CURRENT VOLUNTEER NUMBERS

Welcome aboard all new volunteers; we are really glad to have you.
We currently have 4411 volunteers across the globe. During the month
of December we welcomed 89 new volunteers. Forty-eight volunteers
were removed due to the newsletter bouncing back to us (user unknown,
mailbox full October and November, and hosts unknown); staff removed
13 for being non-responsive or having bad e-mail addresses; 37 members
decided to leave the project voluntarily. The staff doesn't ask too
much from the volunteers; just keep us posted on any changes you may
have by going to http://www.raogk.org/change.html instead of writing
to us directly. Also, as always, please be sure to acknowledge receipt
of a request, whether you can fulfill the request or not.

This newsletter is sent out for two reasons, the only way to keep in
touch with ALL the volunteers letting everyone know what might be new
on the site, etc. The second reason, it is a way of finding out whose
address is no longer valid (as you can tell from the numbers above,
this could be quite a few).

Probably we could add a third reason. When folks sign up for the site,
and receive no requests they tend to forget they are volunteers for
RAOGK. This newsletter serves as a reminder of your volunteerism as well.


ON THE RADIO

On Tuesday, December 30, 2003, between the hours of 9-10 PM Eastern
US time I have been asked to appear on the DearMYRTLE Radio Show.
The interview will only run 6 or 7 minutes, but I do not know what
time I will be on until about 2 hours before the program on Tuesday.

The radio show is broadcast LIVE each Tuesday from 9-10pm Eastern US.
Listeners tune in by:
1. Going to http://www.DearMYRTLE.com/live.htm
2. Clicking LISTEN 3. Clicking the DearMYRTLElive "TUESDAY ONLY" button,
pretuned to her station. NOTE: If you tune in at other times, you will
hear music, NPR & BBC News and other talk
radio shows.


WE GET MESSAGES

A disgruntled cemetery employee has apparently been offended by
genealogical researchers and volunteers.  The anonymous person has
posted a few messages to our  Guestbook "Thank You" area and also
sent a private message to the site. I don't know whether this person
is singling out RAOGK volunteers/researchers specifically or all
genealogical researchers and volunteers.  Here is an example of the
complaints we received:

"The genealogy hobby has really placed a strain on cemetery and
funeral home offices.  Sites such as this one, are compounding the
problem. You'd be surprised how many "volunteers" are coming in
from websites (such as yours) and wanting info, and wanting it now.
It's becoming quite overwhelming.

Maybe you should consider putting in a paragraph about having respect
for the office workers and realizing they may not be able to drop
everything to assist the info seekers."

I have faith that none of you has done anything to cause this reaction
on the part of the cemetery/funeral home employee.  This is just a
general reminder to always be courteous and to remember that not
everyone is understanding of our eagerness in hunting our ancestors.


CHANGES

Some of you may have already noticed that one area of the site has
changed. The form to change your status, Act of Kindness or e-mail
address has been broken down to 4 different forms. Apparently trying
to use one form to cover several areas confused many people. We were
getting submissions that the person had checked to be removed from the
site AND to be put on Temporary Status. Now each type of change has
their own form, but you still get to them by going to the old link of
http://www.raogk.org/change.html.


The RAOGK Staff wishes everyone a great New Year, and we hope everyone
will be safe over the upcoming holiday.


RAOGK Staff