If you haven't noticed Joan has set up with Paypal a way for contributions to help support this website. It is on the homepage down below the cruise information.
www.paypal.com OR checks can be mailed to:
The Alzheimer Spouse LLC Joan Gershman PO Box 880303 Port St. Lucie, FL 34988
I am one of the lurkers who reads the Alzheimer Spouse each and every day. I cannot say how much I have learned and how much support it has provided me with. Joan, I know how much work you do and I have sent my contribution to help keep this site going. I don't know what I would do with out this site. I thank you for doing this for us. L
Thank you. No, I'm not going to change it's User Friendly aspect. It's just that my software is on the fritz, and isn't allowing me to make any but minor changes right now, and I want to organize it and neaten it up.
Dear members, i know joan wont make it manitory for a members fee to belong here or even come out and ask for everyone to contribute. but if you find this forum a lifeline, helpful, informative and worthy of a donation PLEASE send one to her. the donations i guess are up to each individual. all of us know how hard caring for an AD spouse is on top of trying to run an online business/message board, speaking engagements plus all the petitions and govt input for funding for AD-etc. we dont want to find one day she has overwhelming difficulty keeping this important group running! lets make her kitty runneth over??? :)i am sure she will be grateful for each and everyone's help! counting on everyones support for JOAN! thanks, divvi, and?????......sign your name here!
If they don't bounce when they drop on the floor!!
I was shopping with my younger sister one time years ago when she wrote out a check. Before she gave it to the cashier I said 'wait, let me see if it will bounce!'. The cashier stood in shock until I dropped it and said 'no, it doesn't bounce!'. My sister and I were laughing but she wasn't sure what to do.
Absoltuely not. No one is to EVER feel obligated to financially help this site. I want to keep this site free and accesible to all who need it. But if someone is able to help, I am grateful, as this is a triple full time job that has become too expensive for me to handle.
We're wondering what it costs to run this extensive website year after year. I have written my check and will put it in the mail tomorrow, but was wondering if just one check is enough. Is there an annual fee for Joan to keep this website going year after year. If so, one check wouldn't help her indefinitely. I had the idea that we could all make a note on our calendars to send a check to Joan each year on our LO's birthday. I would never want her to bear the expense of this website solely on her own, and at the same time, spend countless hours of labor keeping it going. I will write "Happy Birthday" on my check note..it's either her 'early' or 'late' birthday gift! Therefore, it's non taxable!
I just sent my donation via pay pal, and wanted to bring this up to the top again. I almost forgot, so we need for others to see it. this website has been a Godsend for me, even when I don't post, I read, and I just need to know I can rant and rave, and others will know how I feel. Thank You Joan.
I appreciate very much this site and being a survivor, I realize how important it is to have someplace where everyone understands exactly what the situation is.
To all of you wonderful people - I have another request. I want to send out personal thank you notes. If your e-mail address is not in your profile, and you have not previously e-mailed me, I do not have it. Please send me an e-mail with your screen name and real name (first name is okay if you want to remain somewhat annonymous). That is the way I will have your e-mail address and name, so I can send a proper thank you.
Joan, I'm sending my check. I love the idea of sending a birthday gift to you on our loved one's birthday! If our gifts should fall short, let us know so we can scrape some more together.......
Mine is in the mail today. As others have said, this site has been a godsend to me. Joan, I can't begin to thank you enough for all your hard work. Hugs, Kadee
Don't know if your question re costs is hypothetical or literal, but I've assumed that beyond the registration of the name and design of the site, there must be costs for a server to host all the data. Also, Joan has mentioned that she employs someone to read all the posts--so I think it certainly is a good idea for those of us who can afford it, to contribute to help defray the costs.
All the AD Community comments have been moved to their own "off topic" topic - The AD Community for Spouse Caregivers.
Now, if you really want to meet and party, come on the Alaska cruise. I will arrange for a "meet and greet" room, where we can kick off our shoes, drink something other than soft drinks, and talk our heads off. Men caregivers are invited. But they have to talk.
Joan, please don't worry about sending personal thank-yous (no matter what your mother taught you). We know you're grateful and that just adds one more thing to your to-do list--at least this is my opinion. My check went in the mail today. Thank YOU!
