Dear SIG Members - [*For best results, read >from beginning to end! <g> ]

I'm still on a cloud of elation >from the Conference in Toronto. I wish all
of you had been able to share this extraordinarily well-organized event with
me. Toronto's JGS did an amazing job. For those who attended, it was a
wonderful time to put faces to the names we see so often on JewishGen, & to
learn, learn, & learn!!! It was so gratifying to see the large turnout at
both our general meeting & SIG luncheon. We had close to a hundred on both
occasions. Olga Musychuk graciously answered everyone's questions &
explained many of the problems that make it difficult (but not totally
impossible) to find records in the
Ukrainian archives. Hopefully, much will improve with time.

So much was accomplished. First & foremost, the question of our targeted
borders arose at our general meeting & I promised to get back to you with a
definitive answer. Our Volhynia border was the bone of "contention" as we
were originally avoiding the area once under Poland. Well ...............
good news folks! "New treaty"! At a private meeting after our SIG gathered,
our borders were reviewed & as a result, we will be covering all & any towns
that fall within the Russian-Ukrainian borders of 1914. That includes ALL of
Volhynia. (It's too bad countries can't negotiate as peacefully!! <g>) The
Ukraine map of this era will shortly be put up on our website to keep this
question clarified.

Of even more interest to all of you, there are some very crucial
behind-the-scene talks underway that promise to yield an amazing
breakthrough of unforseen information never before made public. It's an
incredible find! I'm biting my lips not to say more. All I can say at this
time, is that I'm sitting on pins & needles as I hear more about the
negotiations. I know that it will be a thrilling revelation to our Ukraine
researchers as more can be said. Again, your assistance as volunteers will
be essential.

And ... speaking of volunteers (& you are so appreciated for your spirit to
help out & make our data available to each other), we have TWO more
gubernias that will be very active now. Many thanks to the enthusiasm of
Andrea Massion who has untaken to be the coordinator of Kherson Gubernia
(towns include Odessa, Alexandriya, Ananyev, Elisavetgrad, Kherson,
Tirashpol), & to Sharen Hogarth who has stepped forward to coordinate
Chernigov Gubernia (towns include Borzna, Chernigov, Glukhov, Gorodnya,
Konotop, Kozelets, Krolevets, Mglin, Nezhin, Novogorod Severskiy,
Norozybkov, Oster,
Sosnitsa, Starodub & Surazh). They are wonderful, capable people & I know
we'll be seeing some exciting things soon!

Last but definitely not least, we welcome Michael Jaron as our new Database
Coordinator for the Ukraine SIG. Michael has an impressive background with
computers, & it will be Mike who will work with Warren Blatt & Michael
Tobias & see to it that our data goes online as quickly as possible in the
appropriate format. With your help, we hope he'll have a lot of interesting
material so that he's kept busy.

We still need:
1) Book Review Coordinator - to find publications of interest & assign
volunteers to review them for uploading on our Book Review site.
2) SIG Research Coordinator - to discover sources of data, initiate
projects, delegate leadership of these projects & encourage volunteer
activity.
3) Coordinators for Taurida Gubernia & Poltava Gubernia;
assistant-Coordinator for Volhynia Gubernia.

I'm also hoping to be able to announce soon that we have a Coordinator for
our FHL Metric Records Projects!!

A suggestion was made by one of our members that we organize a group trip to
the Ukraine. For all those who would like to be a part of an exploratory
adventure to the Ukraine, please contact Joanna Fletcher at JewishGen
ShtetlSchleppers shtetlschleppers@jewishgen.org.
[site URL -http://www.jewishgen.org/ShtetlSchleppers/]. She would be
delighted to organize & facilitate the arrangements for such an opportune
excursion. Groups of no larger than 20 participants each, accompanied by an
experienced guide/translator, will be taken on three days of guided tours of
important Jewish sites in and around the hub city followed by four days of
visits in your ancestral shtetls, customized just for you! A knowledgeable
JewishGen volunteer serving as your Group Leader will work with you to plan
your personal research activities and will be available to help throughout
the trip. The following trips are now being offered:
Ukraine-Kiyev August 28 & October 16, 2002
Ukraine-Kiyev September 17 2003
Ukraine-Odessa October 9, 2002
Ukraine-Odessa August 27, 2003

All the best,
Florence Elman
Ukraine SIG Coordinator
haflo@shaw.ca