Dear FrenchSIGgers:

Some of you may not have seen the following urgent messages posted
last week to the JewishGen List, so I have received permission to repost
them here. As the New Year is about to begin I urge you all to think
about the great benefits we receive >from JewishGen, how little it would
take if each of us contributed, and how much we would lose if it were to
disappear!
Rosanne Leeson
---------------------------
"Susan King's poignant picture of the challenges facing JewishGen
due to a severe budget deficit sent a chill throughout the audience
attending her lecture at the Toronto IAJGS Conference.

You are one of 43,000 users reading my message thru JewishGen's
Discussion Group. There are only 1,843 donors to JewishGen!

JewishGen aids researchers through the use of 7.1 million records!

There is an $84,000 budget deficit.

Quoting Susan, " Challenges spell changes", ....."JewishGen is
facing a business challenge".......... "the resolve: challenge
individually and collectively".

It is impossible to imagine the Internet without JewishGen!"
---------------------------
"Hi Genners,
I want to echo Howard Margol's and Sylvia Nusinov's remarks on the need
for all of us to help support our beloved JewishGen.
Until Susan King spoke in Toronto, many of us were not aware of the
urgent need for funds to continue our projects.
Everything that you see on JewishGen is the work of volunteers.
Have you been helped in your family search by a friend on the Digest,
or a connection through JGFF? Say thank you by making a contribution.

We must do everything we can to help. The recent floods in Europe are
an
example of the sense of urgency we must feel about the need to preserve
Jewish records which are in danger of being destroyed. The JewishGen
Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR) project is but one of the many
ways in which Jewish Gen is working to make the history of our ancestors

available to us. We need to have this kind of work proceed as rapidly as
possible, as many of the sites and records are in danger of vanishing
right before our eyes.

I know how empty my life would be without genealogy projects, which have
come about to a large extent, with the help of the information made
available in JewishGen Infofiles, and the helpfulness of other genners
on
the digest.

Other genealogy sites cost $100 a year to subscribe. Jewish Gen has the
honor system. Whether you can send this amount, or your budget allows
anywhere >from $5 to $5000, your contribution is needed and necessary.

When you sit down to write New Year's Greetings, try to find a way to
make
a contribution to JewishGen, so that all of us will have a Happy and
Healthy New Year.
Haviva Dolgin Langenauer
South Florida

MODERATOR NOTE: Information about contributions to Jewishgen can be
found
at: www.jewishgen.org/JewishGen-erosity"
-----------------------------
"What Susan King didn't mention at the Toronto conference is how much
she,
personally, has sacrificed to run JewishGen.

Yes, we rely on volunteers on all the research projects, but Susan, as
top
person is where the buck stops. Meaning, she is always problem solving,
working to repair computer breakdowns on our servers, doing publicity,
establishing strategic liasons with other organizations, fund raising,
resolving complaints, and on and on. She often works a very long,
frantic
day, one which none of us would choose. A one-woman band if there ever
was one.

These incredible *above and beyond* efforts are because there's no one
else to handle many of these things. It would be a wonderful change if
Susan could be freed >from the nitty-gritty and concentrate on all the
creative thinking that has made JewishGen great.

With limited funds, we cannot pay additional staff. It is my personal
hope
that with appropriate donations coming in, JewishGen will be able to pay
professionals and relieve Susan King to do what she does so well:
continue to grow JewishGen into an even more amazing organization than
it is now.
Mila Begun
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sign up for the JGFFAlert!
http://www.jewishgen.org/jgff/jgff-faq.html#q3.7

Help JewishGen Help You!
http://www.jewishgen.org/jewishgen-erosity/contribute.ihtml "
--
Rosanne Leeson
Los Altos, CA USA
Leeson1@attglobal.net