Belarus SIG News Release:

Mike Meshenberg Accepts Belarus SIG Research Coordinator Position

I am very pleased to announce that Mike Meshenberg has agreed to assume
the position of Belarus SIG Research Coordinator. Mike is currently the
coordinator of the Nesvizh Shtetl Research Group and is a former member
of the board of the Grodno Gubernia Research Group. Mike brings to the
SIG a vast array of genealogical, organizational, and interpersonal skills
that will help the Belarus SIG achieve greater successes in the years
ahead. Elsebeth Paikin, Edward Rosenbaum, and I welcome Mike to his new
leadership role with the SIG and look forward to working with him as we
expand the All Belarus Database (ABD).

I would like to thank Risa Heywood for her tremendous contributions to
the SIG. Risa was our first webmaster and gave us a presence on the
web. This past year she was a great help in keeping the different
research projects moving forward and in negotiating the purchase of the
Minsk gubernia Duma (voter) lists. In addition, Risa was always there
to assist me as the co-cordinator. Risa has decided for personal
reasons to take a less active roll in the SIG and devote more of her
time to the East European Jewish Heritage Project (USA), a new 501 (c)
(3) organization (IRS approval applied for) that is dedicated to
providing humanitarian aid to Jews in Belarus and in preserving and
protecting Jewish sites in Belarus. We wish Risa great success in her
new endeavors and am sure that she will continue to contribute to the
Belarus SIG as her time permits. Thank you Risa for all that you have
done to make the SIG what it is today.

Will anyone who is currently working on Belarus related research
projects please contact Mike and introduce yourselves and provide him with
a status on the projects you are working on. Part of Mike's duties will
involve providing standards for the extraction and data entry of
information to all the research project leaders. He will also be
monitoring progress of the various projects and coordinating the JewishGen
process for submitting databases for inclusion in the All Belarus
Database. As such, he will be working closely with Warren Blatt and
Michael Tobias of the JewishGen staff who are responsible for database
structure on JewishGen.

If you have ideas about new projects or projects now in the works,
please contact Mike at <mjmeshenberg@...>.

Welcome aboard Mike and thanks for taking on this challenging position.

Dave


Message >from Mike Meshenberg,

As an original member of the Belarus SIG, I have been greatly impressed
with the progress that has been made in its two years. The vast and growing
array of resources on the website have been of great benefit to Belarus
researchers, and a testament to its cooperative spirit. I hope to
continue to work with those who are providing new data for the All Belarus
Database, to further the standardization that will ensure the quality and
ease of use of the data and, over the longer term, to help open up new
sources of data now not readily available to us.

I am delighted to work with Dave, whom I have known and respected for
years, and with Edward and Elsebeth, whom I met for the first time in Salt
Lake City and who extended to me such a warm welcome. I also thank Risa for
all the time she spent briefing me in Salt Lake City and for her continued
support.

It will take a bit of time for me to get a feel for all the work
underway. Please bear with me through the learning period.

Mike
mjmeshenberg@...


David Fox
fox@...
Belarus SIG Coordinator
Arnold, MD USA
http://www.jewishgen.org/belarus/