a lot of traffic. Judging by the standard of how the death of one person can cause such a crash, what can we assess would happen when it is announced on some future date that in three day’s time, a secret will be released? A secret that is sure to cause the death of many ‘idols’? How many people will be searching “Medjugorje” throughout the entire world? Our Lady said on July 16, 1984:
We are building an infrastructure for such an event. We have explained all of this before, but refresh it in light of our recent plea.
Below are the actual costs of what it takes to operate and implement changes on the site, Medjugorje.com. Included in the annual cost, is the cost of upgrading by Professional Services based in the United States.
The Professional Services, in union with our own team, will be building new platforms for several components:
One major component is not available on any Medjugorje English website. The building of this platform will turn Medjugorje.com into what is called a “responsive design,” meaning that the site will automatically resize itself to fit your computer, phone, tablet, or other devices. The homepage will look similar, if not exactly the same, but will fit better.
These Professional Services, will have to be hired out of house. It will also include a major component, which will be a completely new Medjugorje Message and word search that has been in development for four years. Our current Medjugorje message search, though still the best Medjugorje message search available in the world of Medjugorje, is about to get better. Our present search is 11 years old! Yet, it still works. We are making the Medjugorje message search faster, and will be adding more simplicity, yet more practical functional use, that will be revealed when the time comes to launch the new component.
Included as well, is the new global site search, which will also be updated to be faster and more relevant to your search words.
Radio WAVE will also be updated with new features that are yet to be announced.
The following chart shows the breakdown of overall costs. The total costs exceeds $100,000. The excess costs will be subsidized by Caritas of Birmingham. Caritas currently covers the cost of the design department, Radio WAVE studio, travel expenses, and many other expenses. Just travel expenses alone, directly related to Medjugorje.com, consists nine-plus flights to Medjugorje yearly. Caritas will continue to cover these costs.
One More Important Announcement
An individual, who has a very great love for Our Lady, has stepped forward with a $6,000 donation! This will jump us up ahead a great deal, 6% of the total budget. We are asking for others to match that same amount, which will quickly bring this to a close, and allow us to “unstall” the site. Remember that a $1,000 donation knocks out 1% of the needed budget.
In the past we tried to give 30 days notice before shutting down the site, but this year did not have that luxury. We need to raise these funds quickly and get to work on bringing to you what so many have asked for. We know that those of you who are fed on a daily basis by what a Friend of Medjugorje offers, and have walked with the mission of Caritas do not need an explanation of the costs above, but understand that these are real costs. An organization the size and scope of Caritas of Birmingham, if having to hire individuals, rent office space, pay for studio technicians would easily incur costs of over half a million dollars or more. With the backing of the mission of Caritas and the Caritas Community, we are able to cover all these expenses with upfront costs and keep operating costs to a bare minimum. Comparable major international ministries operating on the scale of Caritas, often provides less services and practical usage than Medjugorje.com, yet, spend far more monies than Caritas spends. When you give through Caritas, you give more, as we stretch to give more for every dollar donated.
With Love,
Medjugorje.com
Caritas of Birmingham
Operated by the Community of Caritas
Visit Here to Make a Donation to Keep
Medjugorje.com Online and Free to the Whole World
or
Call Caritas in the U.S.
205-672-2000
You can also mail your tax-deductible donation to:
Caritas of Birmingham
c/o Medjugorje.com
100 Our Lady Queen of Peace Drive
Sterrett, AL 35147
