I don't like sending out requests for money but this is for a very good cause. Every time you log on to the Putnam website, you are there through the good graces of Brian and Karen Isaacson Leverich, a husband and wife team who started Rootsweb at their own personal expense. They have offered space to the USGENWEB project as well as all 50 state projects. Recently they established guidelines for personal web space on Rootsweb opening the way for many non-organizational web sites. Several months ago they gained a commercial sponsor - Palladium - a small but very well respected company dealing in genealogy software. Palladium has since been bought out by Broderbund - a much larger company with a not so great reputation. Broderbund has not yet made the payment for December that Palladium had agreed to in the initial agreement. Brian and Karen have taken out a personal loan of $25,000 to keep Rootsweb afloat. So, I'm not asking anyone to send their life savings to Brian and Karen. What I am asking is this: If you go to the webpage for Putnam Co. or use the Roots surname lists, or subscribe to a mailing list (like THIS one), would you/could you please put Rootsweb on your end of the year donation list? Twelve dollars is all it takes to be a member of the Rootsweb Genealogical Data Cooperative. One lousy little dollar a month -- what would it have cost you to gain the information from a researcher that you found on Rootsweb? If you would like I would be willing to collect contributions and send them in all at once as a donation from Putnam Co., INGENWEB. Make checks out to Rootsweb, not me! Mail to Sharon Bryant, 518 West Little Creek Road, Norfolk, VA 23505-3345. Thanks. Let's keep Rootsweb going and growing. Sharon