Intro for April

Hi everyone, I’m April.

I am a member of the Operations Board serving as the Technical Manager. I started out as a member of CharlotteMommies in 2006. In October 2006 TMN launched a spin-off of CM (SWPiedmontMommies) and I was given the opportunity to be the Site Administrator.

I am the mother of two (who are both full of energy) – Matthew (3) and Abigail (1). I work full-time as a Systems Analyst in Charlotte. I am also a member (Sec./Treasurer) of the Board of Directors for the local Vol. Fire Dept. I enjoy spending any free time with my children and family.

We moved to the Charlotte area from Apex, NC in 2003. We currently live in McAdenville, NC (Christmas Town USA). We would love to move to “the country” on 10+ acres.

Hi, I'm Amy!

I'm Amy Sloan and I've been a member of The Mommies Network since 2005. I started as a member of CharlotteMommies and when they spun off to LakeNormanMommies accepted the position of SA. I ran LKNM for 15 months before being promoted to Network Admin and then voted onto the Board of Directors. I am currently in charge of overseeing the Operations Board for The Mommies Network.

I am the mother of two boys - Hunter (6) and Carter (3) and a 20 yr old daughter, Alexa who was born mentally handicapped. We currently live in Columbus, GA and I am busy homeschooling the boys, remodeling the house and exploring our 8 acres of land. I enjoy cross stitch, reading, puzzles and surfing the internet.

Amy B's Intro

I am Amy, a member of the Operations Board. I am the Administrative Manager, and focus mainly on the brand new sites on TMN. The PEP teams work with me to assist young sites in growing and thriving.

I am the SA of TriadMommies (NC) since October of 2007. Before that I had other roles on TM including ASA, UGM, and an Area Group Mod.

I am the proud mom of 3 boys, who keep me very busy. I love to do things with my TM friends and have missed doing as much since the birth of my baby last Spring. My favorite is playing bunco with the gals or hosting playdates.

Some real web stats

Wow, it is amazing what some real web stats can show you. In my previous post I had mentioned figured of 300,000 to 400,000 page hits a day as the traffic for our network. Those stats were collected by the previous head of IT for TheMommiesNetwork and I am not sure how he collected them.

I decided to use awstats (an open source application for analyzing web server log files) to track our actual usage and I was blown away.

In 7 hours today, from about 12pm PST to 7pm PST here is our usage:

• 1.66 million page hits
  
• 17.62 GB of data sent, 15.2 GB of that was dynamic content
  
• The peak hour had over 280,000 hits
  
• The average page hits per second around 65
  

Again, wow. I can't wait to see what our monthly statistics look like.

Congratulations TMN on a successful fundraiser!

A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to the Insider Pages fundraiser. We exceeded our goal of $10,000 in only three days!

Our members wrote 6362 First Reviews for a total of $9,543 and 4357 other reviews for a total of $2,178.50. All together we raised $11,721.50!

None of us knew that the fundraiser would end so abruptly, and we thank you for your patience while we learned along with you how the process works. We are very pleased with the results of the fundraiser and are considering running another one in the very near future so that we can continue to open new communities across the country. We currently have a waiting list of over 100 people who are interested in opening a site with The Mommies Network.

We will be updating soon with the results of the contest amongst the sites. We may be revamping the rules a bit once we calculate the totals since the three week timeframe we were initially given for the fundraiser was cut so short. We will also keep everyone posted once we purchase a new server! Any additional funds raised from this fundraiser will go towards helping The Mommies Network continue to operate and open new sites.

We greatly appreciate your time, effort and dedication in making this fundraiser such a success. It truly is amazing what we can do when we work together!

Sincerely,
Heather, Suzanne, Becky, Amy & Kristin
The Mommies Network Board of Directors

Setting a new goal

The Mommies Network would like to thank each and every member who is participating in our fundraising drive through Insider Pages. We are absolutely stunned and thrilled that our fundraising goal of $10,000 was reached in only 3 days! It makes us all very proud to be a part of The Mommies Network.

