Category: WP-ORG

Dear WP-ORG users,

Our abbreviated Fund Drive will be ending on 8/12.  This is the last fund drive message you will receive from us during this fund drive.

Our donation page may be found here:
https://secure.west-point.org/donate/

As you’re aware, this past April, we decided to delay the start of our semi-annual fund drive related to the impact of the virus on each of us and the economy. We cut back to only essential activities, and expenditures. We delayed as long as possible and have operated on just what we could raise in this four-week period. Many of you have been very generous.  Thank you.

I have been a part of WP-ORG for about 20 years. It has brought me immeasurable joy in the past, but like all of you, I have realized how my online connections have been extremely important in the past many months. WP-ORG has provided connections with the West Point community through class lists, societies, parent lists, and lists where information and opinions can be shared. These connections are invaluable.  I personally found a great deal of comfort from our members even before this pandemic occurred. Our ransomware attack last fall was daunting, but we survived. I had a joint replacement, which left me better for it. My hours were cut due to necessity, and I found time for other interests. Five of my immediate family members contracted Covid-19 and all are continuing to improve. My youngest son was laid off, yet he remains positive and upbeat. Like all of you, the personal hits have just kept coming, and yet, we continue through adversity to thrive. The one constant in my life is the contact I have had with so many of you through all of this. Our moderators and users contact me for assistance, and those contacts almost always involved a mutual sharing of how this period of time is affecting each of us.  The West Point family takes care of their own, if only through kind words and generous hearts. I pray we all can lift ourselves out of the many trials that this year has given us, and find ourselves stronger, healthier, and better.

Please help us finish this fund drive strong, so that we may continue to bring you the services you have come to expect from WP-ORG, and maintain those important connections with one another.  On the 12th, we will stop this abbreviated drive regardless of reaching our goal.  We will begin our normal fund drive cycle in October.  It will seem a very short time between this fund drive and the next, but that break will permit us all to take a necessary collective breath between now and then.

Thank you for being a part of this community. I pray you all stay well.

Dian Welle
WP-ORG, Inc.

Important fund drive links:

Donation page linking to all payment methods (credit card, check or PayPal): http://www.west-point.org/donate/

        By credit card: https://secure.west-point.org/donate/

        By check, please indicate class year and affiliation:

        WP-ORG
        23802 Oscar Road
        Spicewood TX 78669

        By PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=GXGCWRKX48UHY
        After entering Donation Amount, login to PayPal account. On next screen, please click on “Add special instructions to the seller”; enter class year and affiliation, and comment if you wish.

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

Fund Drive Donation Report, sorted by WP-ORG member group, etc.: https://secure.west-point.org/donate/report/

What is WP-ORG & Why Donate?: https://www.west-point.org/why_donate/

IRS Letter Confirming WP-ORG 501(c)(3) Status: https://www.west-point.org/publications/501SUMMARY.PDF

Hello! 🙂

WP-ORG is in the middle of a COVID-19 abbreviated Fund Drive 47. The drive will close on August 12. If you’re inclined and able to contribute, please don’t delay. http://www.west-point.org/donate/
Seldom do I get to talk to all of you, and I have questions! 
WP-ORG was conceived and built by grads as a gift to the West Point community. WP-ORG exists to serve. Over the past 25 years WP-ORG’s service offerings have been adjusted as the needs of its members have evolved. Looking to the future, your guidance is essential. We are poised to make some changes.

As we consider new ways to be valuable to the West Point community, we can attempt to put ourselves in your various shoes and dream up what you need; but it’s probably more effective to just ask you. Reply to this message and tell us where you’d like to see us focus effort.

1) How can WP-ORG more effectively help classes, societies and parent clubs maintain and build on the relationships forged at the Academy? For example:

• How can WP-ORG help build a lasting record of your class history/culture? Every class has a story…
• What sort of support can WP-ORG provide that would make it easier for you to manage your society?
• How can WP-ORG help strengthen your society?
• How can WP-ORG better support continuity of parent club management as officers rotate?
• What resources are Parent Clubs lacking that WP-ORG might provide?

2) Do you already have an idea and the skills to bring it to life but are looking for support and an existing stable infrastructure for build out?

3) Do you have coding and development skills you’d like to put to use for the benefit of West Point grads and parents everywhere but no specific project on which to work?

Got a great idea? We’d love to hear it! Want to help build WP-ORG? You have no idea how we LOVE the smell of a volunteer! 
Replies go to WP-ORG’s feedback address.

Thank you, as always, for your constant support.

