A time to show our appreciation.

[DaveKlein]

Hi All,

This past year we have had some great meetings due in large part to
the resources made available by the Gateway JUG. I want to thank Jack
and Laura for all their effort and all of you for your participation.
Our joint sponsors have provided some fine eats along the way and kept
us abreast of opportunities in the St. Louis area. But as Jack
Frosch, President of Gateway JUG, mentions in his message below, the
folks at Lutheran Hour Ministries have been letting us use that great
meeting room and getting nothing in return. Now we have a chance to
show our appreciation. It doesn't take much, but if each of us would
just give a little, it could add up to a big Thank You from the
Gateway tech community. Please see Jack's message below for
instructions on how to make a donation to the kind folks at Luther
Hour Ministries.

Thanks and Merry Christmas!
Dave

Begin Forwarded Message
--------------------------------------------------------
I'm writing to ask your support of perhaps our most important Gateway
JUG meeting supporter.

For more than 10 years, the Gateway JUG has been delivering Java-
related information and training to developers in the St. Louis area.
This couldn't have been done without the help of our many sponsors and
speakers. In the last year, we've been awarding JetBrains IDEA
licenses provided by JetBrains.

Of course, IDEA and our commercial sponsors have a financial interest
in supporting us, and that's fine. We get a lot out of hearing about
the market from recruiters, learning from the No-Fluff speakers, and
our door prize offerings are enriched by JetBrains' donations. It's a
win-win for us all.

However, there's one organization that supports us and has no
commercial interest in doing so. That organization is Lutheran Hour
Ministries, our meeting location sponsor.

They provide us a spacious meeting area - free of charge. During the
summer, they keep the air on into the evening so we'll not suffer
under the high heat and humidity of St. Louis summer nights. During
the winter, the heat is running long after their staff has left. They
pay for the cleaning crew who stays later when our meetings run a
little longer.

What do they get out of allowing the Gateway Groovy Users and Gateway
JUG meetings to be held there? They're not into software development,
nor do they want to recruit developers, or do they promote a product.
They've never even asked to speak to our groups to appeal for
donations.

They help us simply because years ago we asked for their help. That's
all it took and they opened their doors to us. I'm not Lutheran, as
most of you are not. That didn't matter to them; they helped us
anyway.

Today, I'm asking you to return the favor and help support this fine
organization. Making a donation is easy, safe, secure - and tax
deductible.

Please visit https://www.lhmgift.org/forms/formgeneral.asp to make a
donation. If you are not a member of a Lutheran congregation, please
enter Gateway JUG or Gateway Groovy Users in the "Home Congregation"
field. If you are a member of a Lutheran congregation, you should
enter its name in the Home Congregation and list the user group in the
Additional Comments field.

I know it's a lot to ask after you've spent so much on Christmas
presents for friends and family, but please do make a donation to
Lutheran Hour Ministries to show them how much we appreciate their
support of our developer community.

So please don't put it off. Visit https://www.lhmgift.org/forms/formgeneral.asp
and make a donation to show Lutheran Hour Ministries how much you
appreciate their support over the years.

Merry Christmas to all of you! May you have a happy and prosperous New
Year.

Jack Frosch
President, Gateway JUG