As far as we know, there is no cap on how much money an organization can make through the Insider Pages fundraising program. We are waiting for confirmation from the company just to be certain. In the meantime, we appreciate your continued participation and support.

We are going to increase our goal to $30,000. The goal may not update on the page immediately, however. We are asking each and every member who enjoys our communities to take just a few minutes, register for free, and write at least ten reviews over the next 19 days. Additionally, there is no guarantee that every review written thus far will count towards the fundraiser - Insider Pages can remove reviews for spelling errors, plagiarism, improper grammar or punctuation, etc.

We've been asked what TMN will do with any extra funds from the fundraiser. Here are some quotes from our Board of Directors:

Becky:

Kristin will be able to explain better, but the estimate of $5000 for the server was for the basic server. There are many different options for servers, and the more money we have, the better the server we can purchase, which means the longer it will last us until we need to purchase an additional server. Once the fundraiser ends, we will see the total and determine the best server to purchase to meet our needs for the longest amount of time possible. I'd assume any overflow would go into the TMN account to help with everyday operational costs.

Kristin:

As Becky said, there are many options for servers and $5,000 is really the bottom of the barrel there. As with most things, the better server we can get, the longer it will be before we need to upgrade again. However, I do not want us to buy something that really is just way more than we need or will need for a long time because money in your pocket now is worth more than money in your pocket tomorrow. I would like to see TMN get a good server that really meets our needs and our expected growth for the next 3 years. I also would like us to be able to ensure that we can recover quickly from any unexpected problems or crashes. I hate to tell you all what would happen if the current server ate itself today but if you remember the big crash of '07 then you have a good idea what the worst case scenario is like. I want to see us be in a place where that is a non-issue. We also need to plan for the future. It would be good for us to take extra money raised and save that so when repairs/upgrades are needed, we have the money to pay for that. The extra money can also be used to make sure we can afford to pay for out internet connection so we know the sites will be able to stay up no matter what happens with sponsorships & the economy.

Of course there are so many other operating expenses that are not technically related and there is great wisdom in saving money for emergencies or to help is grow in the future.

Suzanne:

Here's an example. If we had cash available again we could hire a grant writer - someone to find and apply to grants (apparently there is a lot of free money out there if you know how to get it). This person would cover their own salary with their efforts, but not from day one. Then from that point on they'd be making us money.

I have no idea when we'll be at the point to do something like this, but figured it was a good non technical example of what we could do with more cash.

So, in summary, any excess funds raised that are above and beyond an adequate server price will be used by The Mommies Network to help our network grow and expand. There are so many things we could be doing right now that with limited funds are next to impossible to accomplish. We are always open to ideas too!

Again, thank you all for your continued support and participation! Please keep up the great work through the rest of the fundraising time period, which lasts until 1/25/09.
THANK YOU!

Offers of help to get TMN a server

Thank you to everyone who has offered or forwarded offers of help for getting TMN a new server.

Please contact directors@themommiesnetwork.org if you would like to let us know about any contacts or help you can offer in this area.

I would also like to explain further what type of computer hardware TMN needs for those of you with IT knowledge or family/friends with IT knowledge since many people do not understand the type of equipment we can use.

Most people think of computers as tower-shaped PCs that you can buy at Best Buy or build from parts at Fry's or some other retail components store. This is not the type of computers TMN, or other medium to large commerical web sites, use to run their sites. The type of server TMN needs is shaped like a heavy, rectangular pizza box and is designed to be rack mounted at a co-location facility. We can use 1U and 2U sized servers. Our current server is a dual-processor x86-based server running Linux. It probably cost between $3000 and $4000 when it was new. TMN does not own this server. The donated server I got for TMN to replace our leased server in the short term is a slight upgrade from that server that will allow us to sustain our current size. It was about a $4000 server when it was new. Neither of these servers can keep up with our current growth. We have approx. 30,000 users and grow by around 100 members a day. We have anywhere from 300,000 to 400,000 page views every day. If more than 3% of our membership nationwide log on at the same time, our server slows down to almost a standstill. It is really amazing that we've gone this long with the hardware we have.

