E-Mail Newsletter
March 12, 2006	Volume 1, Number 1
	March 2006 We’re back! We hope you like the new format. Please send any feedback to newsletter@groww.org Taking care of you I would like to take the time here to remind everyone that grieving is physically and emotionally draining. If you are not feeling well, it is often times not just the emotional part of grief, many times our physical ailments may be overlooked by our Doctors because we are grieving. Ask your Doctor to run tests, all that can happen is you come back healthy. Please get some multiple vitamins, we all know we don’t eat well or take care of ourselves. Buy some peanut butter and crackers, leave them by the computer so you can snack on them while chatting with us. Peanut butter is full of protein and healthy, bet a glass of milk would taste good with that too. Get some frozen dinners and put them in your freezer, they microwave fast and they aren’t usually too big and you can probably mange to eat it. Remember this is a very stressful time in your life, you have to take care of yourself. AnneGD@groww.org Chatting Tips: staff@groww.org When you do get in to the chat room, are you finding you can’t keep up and the screen is too small, look up at the top right hand corner and click on the button which says FLOAT... it will open a new window... now MAXIMIZE that window by clicking on the square in the upper right hand corner... the square is between the "-" and the "x"... it will make the room larger, then type *chat fontsize 14 or 16 If you are having trouble connecting to the chat rooms, you may need to update your java. Are you getting that blue screen when you try to log on? Try this link and follow the instructions, it should solve your problem http://java.sun.com/getjava/download.html
	Contact Information For information or questions about GROWW, please write to staff@groww.org Anyone who hasn’t signed up a password for the message boards and would like to do so please go to the following link and submit the information required, please remember we are all volunteers here and it may take up to 48 hours to process your request. http://www.groww.org/community/boards/passwordform.htm Web Links Do you have a favorite website that you go to for inspirational or motivational incentive. NanE has found a great website that lights a cyber candle in memory of your loved one, you can write a message and the candle will burn for 48 hours http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/enter.cfm Gatherings Do you want to plan one? We will have some suggestions as to how others were planned and some helpful hints that can you help decide if this is something you would like to take on. Libby will be writing an article, keep your eyes peeled J There is currently a Widowed and Widower gathering in the planning stage for July 14^th through 16^th in Minnesota. Check the Gatherings page on the message boards for more updates. There is also one being planned as a HALO/GROWW Roundup in Tulsa OK for all from September 14-18. The Tulsa Gathering is open to All members. Staff & Hosts- the difference By: Rachel@groww.org I was recently asked, "What is the difference between hosts and staff?" I wondered how many others were asking themselves the same question but didn’t feel comfortable asking or felt it wasn’t their right to ask. Please always ask staff if you have a question. I stress that you ask STAFF and not a hosts. Our hosts are not privileged to everything. We would rather you ask than to sit back and ponder and possibly have the wrong answer. This doesn’t mean we will divulge all the knowledge we have, especially if it is about a member or it is consider personal. Our staff consists of Anne-CEO, Phil-Director of Security, Libby-Director of Branches and myself Rachel-Webmaster. Judy Divers founded this wonderful site and upon her death she passed the reins on to JimK4. When JimK4 was diagnosed with lung cancer he approached some of us who had been with GROWW for a number of years and asked us to keep the memory alive. GROWW is very dear to our hearts and we took, and take, the responsibility seriously. It is our role to keep the dream alive. We guarantee that the expenses are met each month (thank you to all who donate), that the site remains safe, complaints are answered, members are banned or asked to leave if they are not appropriate, the website remains up and running, the taxes are submitted in a timely manner - to name just a few of our duties. As in any business, the bulk of the responsibility of running GROWW falls to Anne. We could not do all of this without our hosts. Our hosts are our eyes when we can not be in the room. The hosts are members just like you who have shown compassion and a caring attitude. Our hosts have been members for over a year. They do not hold any responsibility to the running of GROWW and do not make any decisions. We believe that hosting is an important function of GROWW and it is taken very seriously. Each of our hosts is required to sign The Promise letter. You can view the Promise Letter by following this link: http://www.groww.org/faq.htm The first GROWW chat room was opened January 1998. The site is kept running by staff (all of whom also host); the rooms are kept appropriate and safe by hosts. I hope that this article has cleared up any misconceptions there may be as to the different roles of staff and hosts. And, again, if you have questions, please ask a staff member or write to staff@groww.org. Poetry: Communications into/from cyberspace E-mails arrive, read, and answered and sent into Cyberspace There is no contact except for words that appear and disappear Are you real? The Send/Receive button rules supreme in Cyberspace We hide behind addresses that are not places, only FRED's Send mail that is not written on paper Are you real? Am I real? Still the Send/Receive button rules supreme in Cyberspace No longer do we say "Hello" to faces that we want to know Have we become scared of faces? Are you real? Am I real? Is this real? Still the send/receive button rules supreme in Cyberspace You are asked to chat, but with whom, I see no one Se we chat with out one spoken word Are you real? Am I real? Is this real? What is real? Still the send/Receive button rules supreme in Cyberspace The line drops out; no more words appear or disappear All communications lost You’re not real? I'm not real? This is not real? There is no reality? The send/receive button is dead. By: AussieJen  Coming soon: Poetry, recipes, more links and a note from a different Branch Manager describing the room they manage and the people they help.