CURRENT VOLUNTEER NUMBERS

Welcome aboard all new volunteers; we are really glad to have you. We
currently have 4476 volunteers across the globe. During the month of
March we welcomed 140 new volunteers. Forty-nine volunteers were
removed due to the newsletter bouncing back to us (user unknown,
mailbox full January and February, and hosts unknown); staff removed
15 for being non-responsive or having bad e-mail addresses; 82 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address is no longer valid (as you can tell from the numbers above,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.


KUDOs

The following volunteers were found on the Thank You
(http://www.raogk.org/guestbook/) page for the month of March: All
volunteers, Les Williams, Lesley Bell, Lita Wells, Sandy (FL), Phillip
(Sweden), Pati Royal, George Burgey, Kay (IL), Anna Selfridge, Joelle
Garlow, Mary Jean Baker, Bob (FL), Geri DeGroff, Beverly Key, Sheri
West, Gary White, Barbara Palmer, Pamela Stone, Karen Call, Eleanor
Richardson, Beverly Portillo, Nancy Grant, Martha Mott, Maryann
Martel, Nancy Porter, Pam (IN), Donna Smith, Bobbie Peeler, Leona/Mary
Trejo, Les Williams, Hazel Brambley, Lisa Heartz, Julanne Sharrow, Tom
Townsend, Steve Miller, Paul Peterson, Charlie Peasha, Janice Cushman,
Dewayne Treat, Charlene M. (Wagner) Juoni, Kelly Brown, Harold Stout,
Carol Smith, Lucy Higgins, Paul (MD), Richard Kinkead, Kay Brodt, R/K
Brokmann, Robert Macek.

It is always nice to see your name in print. I am sure that all of you
are doing a fantastic job and many of our requesters do not know about
this way of thanking you as well. It looks like the names submitted
were double that of February, keep up the good work!

Congratulations to all.


MARCH MADNESS

No this has nothing to do with basketball, just a very busy month for
RAOGK, its volunteers and staff.

The site has seen an increase in numbers visiting it daily. The
biggest increase came on Thursday, March 25. That was the day an
article was published in the New York Times regarding the site. The
article appeared in the Technology Section under the column
"Circuits." This article can be read by pointing your browser to (long
URL, you may have to copy and paste it if it came thru non-clickable):
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/25/technology/circuits/25diar.html?ex
=1081231983&ei=1&en=7f8350d217949901


WE GET MAIL

Not included in the number crunching mentioned in the first paragraph
of this newsletter are numerous folks changing their addresses and
their acts of kindness. The staff received over 450 messages generated
from the forms on the site.

RAOGK MAILING LISTS

Besides this mandatory mailing list, there are now 2 voluntary lists
provided for RAOGK volunteers. RAOGK-L is for the volunteers of this
project to seek and give hints on how to help some of their
requesters. To subscribe to this list send a message to raogk-l-
request@raogk.org, putting subscribe in the subject line.

RAOGK-CHAT was created since many folks on the RAOGK-L list have been
there for quite awhile and the posts were getting more on the chatty
side than the seeking/giving of genealogy hints and tips. This list
you will find posts from favorite recipes to the latest find in our
genealogy research. It is a friendly group of folks. To join this list
send a message to raogk-chat-request@raogk.org with the subject line
containing the word subscribe.


SPRING/SUMMER TIME BLUES

We are home-based in Lincoln, Nebraska which is located in the area
known as "Tornado Alley." During the spring and summer, we do get
severe thunderstorms and there is a possiblity that our electricity
may go out. So if you ever try to get to the RAOGK site and cannot,
you may want to check the weather channel to see if we are or have
experienced severe storms. You may also want to check the Kansas City,
KS area, as that is the location of our 'uplink' to the internet, if
they go down so do we.


DID YOU KNOW?

At the bottom of each newsletter there are links to areas of the site
that you may want to have bookmarked.

Until next month,

RAOGK Staff