Prairienet Community Network
July 2006

Prairienet is local, it is personal, it is accessible, it is our community sharing information, it is great! -- Joe P. Prairienet provides an extremely valuable service to PTA Council. I have had children in Unit 4 schools long enough to remember what it was like before we used Prairienet. The membership of our group is such that regular monthly meetings, which can conflict with our children's other activities, are often not adequate to address time-sensitive issues. Prairienet is a huge part of our organization's communication system and provides an invaluable service. Thanks and keep up the good work! -- Diane K. Prairienet, through its support of PUBYAC [PUBlic libraries, Young Adults, and Children], has helped thousands of children's librarians, many of whom work in isolation, become part of a library "community" which shares ideas and concerns to help children and families throughout the world. -- Karen V. This organization is wonderful for the community. I started with a dial-up service but when I went to another ISP I never considered switching my address because I want to stay with your network. -- Kathy M. Prairienet is essential for me as I am an older person on a 'fixed' (broke) income and I would have no Internet access without it. I am most grateful for it. -- Laura W. I am writing as the listmom for the "LPCC-list" at Prairienet, the listserv of the Latino Partnership of Champaign County. Our ability to connect the dots for Latinos in Champaign County and east central Illinois at large is hugely facilitated by having this listserv. Thank you for helping us to help people in our community--it means more to the individuals and families that we serve than we will ever be able to tell you. -- Andrea Rundell [Robeson PTA list] is an excellent tool for our schools to keep in touch with parents. It requires way less time than calling parents, saves our schools a tremendous amount of money, and saves trees over paper mailings. -- Craig and Leslie N. The website of the [USDA Champaign County FSA Office] is a tremendous help in keeping all the farmers informed about the USDA programs our office has available for them. Many thanks for the past several years in helping me keep this site working and always available. -- Sandra Little, County Executive Director, Champaign County FSA Office [Community-supported Agriculture list] I am a small market farmer living in Costa Rica. To say that it is difficult for me to access relevant information on community farming would be an understatement. Prairienet has helped me overcome this dirth of information. Thanks. -- Tricia S. PrairieNet has given full, professional service for discount prices. Which to me is remarkable given the "outreach" nature of the system. Your people have been responsive when there have been issues. And more importantly, there haven't been many issues to report. -- Charles E. Belanger	Your listservs allow me to be a more active volunteer in East Central Illinois. -- Jim H. The League of Women Voters of Champaign County has had web space and mailing lists on Prairienet for nearly ten years now. We were among the first in the League - both locally and nationally - to make use of electronic communication. -- Margaret J. Olson As a member of the University and the local community, I feel that the service that Prairienet provides to the community is an example of how the University helps to serve the citizens of the state and enhances the communities in which we live. -- Abel Montoya As a member of NAMI (National Alliance for Mentally Ill) attending the Human Services Council, our group would like to acknowledge your wonderful service. It is the cohesive factor that keeps all of the various social services, etc., together and helps us stay in touch, the agenda, minutes. Just cannot express how much you have helped us. -- Louise T. Just want to let you know how much we appreciate Prairienet services. I run a small nonprofit in Rantoul. Prairient allows us to communicate electronically with the world and provides us access to the Web. Keep up the great work. -- Andy Kulczycki As the campus continues to explore ways to develop and nurture meaningful partnerships and fully engage the community, I just want to take a minute to express my support for a valuable outreach resource that we already have -- Prairienet list services. I've been on the receiving end of several listservs maintained by Prairienet, most recently the Master Gardener list. Being able to communicate with other MGs to share information, ideas and resources in a timely, effortless fashion is invaluable to the educational mission of the UIUC Extension's Master Gardeners. -- Kate D. I am most grateful for the services that the Prairienet staff provide in technical support for the Self-Help Center Family Service website. We have over 30,000 hits per year and we would not be able to provide this valuable service to the community without the support of Prairienet. -- Sharon Monday-Dorsey, Coordinator, Self-Help Center of Family Service Prairienet has been such a blessing for me as our grown children - and their children - are all scattered across the miles, from Indiana to Nicaragua! Being able to keep in touch quickly has been a godsend, especially when the need is greatest for a quick contact. -- Dollie D. We believe Prairienet a vital community asset in providing important services to the Urbana-Champaign community. Although we now access the Internet using a DSL ISP, we plan to remain Prairienet members and supporters as we believe Prairienet is much more than a low