After World War I, Mont Amoena and Mount Pleasant Collegiate Institute struggled under the burden of financial debt, a lack of resources, and the threat of the spread of public high schools. A plea to the North Carolina Lutheran Synod resulted in a fundraising campaign, launched in January 1920.

Mont Amoena’s wish list included: to be free from debt, to improve the main building, build an additional dormitory, accommodate an infirmary, and purchase supplies for a laboratory, the library, classrooms, and the music department. Additional requests included a principal’s house and endowment funds to guarantee a full-time principal and teachers’ salaries.

The Lutheran Bureau in New York gave a call to action and authorized a plan to raise a $150,000 endowment ($100,000 for the MPCI and $50,000 for Mont Amoena). It assigned representatives to each of the fifteen districts in the NCLS to put pressure on the seventy-six congregations to make contributions. The church reasoned that if membership could meet the wartime call of the Red Cross and Liberty Loans and the demands of international missionary work, then they should give no less attention to the requirements of the synod’s educational institutions. The internal call was, “Do it! No church is greater than its schools.”

Daniel Efird Rhyne, a textile manufacturer, banker, and philanthropist, took an interest in funding Lutheran education. As a graduate of North Carolina College and someone with no direct heirs, he became a dependable backer for the interests of the
NCLS. Rhyne donated $2000 to the Mont Amoena fund: $1000 of which was applied to the requested science laboratory and the rest toward the debt. Others followed and gave money for scholarships and improvements. The United Lutheran Church appropriated monthly installments of $1000 toward ongoing expenses. Still, the campaign did not produce results they hoped. At the NCLS annual meeting in May 1920, the boards of trustees for the two schools reported that the campaign resulted in $54,615.20 pledged, with only $11,550.25 paid. Subtracting $4,081.15 in expenses, the net result to date was a total of $7,469.10.

The following brochure package was sent to the Lutheran membership during the fundraising campaign.
Click on images to enlarge.