We cannot build a server from PC-quality components to meet the demands of our usage level. We need industry-grade servers with fault tolerance, expandability, service contracts, etc.. The our technical team spent a long time researching servers and pricing. Entry-level servers of this quality start around $5000. When you add in the amount of memory and disk space TMN needs, plus things like a backup systems, load balancers, etc., you are easily into the 10s of thousands of dollars. These are the types of servers medium & large businesses and universities use to run their primary web sites.

If you can help with getting TMN this type of hardware, we would love to hear from you. If you can donate this type of equipment, or know someone who can, that would be even better. All donations are tax deductible too!

Thanks and if you have any questions, feel free to contact me. I would be happy to talk with anyone about our technical needs.

Midnight Update on Fundraiser!

Here's an update from 12am EST Monday night/Tuesday morning:

Raised: $4,830.50* Reviews: 4,375

We currently have 686 people registered to write reviews. Our total membership number network-wide is 29,778. That means just over 2% of our members have joined to help us raise funds for a new server. Hopefully this number will jump up now that the issues with accessing the fundraising site seem to have been resolved.

TriadMommies is leading the way with 78 team members, 1039 reviews, and $1,159.50 raised so far!
Not too far behind is LakeNormanMommies with 41 members, 517 reviews, and $554.50 raised so far.
Coming in third so far is SWPiedmontMommies with 31 members, 344 reviews and $385.00 raised so far.
A close fourth is CharlotteMommies with 57 members, 273 reviews, and $305.50 raised so far.
Rounding out the top five is TriangleMommies with 37 members, 184 reviews and $199 raised.


Top 10 reviewers as of now:
Nicole B / 120 reviews / $92.00 / VegasMommies
Cathleen R / 117 reviews / $120.50 / TriadMommies
Deana T / 101 reviews / $120.50 / TriadMommies
Christine B / 96 reviews / $105.00 / TriadMommies
windi c / 93 reviews / $123.50 / BeckleyMommies
Lisa Y / 79 reviews / $89.50 / FayettevilleMommies
Christy C / 77 reviews / $92.50 / SWPiedmontMommies
Jamie T / 69 reviews / $83.50 / TriadMommies
Erica D / 67 reviews / $82.50 / LakeNormanMommies
stacey h / 66 reviews / $87.00 / TriadMommies


We'll be working out some of the prizes for the sites tomorrow, so stay tuned!
Keep up the great work, and a gigantic THANK YOU from The Mommies Network!

Keep trying!

As many of you may have noticed, Insider Pages is being really slow. I think our enthusiasm may be overloading their server! If you see a blank page or if you get server time-out errors, it is not your computer at fault.

If you have already registered, you do not need to go through the TMN fundraiser page to write reviews. You can log in to their main page and start writing reviews. You will see a message every time you do a review letting you know how much money it is earning for TMN. The less we load the fundraiser page, the more others will be able to register.

If you have not been able to register yet, please keep trying! I suggest trying to access the site during non-peak times such as early in the morning (especially for East Coast sites) or late in the evening (especially for West Coast sites).

We have 3 weeks so if you can't get on today, hopefully you can within the next few days!

Thanks for your patience and for trying again!! We're doing a amazing job so far!

1/5 Team fundraising totals - 8:45 am

I was finally able to access our fundraising page!

Here are the current totals:
Raised: $2,892.00 Reviews: 2,572

As for the teams, the current info is listed below. TriadMommies is the team to beat! Any site name not listed below has zero members and zero reviews. Keep up the great work everyone!

