Volunteerism is not a new fad. Come to think of it, it has always existed from time immemorial. To be honest about it, thank God it has because where would we be without all those millions of people who unselfishly give of themselves, day in and day out to the cause. The mere mention of the word volunteer brings to mind all that is worthy in people.

With the advent of Internet and its evergrowing popularity, it was only natural that it would become the fertile ground of even more volunteerism... We may not think about it much but, every time we drop on an especially captivating page which may hold our attention for hours, we are more than likely the benefactor of someone's volunteer's efforts. The pages listed in this issue prove my point.

To give full justice to the all the volunteers who freely give of their time so we surfers can enjoy our pastime is an impossible task. The few pages listed here represent but a minuscule part of the whole. One parting thought... when you visit a site you especially enjoy, I invite you to sign the author's guestbook and let him/her know how much you enjoyed the fruit of their labors. It costs little and it lets them know their efforts have succeeded in bringing a little bit of joy and happiness to others.

For example, there is that wonderful lady from Langley, B.C. who has, for over eight years, been tabulating and publishing score results for the Langley United Youth Soccer Association. Her avowed dream is to be able one day to link all soccer clubs of BC to her homepage. One does not have to be a soccer fan to fully appreciate the enormous amount of volunteer time and dedication required to fulfill such a task, day in and day out for so many years.

This is one site bird and pet lovers will not want to miss. One entry in particular will be appreciated to its fullest by anyone who has ever lost a pet, as I have, or is apprehensive about loosing one. Entitled "Rainbow Bridge" it begins as follows... "Just this side of Heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge. When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows ........." Not to be missed is the ending!

But wait... there is more. This site includes links to other popular topics of interest such as genealogy, animal links, children's corner, books & writing and dozens of other interesting links, all of very high quality. The page design is extremely well done and pleasant to look at. A definite 'must visit' site.... I am especially grateful to Meggie because while visiting her site and testing some of her many links, I found a site so fascinating, and so filled with goodies, it will be the subject of another ' one link only ' special issue, soon to be published . Perhaps you will find it on your own before I come out with the issue (within two weeks).

This site was discovered a mere thirty minutes before uploading this issue and I simply had to 'hold the press' as they say. If any page ever belonged in this special issue, Melinda's Homepage did. To best introduce her page, I will quote from her 'opening statement' :

" My name is Melinda Rose Hathaway, I am 14 years old, I live in Western Canada, and I have cancer."

"I created this page so that I could do at least a little something to help provide other Cancer Kids and their caregivers (especially those who are newly diagnosed) with hope, with access to some of the important information that they might be looking for, and with contact to other Cancer Kids, caregivers, and cancer related sites all over the world. After all ... isn't that what the World Wide Web is really all about? "

The place to find Virtual Volunteers

Here you will find several Volunteer Resources

See the many Faces of Volunteerism

You always wanted to do volunteer work but did not know how to go about it? Get Helpful hints for volunteering

And now, they are on the Net, The Internet Cyber Angels

Because all FreeNets are run by volunteers, they do belong here.. FreeNets

Closer to home, the Victoria FreeNet

Shareware Apps

A new e-mail application full of advanced features has been introduced. It is called BeyondMail. I normally do not mention new products which have 'time-limits' built-in their beta versions but this one is different. Their homepage include a substantial 'online tour' of their product and, if the quality of the product matches the quality and obvious care they brought to the making of their 'tour', it promises to be very interesting indeed.

As the 'tour' pages are obviously heavy in graphics, I downloaded the whole thing, pictures and all, and reviewed it later 'offline' with, of course, the help of Secret Agent. This app is full of exciting new features, too numerous to list here. This version however is only functional between 1 Mar 96 to 31 April 96 and to continue using it, you must purchase the commercial version. It is however very reasonably priced and if you need the power available in this program, it is well worth the asking price.

Another companion product to BeyondMail is Switchboard, a directory that allows anyone with a browser to lookup names and addresses of more than 100 million people and business in the U.S. The search is free and fast. I tried five names at random from my address book and made a hit in each case! Unfortunately, only U.S. addresses can be entered in the database but anyone worldwide can 'search' for such addresses.

This is one page any wine lover will not want to miss. This site contains numerous special features and is extremely well done. I suggest you definitely have the 'autoload images' feature turned on when you first hit this page. It will be featured in the next issue of Compunews.

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