Sincerely,
Megan Klein
WP-ORG INC
(512) 771-8661

Donation page linking to all payment methods (credit card, check or PayPal):
http://www.west-point.org/donate

        By credit card:
https://secure.west-point.org/donate/

        By check, please indicate class year and affiliation:

        WP-ORG INC
        23802 Oscar Road
        Spicewood TX 78669

        By PayPal::
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=GXGCWRKX48UHY
Fund Drive Donation Report, sorted by WP-ORG member group, etc.:
https://secure.west-point.org/donate/report/

WP-ORG Budget April 2020 – September 2020:
http://www.west-point.org/budget

It’s safe to say the past several months have brought unprecedented upheaval in our lives. Covid-19, varying stages of lockdown and social distancing orders have left many feeling isolated from friends and family. 

West-Point.Org was founded to facilitate communication between grads. Over the years its offerings have expanded beyond just email listservs and its audience now includes academy parents and the greater West Point community. Even after all these years, the key reason for WP-ORG’s existence remains COMMUNICATION.    

Now, more than ever, we need each other. Founders Day has been cancelled, society and club meetings have been called off, as have dinner parties, happy hour gatherings after work, and traditional summer travel. When so many other doors to community gatherings are slammed shut, WP-ORG is a constant open line of communication, strengthening the Long Gray Line. A backdoor, encouraging the West Point family to grip hands as we always have – to reach out, to touch base, to reconnect with each other.

In addition to Class listservs for grads and the various forums for parents, you may find one or both of this lists interesting to participate in:

wp-forum (graduate only list)
https://tools.west-point.org/users/join.mhtml?listname=wp-forum

political-soapbox (open to all members)
https://www.west-point.org/family/political-soapbox

Please be mindful that opinions can be expressed “forcefully” on both forums, so participation in these communities is not for the faint of heart.  You can be assured, however, that you will be challenged intellectually.

West-Point.Org also hosts websites for many West Point Classes, Societies and Parent Clubs. If you need a new website built for your Class, Society or Club, please feel free to contact us at <feedback@west-point.org>  We are here to help you!
Remain positive.  Send a note to say hello.  Be there for each other.  West-Point.Org has provided the platform; your donation keeps it running. 

Please contribute if you can: https://secure.west-point.org/donate/. 

Sincerely,
Megan Hostler
for WP-ORG Advisors

WP-ORG Members:

We hope that each of you continue to be safe and secure during this COVID-19 outbreak and are focusing on the things most important to you at this time.

In April, we sent out an email to let you know that we were delaying the start of our semi-annual fund drive due to the impact of the virus to each other and the economy. WP-ORG operates on donated funds collected every six months from those that find value in the services we provide grads, societies, parents clubs, and other friends of our nation’s oldest military academy. The donated funds from the October 2019 fund drive theoretically ran through March 2020 and we would have normally started Fund Drive 47 in April. However, WP-ORG chose to buckle down, examine every expenditure, and stretch our dollars as far as possible – just as many of you were doing.

We feel that we need to start that fund drive to keep WP-ORG continuing its mission. WP-ORG also understands that many of our members may not be in the position to donate at this time, but some are. For those that are not in a position at this time, that is understandable and we want to emphasize that no one is required to send in any money in order to utilize our email lists, web sites, and other services. WP-ORG has — and always will be — funded by donations from those that have seen value and have the funds to spare during that six-month budget cycle. We help each other carry the load.

Here is what we plan to do:

(1) We will publish our original April – September 2020 budget.
(2) Instead of sending weekly emails until the goal is met, we will instead send four (4) weekly messages to our entire membership asking for donations.
(3) WP-ORG will close the fund drive after those four weeks and operate until October on the monies that we raised.
(4) In October, we will start the next fund drive as we normally do, with the hope that the pandemic situation — and its economic repercussions — has improved.

Please donate if you can at https://secure.west-point.org/donate/.  We’re here to serve in any capacity that we can.

Sincerely,
Warren Hearnes ’89
for WP-ORG Advisors

You received this email because you are on an email list hosted by WP-ORG: https://www.west-point.org/

++++ IMPORTANT LINKS ++++

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

Donation page linking to all payment methods (credit card, check or PayPal): http://www.west-point.org/donate/

        By credit card:
        https://secure.west-point.org/donate/

        By check, please indicate class year and affiliation:

        WP-ORG
        23802 Oscar Road
        Spicewood TX 78669

        By PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=GXGCWRKX48UHY

        After entering Donation Amount, login to PayPal account. On next screen, please click on “Add special instructions to the seller”; enter class year and affiliation, and comment if you wish.

Fund Drive Donation Report, sorted by WP-ORG member group, etc.: https://secure.west-point.org/donate/report/

What is WP-ORG & Why Donate?: https://www.west-point.org/why_donate/

WP-ORG Member Information Privacy Policy: https://www.west-point.org/privacy-statement/

IRS Letter Confirming WP-ORG 501(c)(3) Status: https://www.west-point.org/publications/501SUMMARY.PDF