RAOGK stands for Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness. They have over 4,000 volunteers (last time I was on their list) who are willing to do an act of kindness for folks. The only cost is what it costs to get the copy or photo, postage & $1 for gas. They can not charge for time, and they are entitled to reimbursement for their financial outlay in our behalf. You're only supposed to have to do one a month, but that's not always the way it works either--sometimes you get quite a few at a time. I was on for awhile. Problem is, there are too many people out there than when they find RAOGK, think they've found a gold mine. One person asked a friend of mine to send her xerox copies of two or three different surnames in the Omaha city directories for about a ten year span. It involved quite a bit of time, copy money, postage money, and way exceeded the "act" of kindness. What they were asking was "research". When I was on the list, I would get lots of requests, and people wouldn't reimburse me for expenses. Well, I'm retired now and on a fixed income--so that became a hardship. Volunteers were supposed to only have to do one a month, but I was getting inundated at times. I would also get a request, spend time & money obtaining what they asked for, contact the person only to have them tell me they'd already gotten it from someone else. (They've now got a clearing house so that the request only can go to one person, so that's been helped somewhat.) But when I was helping, they didn't and it got to be too much, so I quit. I noticed that the overload hasn't stopped either. One of the ladies at the library yesterday had several requests from RAOGK and several of them were asking for several obit copies. When they're on microfilm, it can be quite time consuming to get them (in the early days, obits/death notices can be anywhere on a page, even in the gossip columns), even if they're on the Omaha obit index. An act of kindness is AN ACT, not several different items. It can be a boon to find things that you normally wouldn't have access to when it isn't abused by a few, and when they don't overwhelm a person with too many requests. That can easily happen when they only have a volunteer or two in a geographic area and a lot of people want things. Karen Karen In a message dated 9/8/2009 10:28:31 P.M. Central Daylight Time, debhammer@huntel.net writes: Can you explain what RAOGK is? I am unfamilar with that. ----- Original Message ----- From: <nancymancuso_2000@cox.net> To: <nedodge@rootsweb.com> Cc: <VALSUSAN@aol.com> Sent: Monday, September 07, 2009 9:28 PM Subject: Re: [NEDODGE] NEDODGE Digest, Vol 3, Issue 13 > Have you ask RAOGK for that county. > > > ---- VALSUSAN@aol.com wrote: >> I have a long distance request and would appreciate any help I could get >> on obtaining the obituaries of my paternal grandparents and pictures of >> their graves. >> >> My paternal grandparents lived and died in Fremont, Dodge County, >> Nebraska, and although my father died in Louisville, Kentucky, he is >> buried with >> his parents at Fremont Memorial Cemetery. >> >> I live in Louisville, Kentucky, and I have never seen my father's grave >> nor the graves of my grandparents. I have never even seen a picture of >> their >> graves. You have no idea how much it would mean to me to finally see my >> father's grave. He killed himself in our Louisville home in 1962 when I >> was >> 10 years old. >> >> My father was Glenn L. Ernst. He was born July 12, 1918, and died >> August >> 3, 1962. My grandparents were Ira Ernst (died September 5, 1976), and >> Nettie (Enyeart) Ernst (died December 6, 1971). >> >> There aren't any words to express how much it would mean to me to have >> the >> pictures and the obituaries. >> >> Can anyone help me? I would be glad to pay for your time and costs. >> >> Valerie Ernst Locke >> _valsusan@aol.com_ (mailto:valsusan@aol.com) >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> NEDODGE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >> quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NEDODGE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NEDODGE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Thanks for sharing. I do volunteer work for Find A Grave. They send me an email of requests within 60 miles of where I live. They are sent out as random requests. Find a Grave is a pictorial of headstones. After you receive a request, you can ignore it or claim it. This is way easier and wouldn't be as overwhelming as the RAOGK volunteers. My appreciation does go out to all volunteers for their time and efforts in researching genealogy. Without volunteers, where would genealogy be today? ----- Original Message ----- From: <Sahara346@aol.com> To: <nedodge@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, September 09, 2009 7:41 AM Subject: Re: [NEDODGE] NEDODGE Digest, Vol 3, Issue 13 > RAOGK stands for Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness. They have over > 4,000 volunteers (last time I was on their list) who are willing to do an > act > of kindness for folks. The only cost is what it costs to get the copy or > photo, postage & $1 for gas. They can not charge for time, and they are > entitled to reimbursement for their financial outlay in our behalf. > You're > only supposed to have to do one a month, but that's not always the way it > works either--sometimes you get quite a few at a time. > > I was on for awhile. Problem is, there are too many people out there > than > when they find RAOGK, think they've found a gold mine. One person asked > a > friend of mine to send her xerox copies of two or three different > surnames > in the Omaha city directories for about a ten year span. It involved > quite a bit of time, copy money, postage money, and way exceeded the > "act" of > kindness. What they were asking was "research". When I was on the list, > I > would get lots of requests, and people wouldn't reimburse me for > expenses. > Well, I'm retired now and on a fixed income--so that became a hardship. > Volunteers were supposed to only have to do one a month, but I was > getting > inundated at times. I would also get a request, spend time & money > obtaining what they asked for, contact the person only to have them tell > me they'd > already gotten it from someone else. (They've now got a clearing house > so > that the request only can go to one person, so that's been helped > somewhat.) But when I was helping, they didn't and it got to be too > much, so I > quit. I noticed that the overload hasn't stopped either. One of the > ladies at > the library yesterday had several requests from RAOGK and several of them > were asking for several obit copies. When they're on microfilm, it can > be > quite time consuming to get them (in the early days, obits/death notices > can be anywhere on a page, even in the gossip columns), even if they're > on > the Omaha obit index. An act of kindness is AN ACT, not several > different > items. > > It can be a boon to find things that you normally wouldn't have access to > when it isn't abused by a few, and when they don't overwhelm a person with > too many requests. That can easily happen when they only have a > volunteer > or two in a geographic area and a lot of people want things. > > Karen > Karen > > > > In a message dated 9/8/2009 10:28:31 P.M. Central Daylight Time, > debhammer@huntel.net writes: > > Can you explain what RAOGK is? I am unfamilar with that. > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: <nancymancuso_2000@cox.net> > To: <nedodge@rootsweb.com> > Cc: <VALSUSAN@aol.com> > Sent: Monday, September 07, 2009 9:28 PM > Subject: Re: [NEDODGE] NEDODGE Digest, Vol 3, Issue 13 > > >> Have you ask RAOGK for that county. >> >> >> ---- VALSUSAN@aol.com wrote: >>> I have a long distance request and would appreciate any help I could > get >>> on obtaining the obituaries of my paternal grandparents and pictures >>> of >>> their graves. >>> >>> My paternal grandparents lived and died in Fremont, Dodge County, >>> Nebraska, and although my father died in Louisville, Kentucky, he is >>> buried with >>> his parents at Fremont Memorial Cemetery. >>> >>> I live in Louisville, Kentucky, and I have never seen my father's >>> grave >>> nor the graves of my grandparents. I have never even seen a picture > of >>> their >>> graves. You have no idea how much it would mean to me to finally see > my >>> father's grave. He killed himself in our Louisville home in 1962 when > I >>> was >>> 10 years old. >>> >>> My father was Glenn L. Ernst. He was born July 12, 1918, and died >>> August >>> 3, 1962. My grandparents were Ira Ernst (died September 5, 1976), and >>> Nettie (Enyeart) Ernst (died December 6, 1971). >>> >>> There aren't any words to express how much it would mean to me to have > >>> the >>> pictures and the obituaries. >>> >>> Can anyone help me? I would be glad to pay for your time and costs. >>> >>> Valerie Ernst Locke >>> _valsusan@aol.com_ (mailto:valsusan@aol.com) >>> >>> ------------------------------- >>> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >>> NEDODGE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >>> quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> NEDODGE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >> quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NEDODGE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and > the body of the message > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NEDODGE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message