This month's newsletter contains: * PATTING ONE'S BACK * IN THE NEWS * WIKIPEDIA * STAFF TIPS * NEW DESIGN AND PRODUCTS IN SHOPS * THANK YOU * CURRENT STATS PATTING ONE'S BACK The month of September has been a fairly quiet month as far as RAOGK is concerned. There will always be complaints of volunteers not responding to requests, with 4200+ volunteers, that is a given. However, it does seem like the complaints are not as many this month as in prior months. Pat yourselves on your back. It also appears that more of you are going to the FAQ's for Volunteers (http://www.raogk.org/faq-vols.htm) to find answers to your questions prior to dropping staff a note. More queries coming into staff this month seem to be ones that are not covered in the FAQ's. Again, pat yourselves on the back. IN THE NEWS I was contacted by a freelance writer earlier in the month wanting to write an article about RAOGK. So if you receive or are able to purchase a copy of "Ancestry" Magazine, please look for this article. The writer did not indicate what month it would appear only indicating a "future" issue. She did say she would let me know which issue and will advise you next month. WIKIPEDIA RAOGK is listed in Wikipedia! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random_Acts_of_Genealogical_Kindness). This entry is due to the tireless effort of one of our amazing volunteers, Dave Ball. It would never have occurred to me to have the site entered into Wikipedia. Thanks Dave. STAFF TIPS Temporary/Inactive Status: When you fill in the form to go on inactive status, do not forget to put all the locations this status needs to take place. Many of you volunteer for more than one location, however, when submitting the form you only indicate one of them. Inactive status will only be applied to the location mentioned in the form, we do not assume anything. Although you may have originally put in a return date on the form, we never assume that you are indeed ready to return to volunteering. Please return to the form (http://www.raogk.org/change.html) and request to be put back on 'active duty.' Again, remember to note all locations when doing so. Thanks. Signature lines: When replying to/acknowledging a receipt of a request, please exlude any signature lines you may have that are political and/or religious in nature. All of us correspond with a great number of people on a daily basis, we do not wish to offend anyone if at all possible. Thanks. Act of Kindness: Have you been to your listing lately to see what you have down as an 'Act of Kindness'? If it has been some time since you signed up, what you have listed as being able to do may have changed. If your situation has changed, it is easy to change your Act of Kindness by going to http://www.raogk.org/change.html (and not writing directly to the site administrator). Also, do you list cemetery lookups or tombstone pictures? Staff suggests that you list which cemeteries you will visit. If your list is long, it might be best which cemeteries you won't go to . However, the point being, listing cemeteries *may* stop requests from coming in that you will not be able to honor due to location. NEW DESIGN AND PRODUCTS IN SHOPS We have two shops online, revenue from sales in these shops do help a little in defraying the cost of maintaining RAOGK's presence on the internet. The RAOGK Logo store: http://www.cafepress.com/raogk?pid=2851439&tid=609 Our Logo Shop has a new t-shirt color. Not quite burgandy and not quite red, although they officially call it the Cardinal T-Shirt, joins the rest of the colors available on T-shirts. http://www.cafepress.com/raogk/599140?pid=2851439&tid=609 The infant creeper (now called bodysuit) and infant/toddler t-shirts can now be ordered in either white, baby blue or pink. You can check out how they look by selecting the product and underneath the larger picture hover your mouse over the color swatch. http://www.cafepress.com/raogk/599195?pid=2851439&tid=609 Our non-logo shop is called Genealogy For You http://www.cafepress.com/genealogyforyou?pid=2851439&tid=609 To this shop we have added a new design. The design is location specific and at the present time, only the US is represented. We all have a home state where our family roots run deep. Now you can proudly proclaim where your loyalty lies with t-shirts, totes, aprons, and more. Your favorite genealogist would love a reminder that home is where the heart is with a gift mug or heirloom box displaying their home state. http://www.cafepress.com/genealogyforyou/1807913?pid=2851439&tid=609 Black and cardinal t-shirts will be available in this design before the end of October. Holi-daze We have Halloween designs on tote bags, coffee mugs, baby creepers (could be used as 'my first Halloween costume') and more: http://www.cafepress.com/genealogyforyou/849580?pid=2851439&tid=609 Ornaments, greeting cards, tile inlayed keepsake boxes, framed tiles, pillows, aprons, mugs and t-shirts are available with Christmas themes. http://www.cafepress.com/genealogyforyou/793923?pid=2851439&tid=609 For your convenience, I have add the current $5 off of $20 coupon code at the top right of every page on the Genealogy For You site. That coupon gives you FREE SHIPPING. You can now ship (within the USA) from 1 to 5 items for just $5.00. Special Orders are always welcome and have put a section up in the RAOGK gallery of some of the Special Orders I have done. http://www.raogk.org/gallery2/v/special_orders/ THANK YOU A great big THANK YOU goes out to one and all who have helped RAOGK to continue to be a presence online. Your purchases through one of our stores or by sending a donation via PayPal or check are very much appreciated. This past month donations helped us purchase a replacement of a critial piece of equipment that ceased to function. If you would like to donate for the cause, details can be found at http://www.raogk.org/support.html CURRENT STATS Last month: 4242 This month: 4224 New: 79 Left: 55 Staff removals*: 39 September Requests (through September 29, 2005): 5,982 USA volunteers received: 5,429 NON-USA volunteers received: 553 *Staff removals are those folks whose e-mail address has been reported bouncing and confirmed or volunteers who, over the course of trying many times, did not respond back to requesters or staff (12). The STAFF thanks you for volunteering and until next month. . . . . . THE STAFF Bridgett, Michele, Bill, Anja, Terri, Nancy, Jo, Mollie, Bonnie, Melissa and Doc, the Tech Guru