From: deb@freebsdfoundation.org   
      
   Dear FreeBSD Community,   
      
   The FreeBSD Foundation has been proudly supporting the FreeBSD Project   
   and community for 11 years now. Every year we sponsor BSD conferences   
   and events around the globe, help developers with their travel expenses   
   to attend these conferences, work to protect the intellectual property   
   of the FreeBSD project, visit institutions and corporations to promote   
   the use of FreeBSD, purchase equipment to grow the FreeBSD   
   infrastructure, and fund research and development projects that enhance   
   the FreeBSD OS.   
      
   We are deeply grateful for all the support we receive from so many   
   individuals and organizations who value FreeBSD. We currently are at the   
   half way point towards our goal of raising $400,000 this year. We are   
   hoping that you, the FreeBSD community, will help us meet our goal by   
   making a donation this month. By donating to the foundation, you are   
   donating to the FreeBSD Project and community as a whole.   
      
   I have had the privilege of meeting many FreeBSD enthusiasts in person,   
   through email, and on the phone. I am always impressed with the passion   
   that these people have for FreeBSD. Most volunteer their precious time   
   after work and some are more fortunate where they actually get paid by   
   their companies to work with FreeBSD. When there is a BSD related   
   conference we usually get quite a few travel grant applications   
   requesting help with developers' travel expenses. Thanks to your   
   support, we have been able to sponsor the travel expenses of developers   
   from Mexico, Lithuania, New Zealand, Germany, Japan, Denmark, and many   
   other countries.   
      
   Some of these developers recently wrote personal stories about how   
   receiving help with their travel expenses to attend conferences helped   
   them with their FreeBSD work. These stories will be published in our   
   upcoming newsletter. One developer from Japan, whose attendance we've   
   sponsored more than once, is a technical writer. He told me that the   
   Japanese development community is comprised of earnest and skillful   
   people. They are sharp programmers who know many programming languages,   
   but learning and understanding English is difficult for many of them. He   
   attends the conferences so he can keep up with the latest FreeBSD   
   information and provide this information to the Japanese FreeBSD   
   community in their native spoken language.   
      
   Another recent travel grant recipient runs a FreeBSD mirror server in   
   Sweden, a country that apparently does not have many BSD users. He had a   
   chance to meet many FreeBSD developers for the first time by attending   
   EuroBSDCon. He has recently started submitting patches to our FreeBSD   
   documentation set, and will hopefully become a committer, literally   
   doubling the number of committers in Sweden!   
      
   Lastly, a Canadian developer that we've sponsored told us, "By attending   
   these conferences I have gained valuable experience, connected with   
   fascinating people that use FreeBSD, learned from presenters and most   
   importantly, forged some friendships that will last a lifetime."   
      
   These grant recipients have given far more back to the FreeBSD community   
   than what they have received from the foundation. And, this is only one   
   area where your donations provide a significant, tangible, measurable   
   benefit for the entire FreeBSD community.   
      
   If you benefit from FreeBSD, please donate. With your donation, we can   
   continue to support FreeBSD activities like:   
      
   - development projects to support emerging technologies such as IPv6   
   support in FreeBSD, GEM, KMS, and DRI support for Intel drivers, Five   
   New TCP Congestion Control Algorithms, and much more.   
   - BSD conferences around the globe, including Europe, Japan, Canada, US,   
   and Ukraine.   
   - giving students and contributors the opportunity to attend conferences   
   and developer summits.   
   - maintaining the infrastructure of computers and equipment that support   
   our community.   
   - growing the FreeBSD community through marketing and outreach to users   
   and businesses.   
   - protecting the FreeBSD trademarks and providing the project with   
   access to legal counsel.   
   - helping FreeBSD continue to serve as the foundation for research and   
   enterprise.   
      
   Please consider making a donation so we can continue -- and increase our   
   support of the FreeBSD Project and community! Making a donation is easy   
   and quick. Please visit The FreeBSD Foundation website to find out how   
   you can make a difference for FreeBSD today.   
      
      
   Thank you for your support!   
      
   Sincerely,   
      
   Deb Goodkin   
   Secretary/Treasurer   
   The FreeBSD Foundation   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)