| 24 March 2020 Dear Seattle Genealogical Society (SGS) members and friends, The SGS Board met in special session on Monday to discuss the Covid-19 recommendations of our health professionals and our responsibilities to our members and friends. Your safety is our primary concern. We are making it as easy as possible for you to remain safe and still participate in the activities of SGS. Here are some of the actions taken by the Board on Monday: The SGS Library at 6200 Sand Point Way will extend its closure date through May 4. This action will be reassessed at our next regular Board meeting on April 13. All in person meetings of Special Interest Groups (SIG) are cancelled. Please check with the group leader or the eNews! to determine if the meeting will be held virtually. All members, friends, and volunteers should shelter in place and not enter the facility at 6200 Sand Point. We discussed many options and made the difficult decision to cancel the May Seminar with Fritz Juengling. We are working with Fritz to discuss alternatives and will let you know as soon as possible. While our physical facility is closed to all volunteers and patrons, we are committed to bring you online educational opportunities and to nurture a close community of genealogists, wherever you live. In an effort to fulfill this promise, SGS is moving more program content online. Watch the eNews! for the online links. On 19 March, we held a very successful Pop-Up Presentation on line using our Zoom host, attended by 20+ people from Seattle, Washington, and other states! Based on that success, we are scheduling additional online events. All links will be published in the eNews! The next Pop-Up Presentation will be 2 April, “Discovering Amelia; The Story of a Pennsylvania Dutch Woman, 1854-1931” given by Heidi. The 11 April “Second Saturday” session has been moved to 9 May, Heidi Mair will present “1890-1920: The Progressive Era & Women’s Rights.” Watch the eNews! to determine if this will be held at the Library or virtually. On 11 April, we will hold an online “Coffee Klatch and Membership Meeting” at 12:30 pm. This is an informal meet up but will review the year in the past and upcoming events. The conversation starter is “What online resource have your found particularly helpful?” It does not have to be about genealogy, but you get a gold star if it is! We have a number of online classes starting up. Sign up through our website (https://seagensoc.org). “Level 1: Genealogy Basics and Beyond” will start the first part of May. This is a highly interactive class for five students. Our guarantee? Your genealogy research will be improved after the course. The first class is already full, but Valerie Lair, the instructor, is willing to run the course again if five of you sign up on the wait list which is now open. “Certification Discussion Group”: If you are interested in becoming a Certified Genealogist or just want to know more, we are taking names of those interested for the fall session, dates to be announced. “WAYtoGo: A Methodology for Writing Efficient Research Reports” will be taught twice this spring/summer. This online workshop will start you on solving that brick wall problem by systematically recording your findings. We will use the wait list to identify the next group of attendees, but you can’t be notified of the program, if you aren’t on the wait list. If you want to write better reports, sign up now. Dates and times to be determined. Attending an SGS online event is as easy as – 1) Log onto your internet and click on the link for the meeting you wish to join that was supplied to you in the eNews! No pre-registration is necessary; 2) You may have to accept Zoom’s invitation to download the application (app) which takes 2-3 minutes, but after you do, 3) You’re in the meeting!! You do not have to have an “account” with Zoom, but you do need to download the app. SGS is focused on our mission—to deliver the best genealogy education and provide for the preservation of genealogical resources for our members and friends. Flatten the curve! Jill Morelli, CG President, Seattle Genealogical Society |