cost Internet provider. Keep up the good work. -- Narges and David Harley	The resources provided by Prairienet make it possible for small, non-profit groups to establish communication among members and with the public. Our community is richer because of the work of Prairienet. -- Esther Patt As retired persons we are thankful that this has been extended to us as I would not be able to have Internet services otherwise. We want to thank you and your staff for the good service and classes. -- Dorothy M. I am currently out of the country and reading this at an Internet cafe---which shows how versatile my Prairienet account is. I can use it anywhere in the world. -- Vivienne M. I got my first email account (along with the rest of my family) when I was in 7th grade from Prairienet. Through High School, college, and now working in another country Prairienet has been the only email I could rely on and I still use it after 12 years. Prairienet was my introduction to the Internet. I think it is a valuable service to the community. I want to thank the Prairienet staff for what they do. -- Marty Kane Please register my vote for Prairienet, which provides an invaluable community service to a multitude of organizations and individuals in our area.. Our community would not be the same without them. -- Elaine Shpungin., Director, Psychological Services Center, University of Illinois Our family started using Prairienet at the very beginning. I only use it for email at present but that service is very very good. The down time is minimal. I have friends who have lots of difficulties with their email servers. Relying on email for family correspondence, genealogy communication, and in my work as a typesetter, I have found it to be an extremely reliable resource. If I ever need assistance the staff is very professional and helpful. If there was a problem with Prairienet, it would be that SOME people have a very difficult time spelling it! Keep up the great work. -- Cathy Young As a senior citizen I have a limited income, but I use the Internet as much as possible, as much as most. When I see how much is being charged commercially, I realize I could never make it without Prairienet. Keep on! -- Paul [Illinois Library Association Public Library Forum] Librarians in Illinois benefit greatly from the list hosted by Prarienet. For many small libraries this is their access to help from the Library community in Illinois. Being able to share knowledge with our fellow librarians is wonderful! -- Donella Odum, Sallie Logan Public Library, Murphysboro in deep Southern Illinois
	I've been a Prairienet member since the early days and have witnessed the marvelous progression from basic email and text-only interfaces to the high-speed, spam-free services of today. I have been webmaster for several PTAs, BSA Troop 107, Women's Club at UIUC and listowner of several lists. I love the ad-free nature of Prairienet's services AND I love the dedication of the Prairienet staff who answer emails in the middle of the night and on holidays and weekends! They are great. Thank You PRAIRIENET! -- Ann Campbell
The Prairienet Community Network is an extremely valuable and important asset for me (I'm almost 80) and for many other senior citizens. It enables us to keep in touch with community organizations and gives us information about events. We can access the library without going there and shop for things we need just sitting at the computer. Above all, it gives us a sense of belonging to and participating in a world which without a computer seems far away. Thank you for helping us fight the inevitable sense of isolation that comes with age. -- Lenrose J.
	Prairienet's support of the West Urbana Neighborhood Association listserv is an invaluable service to our community. The listserv improves our community in important ways: by sharing information among residents about high quality contractors and tradespeople, it helps some of our best businesses thrive. by sharing information among residents about potential problems in the community, it allows us to (a) very rapidly figure out what really is, and is not, a shared concern, (b) identify a number of possible solutions and their advantages and disadvantages, and (c) mobilize quickly to move our concerns and proposed solutions into the policy arena. Put simply, the WUNA listserv is a new and exciting form of democracy in action. It may not include everyone, but it makes dialogue possible among very diverse parties, and I think we've had multiple examples where someone in the community has expressed a concern, and within a surprisingly short span of time, a new and well- thought out proposal has gone in front of the City Council. The listserv is an important vehicle for solving shared community concerns and reaching shared community goals. - Frances E. Kuo
Sue and I are writing to thank Prairienet for their continued support of the Parents of Academically Talented Students (P.A.T.S.) organization by providing a list and waiving the hosting fee for the organization's web site. Your generosity has made it possible to communicate valuable and timely information about the gifted and academically talented community. After the gifted program was eliminated by McHenry District 15 two years ago, the organization's future was uncertain. We had lost the ability to effectively communicate to our members as well as our hosting space to store previous issues of the organization's newsletters. Although we are a small organization, the site and newsletter have received many favorable comments about the value and timeliness of the information. With your help, we hope to be able to continue to offer these services and to expand our content. It seems especially fitting that the web site of an organization that addresses the needs of gifted and academically talented students, that encourages reading and exploration, should be hosted by the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at UIUC. -- Ralph and Sue Iden
