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Thank you for your support!

Thanks to all of you, WP-ORG has reached our semi-annual fundraising goal of $56,424 in less than 3 weeks! We appreciate your support and generosity, which helps us continue our mission and strengthen the associations that bind us together. 

Some quick statistics: Seventeen classes gave at least $1,000 to the fund drive. Thanks especially to the top five classes in dollar donations: USMA ‘64led the way with 83 donations totaling $9,467.28, followed by USMA ‘79, USMA ‘66, USMA ‘68, and USMA ‘78. 

A full donation report can be found at https://secure.west-point.org/donate/report/.

–Warren Hearnes ‘89

–for WP-ORG Advisors

As you likely know by now, WP-ORG is having a belated fund drive this year, as announced by Warren Hearnes ’89 a week ago. This is our 59th semi-annual fund drive. If you have not donated and would like to, please go to: https://secure.west-point.org/donate/.  Warren spoke about the improvement of our technology, and how it will make for a stronger and more flexible foundation for WP-ORG’s future. In contrast, I would like to briefly take you back to the past.

WP-ORG began in 1994 with only 30+ people receiving the first “hello”. The creation of Email listservs came in 1995, parents were invited to join and the creation of our eulogy pages came shortly after. It is the latter feature I wish to discuss.

Because of our migration to AWS services, we delayed this fund drive, which would typically occur in April. This year, Memorial Day came in the midst of our upgrades. Knowing we would be having a fund drive after those upgrades, I saved a few eulogy entries to share the value of this wonderful tool that we’ve had since the earliest days. I personally read every eulogy that comes into our eulogy pages as a safeguard against the potential for misuse. We never want graduates disrespected on their eulogy pages. I would like to re-introduce you to that valuable service.

You may find the portal to the eulogy pages for any class here: https://defender.west-point.org/service/taps.mhtml Just select a class year, and click “Go”. A list of the deceased within that class is brought up. By clicking on the name of the graduate, you are taken to his or her personal page, where you will see a link to: “Post a Eulogy”. This will take you to the individual eulogies for that individual. Some classes are very good at making sure their eulogy pages are utilized. In one case, the son of a graduate has made it his mission to assure that every classmate of his father has a eulogy written.

Each Memorial Day brings the remembrances of others for a classmate, spouse, parent or friend. To emphasize the value of these pages, I would like to give you a very small sample of the eulogy entries I read this past Memorial Day weekend, to allow you the honor of reading just a fraction of what I read on a daily basis. These are in no particular class order:

Ryan Neil Roberson, USMA ’94: https://defender.west-point.org/service/display.mhtml?u=51613&i=61468

Daniel Brian Hyde, USMA ’07: https://defender.west-point.org/service/display.mhtml?u=63537&i=61474

Jason Benjamin Jones, USMA ’07: https://defender.west-point.org/service/display.mhtml?u=63558&i=61475

Phillip Isaac Neel, USMA ’05: https://defender.west-point.org/service/display.mhtml?u=61896&i=61473

Geoffrey Hamilton Kleb, USMA ’64: https://defender.west-point.org/service/display.mhtml?u=25333&i=61467

Victor George Smith, USMA ’69: https://defender.west-point.org/service/display.mhtml?u=28605&i=61478

If you remember a graduate who has passed, I hope you use this valuable tool to remember them. I know the people who loved them appreciate these entries.

This is just a small fraction of the services WP-ORG provides: https://www.west-point.org/grad-services/

If you find value in what WP-ORG, please consider a donation:

General donation page (links to credit card, Venmo, PayPal, and check options): https://www.west-point.org/donate/

Direct credit card donation form: https://secure.west-point.org/donate/

Donation report: https://secure.west-point.org/donate/report/

FD59 budget: https://www.west-point.org/budget/

We always want to remind you that regardless of donation, we are here for you.

-- 
Respectfully,
Dian Welle
WP-ORG, Inc.

[Note: FD59 donation links are listed at the bottom of this message]

WP-ORG’s technology foundation modernized

If you’ve been using WP-ORG services, such as class or society listserves, web pages, eulogy pages for deceased classmates, or secure credit card sites over the past 30 years, then you know that WP-ORG launches a fund drive every six months to collect operating funds. We do this style of fundraising as a ‘vote of confidence’ in what we provide. It keeps us responsive to member needs, which is fundamental to our mission: West-Point.Org (WP-ORG), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, provides an online communications infrastructure that enables graduates, parents, and friends of the military academy to maintain and strengthen the associations that bind us together. We will provide this community any requested support, consistent with this purpose, as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Due to our ongoing technology upgrade/modernization effort, we delayed our normal April 2026 fund drive. We’re proud to announce that WP-ORG completed this major technology upgrade by moving its core systems to Amazon Web Services, commonly known as AWS, in June. This move replaced aging equipment, improved reliability and security, and gave us a more flexible foundation for future services and features. We are now starting our regularly scheduled fund drive.

What improved?

• More reliable listserv messages: Our previous email setup increasingly caused messages to bounce or get blocked by major providers such as Gmail. We moved listserv delivery to Amazon Simple Email Service, part of AWS. This change simplified the sending process and dramatically improved the number of messages that reach members successfully.
• Modern systems replaced aging hardware: We replaced older physical equipment with virtual systems hosted through AWS. We can now create, update, expand, or remove these systems much more easily than physical servers. This reduces the risk of hardware failures and helps us respond more quickly as our needs change.
• Stronger network security: We upgraded to a virtual FortiGate firewall. The new firewall can run the latest security updates and better protect our network and services.
• More frequent backups: We back up all systems every day. We back up important information, including email and database records, every hour. These backups reduce the risk of data loss and help us recover more quickly if a problem occurs.

What this means for WP-ORG

We now have a more modern, reliable, secure, and standardized technology foundation. The new setup is easier to maintain and easier for additional volunteers to understand. That means volunteers can get up to speed more quickly, improve our current services, and help add new features. The move to AWS created a stronger and more flexible foundation for WP-ORG’s future and helped ensure that WP-ORG will be around for another 30 years.

How to donate to Fund Drive 59

Our operating budget for the six-month period is $56,424. You can donate online at https://www.west-point.org/donate/ and use whatever method is best for you – credit/debit card, PayPal, check, or stock donation. Budget detail for this six-month period is posted at https://www.west-point.org/budget/ for anyone who wants to see exactly what we expect to spend.

Please consider donating today if WP-ORG has been useful to you:

• General donation page (links to credit card, Venmo, PayPal, and check options): https://www.west-point.org/donate/
• Direct credit card donation form: https://secure.west-point.org/donate/
• Donation report: https://secure.west-point.org/donate/report/
• FD59 budget: https://www.west-point.org/budget/

Thank you for helping us continue this work.

Sincerely,
Warren Hearnes ’89
on behalf of WP-ORG Advisors

The email issue some of you experienced this morning (6/29) has been resolved. Thank you for your patience.