11 more donations needed to reach the fund raiser goal of 55 contributors!
What follows is what I wrote for Robin's fund raiser five years ago in an attempt to explain why, historically, this site has always "rallied together" with member contributions to cover costs. Some of it is tough to read.
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"This reminds me of another reason to continue with member financing: Member donations are a community effort that reflect and remind us of the heroic community effort, born of tragedy, that created this second version of CanoeTripping.net.
"I'll recite briefly that tragic history for new members who may be unaware of it. The first version of this site was solely created, owned and financially maintained by Willis Brown -- a member, like many of us, of another beloved site, solotripping.com, which gradually went defunct. This site was moderately successful for its first couple of years, populated mainly by refugees from solotripping.com.
"On December 7, 2012, at 6:34 a.m., Willis posted a thread entitled "I am Sorry Good by". The content of the post was simply a link to his local town newspaper, the Daily Star, where he knew a shocking article would be appearing soon. Within minutes, Willis shot his wife to death and then committed suicide. The police were called at 6:45.
"Members of this community responded to that thread with shock, grief, and questions about whether and how the site could be kept alive. Members posted ideas and communicated privately. We exchanged email addresses in order to contact each other in case the site went dark. Members collected information about how to operate a website. There were legal questions about how to transfer ownership of the site from Willis's estate. Contacts were made with his family. I communicated with the police and the Daily Star reporters. Many members offered to contribute money to keep the site alive. Finally, Robin stepped forward to take over the site administration, figured out how to transfer the ownership, and began a slow process of learning how to maintain, update and otherwise administer a website.
"All during this time of tragedy, chaos and site rebirth, CanoeTripping.net has been a community effort. This reborn site, the second version, has always been supported by member donations.
"Maybe it sounds sappy, but retaining the practice of community financial support serves as a continuing reminder to me of the very special circumstances, and the very special community, out of which we were created here."
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Self-sufficiency. No ads. No selling of member lists or email lists. Our own private wilderness, which has just undergone the biggest upheaval since 2012.
11 to go!
