THE ALEUMINATI'S 1ST ANNIVERSARY AND GIVING BACK

Believe it or not, the Aleuminati is about to turn one year old. On November 12th, we will celebrate our first year of existence in cyberspace and it is safe to say I never would have dreamed we'd come so far, so fast. Sparing you all a canned speech about growing older and wiser and learning life's lessons along the bumpy road together, I thought I'd focus on something in particular of which I am most proud.

The Aleuminati has certainly take on a life of it's own and this is due, in toto, to the terrific and dedicated member we've amassed in a year's time. To demonstrate just how terrific and dedicated they are, I offer you this recap of events that took place on the Aleuminati's forum related to a discussion about how we might celebrate our anniversary.

When it finally dawned on me back in September that our anniversary was approaching, I started a thread in the forum to inquire of members how we might celebrate. It didn't take long to see where things were going.

A huge beer-infused bash filled with foam and frivolity, right? Nope.

Instead, the members suggested we celebrate the Aleuminati's first year by giving something back ... a cause. Specifically, a cause with a beer-theme would be nice. Shortly thereafter another member suggested that a good organization to consider is the Pints for Prostates campaign - a grassroots effort to reach men with a critical message about prostate cancer screening using the international language of beer, in founder Rick Lyke's words.

Rick is a drinks journalist and prostate cancer survivor.



We had our cause. All we needed was an assist from the organization itself to get everything in place. In no time at all, Rich and Us TOO International (the support, educational and advocacy group backing the Pints for Prostates effort) jumped nboard and set up a special donation widget for us you can find right on the Aleuminati homepage right now. This widget allows our members, and anyone else who happens by for that matter, to donate to the cause quickly, easily and safely.

Thank you Rick, Pam, Tom and anyone else involved in Pints for Prostates and Us TOO for your swift and thorough assistance!

Rather than making you go to the Aleuminati, I'll go ahead and include the very same widget right here should you be so moved to help us right now. Our original goal was to meet our membership total, in dollars, by our anniversary date of Nov. 12th. At the time of launch, we had 262 members, which of course translates to a $262 dollar goal.

I think we can beat that goal, don't you?