CHECK IS IN THE MAIL - SHOULD BE THERE IN 4 DAYS - I GUESS A PONY IS TAKING IT. PLEASE, NO THANK YOU NOTES - PLEASE USE YOUR ENERGY FOR THE WEBSITE THAT WE ALL NEED. I AGREE WITH OTHERS - SHOULD WE HAVE AN ANNUAL DUES TO HELP YOU KNOW WHAT FUNDS WILL BE COMING IN. I WILL USE THE IDEA OF MY LO BIRTHDAY, BUT WILL THAT BE ENOUGH.
I like the idea of sending a gift on our LO's birthday -- we're only a few weeks past Frances's birthday, so our check is in the mail! And thanks, Joan, for the tremendous job you're doing and the contribution your site makes to our all lives -- I've learned so much and found so many new friends with whom I can share things that I don't talk about with anyone else.
Forgive my naivete', but I want to help too, and wonder what amount is appropriate. I have no clue what running a website entails, and the last thing I'd want to do is be insultingly cheap, but I've gotta watch myself. Would somebody mind emailing me a suggestion? email address is in my profile.
New Realm, I felt the same way you did. I did not want to send to little, but couldn't send a lot due to budget constraints. So I decided to forgo our family meal (for four) out one weekend and sent that.
Joan wouldn't care if you sent $5.00 or $50.00 or more. Send what you can and know that you have been of help! Those who don't even type here but are just lurkers can send in their funds to help Joan as well.
Joan, could you (sometime about a month from now) let us know how much the total to date is? That might make me decide whether to forgo two meals out a month if I think you don't have enough! <grin>
Thanks, Mary. I made a comment similar to what you said about some being able to give more than others but thought I maybe shouldn't have posted so I edited it out. We do need some kind of guideline, though.
Dazed, we all live on different income levels, and $5.00 is a lot to some and $50.00 is a drop in the bucket to others. Joan wouldn't want anyone to do without in order to send funds. I personally think that the guideline should be whatever one can comfortably afford to give. If 20 of us gave $20.00 each, that would be $400.00. If 10 of us gave $50.00 it would be $500.00. I don't know how many are sending what.
I don't have any idea what Joan needs to make the changes necessary for the website, so I don't know if that would be enough. Most of us decided to send more on our spouses' birthdays, so she would have "maintaining" money as well. And it will be coming in monthly from here on out.
This is the situation regarding the expense of running this website - Every website advisor to whom I have spoken, urged me to charge a yearly fee for using the message boards, and to charge other fees for accessing a variety of information. This website is a lifeline and lifesaver for too many people, including me, for me to even consider denying access to anyone who needs it, just because they can't pay for it. I guess that makes me a lousy business woman. So I decided to ask those who would be willing to pay, to send whatever they could afford, but only IF they could afford it. That way, I get to keep this place running, and also keep it free to everyone who needs it.
I never anticipated the amount of time and effort that goes into keeping a site like this up to date. There's the writing, which I love, and figured that was all there was to it. NOT. It takes a full time staff - marketing, advertising, designing, researching, and much, much more. That staff is me. Which is why I can't keep up with it and its expense. I could literally work 20 hours a day, 6 days a week on it. Your generosity is allowing me to hire an expert to streamline the process for me and call in part timers on an "as needed" basis when I need a large project done.
Personal thank you notes are on the way - Although I am thanking you on behalf of myself, I am extending that thanks from so many who cannot afford to pay.
The website in itself, once it is up needs constant tending and I think that is where money is needed. She really needs a corporate sponsor like the Olympian athletes have. The makers of some of the Memory drugs would benefit from helping her sponsor this site, or companies with products like equipment we would be interested in. I don't know how one goes about getting a sponsor for something like this. There is going to be ongoing monthly costs maintaining any site. My daughter does web-sites as does briegull.
I don't know about how one would decide how much they can or should send to help this but I sent her $100. I thoroughly enjoy and gain a lot from this site and hope she will be able to continue with it. In the meantime if anyone has any idea of how she could get corporate sponsors I think that would be great.
Hello everyone...I had to resign,Ro13...I will be sending a check to Joan, she is doing such a great job...I have learned so much from this web-site, it helps knowing I am not alone,in this sad world of Alz.
Thank you for your support, but I'm getting confused. I think we've had at least 3 name changes this week. Were you signed on before with another name?