Sorry that the newsletter was delayed being released this month. Lin and I thought it would be a good idea to wait until after the golf tournament fundraiser. We had another successful fundraiser and I have to recognize the main volunteers. Without them this organization would not exist. I could still create the web site but unless we had them to raise funds for our bills we could not have our wonderful Internet web pages!

I would like to thank my beautiful sister, Jean, her husband, Tom, friends, Dave and Karen Lynch, and my mother, Marian! The fundraiser took months of hard work and preparation and the success was obvious on the day of the tournament. I got there before the golf event was finished and had the opportunity to talk with several of the player donators. Everyone was thrilled with our fundraiser and several already committed to playing again next year. Photographs will be posted at http://www.strokenetwork.net/fundraiser/

The problem with having an organization fundraising committee is that members may not realize that the future of the organization depends on the generosity of time and talent of just a few people, who aren’t even stroke survivors or caregivers. This brings up the subject that I touched on last month, Rally Month. October is officially our Rally Month. It is the time of the year to raise funds for the coming year. What I’d like to do is make fundraising something where our members can get involved. This will give everyone the opportunity to feel they have a stake in keeping this organization alive. I’ve never asked this but I think that our members might agree with me!

One main ground rule is that I don’t want our members to think that I’m asking them for money. Actually, it’s just the opposite. I don’t feel like our members should contribute, but I would like to ask their families and friends to do so. Anybody in his or her local community is welcome to contribute, especially local businesses. Some ideas are to have something like a bake sale, or you can just ask people contribute at http://www.strokenetwork.net/donation/. Contributions can be made on-line via credit card or can be sent via direct mail. Our mailing address is on the donation web page. Sponsor information is available by clicking on the “Donate to Us” button. Brochures are also available. Email me for more information.

There have been changes to the website. If you frequent the message board and chat room you might be asking what is going on? I want to start out by saying that the Internet addresses are changing. The message board is moving to http://www.strokeboard.net/ and the chat room is going to http://www.strokeboard.net/. Chat will still be linked through the message board and Member Area. The reason for this change is to make the URL’s much easier to remember.

Next, you are probably wondering why we are upgrading. I have to first say that I don’t understand all the technical improvements, yet, but needless to say our members will soon realize many of them. Hopefully, the improvements will encourage many of our silent members to become more active. Thanks to the efforts of our Chat Host and Message Board Administrators. They are making conscious efforts to make using the message board and chat room easier. Host Pam has been having Chat 101 class sessions to help those who don’t understand and therefore might be afraid to chat. Pam has already had several sessions and is planning more for October. Her next classes will be held on October 12 at 3 pm and October 13 at 5 pm. If you aren’t a chatter, but would like to be, mark your calendar. Chat meets daily in the late afternoon to early evening. Both class times are EST and will be held in the chat room called, Class Room. Sorry for any technical problems that we have had recently but everything should be cleared up this week. The message board has similar training sessions, but Jean holds her training via private messages. You can send Jean a private message by logging into the message board and then click on her username, which is jriva.  

Our staff is undergoing several changes. Janice Rodriguez will be leaving in December. We thank her wholeheartedly for the time that she donated. With her leaving we will need a new web site reviewer for the newsletter. Please email Lin for specifics. We had several additions to our staff in September. Tania Parson is our new Membership Administrator. Several of you have probably noticed that someone from our organization is mailing you a birthday card. This is just one of Tania’s many responsibilities. If you know of anything that you think the organization might want to know about please email us. Tania can be reached by clicking on her name from the message board, tparson. Other additions are chat hosts, hoststephen, hostjerri and hostbette.

Copyright © October  2004

The Stroke Network, Inc.

P.O. Box 492 Abingdon, Maryland 21009

All rights reserved.