JOIN would like to thank.....

JOIN is a success story thanks to the volountary efforts of our unsung helpers. It is timely to reflect on our achievements and express our gratitude.

JOIN is a grass-roots, registered non-profit association, founded in 1993. Our mission was (and still is) to assist individuals and organisations to use the Internet to connect to the global Jewish computer network; to raise the profile of Australian Jewry worldwide and combat the use of the Internet for messages of intolerance and antisemitism.

When we started only a small percentage of the population had heard of the Internet and it was not generally available to home pc and mac users in Australia. We were fortunate in being able to work co- operatively with The Message Exchange to develop a first-class, easy- to-use, low-cost email service.

 Next, with help from Ronny Cook at The Message Exchange, we set up the JOIN mailing list and announced an Australian/Jewish presence on the Net via Dov Winer of the Global Jewish Network Project. We were delighted to immediately receive subscription requests from around 20 people, today we have thousands of readers worldwide.

 Later, with the assistance of the Shamash Organisation, we developed our two uniquely Australian/Jewish, email discussion forums, JOIN-TALK and JOIN-HELP. This gave us wider exposure and, before the Web, made it much easier for people looking for contact with the Australian/Jewish community.

 Then, thanks to Gad (Quentin) Jones we set up our office in Israel, a focal point for Australian Olim.

 Once full access to the Internet became affordable in Australia we could offer the full range of PPP services via TMX and get newbies off to a good start by giving hands-on help and utilising our technical discussion forum.

Our next step was the JOIN Web site made possible by the contribution of our Webmaster, Naomi Jones. Naomi deserves full credit for the resounding success of this site. Thank you, Naomi.

 We are also indebted to the Woollahra Council for providing us with a second computer which enables us to provide local Jewish Day School students with pro-active involvement in Jewish networking.

 Special thanks are also due to our volountary helpers; Professor Bob Kummerfeld and Danny Indyk of Sydney University for sharing their skills with us; Naftoli Biber who has helped many new JOINers in Melbourne and new team-member Moshe Merwitz; Elie Lederman (Israel) and Jack Gubbay (Adelaide) who have encouraged many of their friends to join JOIN; Steven King who has helped us support Macintosh users; Mosey Aaron for taking me up a very steep accounting climb; Dorothy Abrahams, Renate Kanitz-Birnbaum, Judy Diamond, Rosemary Eales, Sonya Robinson, Rosalind Tarsziz and Stephen Kerlander who have helped with administration; Ilan Doctors for creating our first brochure; Aharon Aharon and Joshua Stein who are providing us with invaluable technical assistance.

Thanks to Pauline Rapaport (programming) and Mottel Gutnick of Melbourne (content) for the JOIN Shabbat Times pages.

Thanks to major website contributor Robert Gescheit for his ongoing voluntary HTML programming work (especially the Jewish Community Services and NSW Kashrut Authority sites).

 We also thank our financial members and users of The Message Exchange for helping us to stay afloat. We hope your numbers will increase during the coming year. Please tell your friends about JOIN.

 Everyone is welcome on the JOIN team and I look forward to hearing from anyone who wants to help and/or become a member.

 Shalom

Geraldine Jones
President
Jewish Ozzies' Inter.Net