	Prairienet has been my choice for computer communications for yea these many years that I have been surfing the web and emailing my children over the miles and my friends and family here in town. I resisted having a computer but my daughter dumped it in my bedroom and said "There, use it!". And by golly I did and then when it was time to use a modem, she did the same, and use it I did. I have never felt closer to my children because of it, and with the local help that volunteers provide, whenever I had a problem, and believe me I did, they were always able to help me out. They are not only helpful, but pleasant and willing and knowedgable. Thanks for all those hours, Prairienet. You're the best. -- Dee Reeser
I can't say enough good things about Prairienet and the help it has given to our nonprofit association. We are such a small organization. Even though the Illinois Heritage Association works statewide, we serve the smallest of the cultural heritage organizations in the state, many all-volunteer. We are dependent on their support to stay viable ourselves. When I discovered the Internet in 1994 through Prairienet, I was a real novice and quite intimidated by this new technology. I still remember attending my first Prairienet meeting. So many people! Everyone knew more than I did, but there were so many helping hands. I could see immediately that it would not only help us, but that the potential for the little guys would be mind-blowing. We have actively encouraged our members to adopt new technology. Some still point to us and say, "You were the ones who told us about the Internet." But that is because Prairienet pointed the way for us. I have turned to Prairienet so many times for help, and sometimes it has gone beyond the call of duty. The people at Prairienet care about what they do and they have always been there for us. I can't imagine a better community service. -- Patricia L. Miller, Executive Director, Illinois Heritage Association
	Please allow me to cast my enthusiastic vote to keep Prairienet serving the agricultural community. I will be voting with my dollars, as well. As a new, young CSA [community-supported agriculture] farmer, I am encouraged by the support and advice I receive as a part of the CSA-L mailing list. In a society that is speeding ever faster away from real community towards independence and isolation, virtual communities like CSA-L play an increasingly important role as support networks for farm families. We live on an old family farm in central Ohio. CSA is a growing movement here, but we are still moving against the grain. Support and advice are difficult to come by in a rural community still entrenched in conventional agriculture. We desire to become mature, capable farmers who can provide a sustainable, organic, and local food source for our community. But we can't do it alone. It gives us a measure of comfort and assurance to know that we are connected in a tangible way to CSA farmers all over the country, young and old, from whom we can glean the bits of knowledge and wisdom that will help us walk this path towards a healthier, more hopeful future for our nation's food production system. Please keep this community alive! -- Thank you, Heather Shaw, Newark, Ohio
Prairienet is terrific. It it were not available to me I would not have access to the Internet and might become very isolated. I don't think I could afford any other service. Though I don't use it for very complicated searches, I do use it daily, mostly to be in contact with distant family members. This has strengthened my relationships with cherished aunt, uncles, and cousins. Family is very important to me. I also find it a necessity in communicating with people in my church. I serve on a few committees, and without prairienet I would really be out-of-the-loop, and the ministries we serve would be adversely affected. My elderly parents also use Prairienet. It has been wonderful for them. And since we have the same server, when they get confused and/or frustrated with their server, I can help them. Also, both my parents have taken courses offered by Prairienet and this has been good for them not only use their computer more effectively, but has been of value to their social and emotional lives. When they take classes I notice an improvement in their self-confidence, mobility, and cognitive skills. What a blessing it has been for them!!!! My entire family is grateful for the Prairienet and the staff of the Graduate School of Library Information Science. -- Glenna T.
	[Prairienet] is invaluable to the University community as well as the wider Champaign-Urbana community. [Prairienet] is one of the rare features of the University which allows such a link from academia to the wider community, which in turn, supports an essential component of the University's land-grant mission -- one that should not be forgotten amidst the increasing budget cuts and privitization of the institution. Prairienet also serves an important role in addressing the ever-increasing digital divide. Such services are unique and essential and need continued support, both in terms of funding and advocacy. I hope that you will decide to continue support of this valuable resource. -- Nicole L.