History of the PASSION PLAY
In the little village of Oberammergau, Germany 373 years ago, the Bubonic plague was taking its toll as it ran rampant over Europe. Citizens of whole towns were being wiped out by this horrible plague. The villagers met in their church and made a vow to God that if their village was spared from this horrible plague, they would do something to honor him, in perpetuity.
No more deaths from the plague occurred in the village following that vow. Many other European villages had made the same vow. The villagers in Oberammergau, Germany kept theirs. Since that time, every 10 years the villagers have presented The PASSION PLAY. It has become so renowned that Christians from literally all over the world go to Germany to see this 7 hour production.
SEVEN HOURS ! ! ! Yes, the production begins just after lunch, with a break mid-afternoon, then an early evening break for dinner. Dinners for the audience are included in the price of the admission, and are reserved at various places around the town, so the whole audience can have dinner and be back for the final session in the evening in an orderly manner.
Someone asked “Why would I, a Christian from Tennessee, want to attend a 7 hour production of the PASSION of CHRIST, produced in the German language? The answer is “We have read the book, we know the events of the plot, and we know that it ends victoriously ! !” Folks who have been there before say there is no problem at all in following the production. Also, in the past there have been printed ‘follow along’ guides in various languages should you wish to use them.
Additional information about the Passion Play is available on the web by Googling “Passion Play-Oberammergau”.
Details for using the Oberammergau PASSION PLAY as a Fund Raiser
We always try to price our PASSPORT Travel trips to be a good value while covering the costs for the minimum number of travelers required to pay for the motor coaches (usually 30/trip). When we exceed that number we may generate a modest profit; and occasionally we have actually subsidized trips where we were just below the minimum number of travelers. (We still get to go along, enjoy the trip, etc. so it is not a complete loss when we do that.) We believe we have succeeded in pricing such that most travelers recognize that our trips are a good value.
On this trip we cannot discount it at all. The committee in Oberammergau sets the price for the admission to the performance and the lodging there in Oberammergau and Garmish. Collette Vacations set the price for the tour of Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Germany; and the airlines set the price for the flights to/from Knoxville to Milan. Fortunately, Collette has a sales commission built in to their price for the tour organizers, folks like us, who actually organize, sell and host the trip.
So... while we can’t discount the price of the Oberammergau trip, we have chosen to offer part of this sales commission back to any group who has 20 or more of their members join us on this trip to the Passion Play. The commissions on the estimated 25 spaces we will sell to the Covenant PASSPORT travelers will come close to covering our personal fares, plus the expenses and effort we have expended organizing, marketing and hosting the trip. But. . . if we ‘fill the coaches’ with travelers from your group, the earnings from the commission on these additional travelers will provide us a net profit.
Faye and I have been blessed by being able to coordinate the Travel program. We had promised ourselves that when we retired 11 years ago, we would do a lot of volunteer work with our ‘free time’. When we started coordinating the PASSPORT Travel program we were doing that. But... the program has grown so fast that we now find it to be a full time job with little or time to volunteer to help others.
This trip is priced, exactly as it will be offered to the PASSPORT Travel Program members. Everyone on the trip will pay the same price. When the trip goes, any church or service group which has provided twenty or more travelers, will receive 5.0 % of the purchase price paid by those travelers (from our sales commission) as a cash donation back to the church or group. Additionally, they will receive one ‘complimentary fare’ for the Passion Play and the tour through Italy, Switzerland, Austria, and Germany from Collette Vacations. Unfortunately, the comp. will not include the air fare. (The airlines aren’t giving anything away these days.)
The 5% cash donation can be designated for any use the group chooses, i.e. missions, building fund, youth, choir, general budget, project fund, or... whatever you choose. The Comp. trips (once the air fare is added to it) can be used as a ‘scholarship’ to send someone on the trip who might not be able to go for financial reasons; to send a ‘leader’ of your individual group; or sell it on E-Bay if you want to . . . or any other way you choose to use a ‘comp. trip’. This will all be at the discretion of your church or service group leadership. If exactly 20 travelers from a group go with us, this 5.0% donation will result in something in excess of $5,000 being donated back to the group. (Call us for specifics.)
In addition, should you have less than 20 members of your congregation or service group who want to make the trip; you can supplement the group with family, friends, or combine with members of another congregation or service club to reach the 20 . . . so long as it is all done under the name of one group.
Summary:
The church or group will provide publicity within their congregation(s)/membership for the trip; MoeFaye Travel, Inc. will organize and handle the details of the trip; and when they have traveled, will return to your church or group 5 % of the full purchase price paid by your group’s twenty or more members who accompany us to the Passion Play.
We will be staying at hotels actually within the village of Oberammergau or in Garmish which is very near; will have reserved seating for the Passion Play; group travel arrangements including r.t. air to/from Knoxville; enjoy the services of an English-speaking professional Collette Vacations tour guide who will be with the group from its arrival in Italy until departure back to Tennessee. The 11 total days of the trip will include two days traveling to/from Europe; 2 days in Oberammergau; and seven days touring Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Southern Germany.
2010 may seem like a long time away, but for this event, it is not. The pricing and space will be available only until July 1, 2008. After that, any unsold space will be open to the general public and Collette Vacations expect that any space not sold by their tour operators (others like MoeFaye Travel) will be sold out within the following 30 days. We are making this trip twice during 2010; once in May and again in September. Those spots are reserved until July 1 only.
If this is something your members would be interested in, please contact us as soon as possible so we can begin working out specific details for them. July 1 is the FINAL date for guaranteeing space and price. Pick your travel dates and start recruiting now.
Thank you for your consideration.
Faye & ‘Moe’ Greenwood, MoeFaye Travel.
Coordinators for the Covenant PASSPORT Travel Program.