Team Name Members Reviews(first / total)
TriadMommies 71 380 / 619
CentralValleyDads 3 3 / 3
BirminghamMommies 1 5 / 7
PhoenixMommies 9 33 / 64
LittleRockMommies 2 4 / 6
FresnoMommies 3 0 / 0
SLOCountyMommies 15 12 / 21
SouthValleyMommies 11 18 / 24
OrangeCountyMommies 1 0 / 0
SCValleyMommies 2 0 / 0
AtlantaAreaMommies 3 4 / 9
NWAtlantaMommies 4 2 / 5
GwinnettAreaMommies 7 6 / 6
SEGeorgiaMommies 5 2 / 3
ColumbusGAMommies 1 3 / 6
HonoluluMommies 8 12 / 19
BoiseMommies 1 0 / 0
IllinoisValleyMommies 2 9 / 13
SEIndianaMommies 2 0 / 0
FrederickMommies 6 0 / 1
MidShoreMommies 1 0 / 0
BaltimoreMommies 23 23 / 44
ChesapeakeMommies 7 11 / 15
StLouisMommies 1 0 / 0
MyOmahaMommies 11 63 / 93
LincolnCountyMommies 4 0 / 1
VegasMommies 8 54 / 107
BuffaloMommies 4 4 / 6
RochesterMommies 1 0 / 0
AlamanceMommies 6 17 / 27
CentralPiedmontMommies 17 54 / 66
CharlotteMommies 42 83 / 117
HighCountryMommies 4 0 / 0
LakeNormanMommies 33 246 / 416
SandhillsMommies 2 0 / 0
SWPiedmontMommies 27 187 / 293
CentralFoothillsMommies 4 1 / 3
UnionCountyMommies 7 12 / 17
TriangleMommies 29 40 / 82
WilmingtonMommies 2 25 / 33
RoxboroMommies 2 0 / 0
FayettevilleMommies 11 66 / 98
GreenvilleMommies 1 1 / 1
JohnstonMommies 3 2 / 2
NorthFoothillsMommies 2 0 / 1
DanRiverMommies 7 8 / 14
AshevilleMommies 2 1 / 3
BuxmontMommies 1 1 / 2
YorkAdamsMommies 2 25 / 36
YorkCountyMommies 18 12 / 17
CamdenMommies 1 3 / 4
CharlestonMommies 2 0 / 0
CentralTexasMommies 1 0 / 0
MidessaMommies 2 0 / 1
SaltLakeCityMommies 7 4 / 6
TooeleMommies 8 14 / 26
PeninsulaMommies 5 11 / 19
RichmondMommies 11 23 / 34
FredericksburgMommies 17 66 / 88
CentralVirginiaMommies 1 0 / 0
BeckleyMommies 4 19 / 31
KanawhaValleyMommies 1 5 / 5


The top ten reviewers (out of 564 participants)
Name Reviews Amount Raised* Team
Cathleen 80 reviews $83.00 TriadMommies
Christy 73 reviews $87.50 SWPiedmontMommies
Erica 66 reviews $81.00 LakeNormanMommies
Nicole 65 reviews $63.50 VegasMommies
Sarah 64 reviews $69.00 SWPiedmontMommies
Jennifer 57 reviews $52.50 TriadMommies
Christine 54 reviews $54.00 TriadMommies
Lisa 54 reviews $60.00 FayettevilleMommies
sarah 49 reviews $44.50 LakeNormanMommies
Deana 45 reviews $57.50 TriadMommies

Insider Pages Fundraiser totals as of 8am 1/5! WOW!

Well, it looks like the power of the mommies (and dads) has overtaken the Insider Pages website - we have all been having some difficulty in accessing the site to register for the fundraiser and write reviews.

Word has it that the totals as of 8am today (Monday January 5) are...
$2,857.00 raise and 2,538 reviews written.

WOW!

Our members are amazing!

I can't access the site at the moment, and I have emailed the customer service team at Insider Pages, so check back for updates later today.

If you have already registered for the fundraiser and joined your site team, you can still write reviews even if you're having trouble accessing the TMN fundraising page (http://www.insiderpages.com/fundraisers/The-Mommies-Network-0901). Once you've signed up for your site team, your profile stores the fundraiser information, so you can just go to the main homepage (http://www.insiderpages.com) and start writing reviews from there. When you pull up a business, it should say "Writing this review will earn $X.XX for The Mommies Network".

Thank you all!!! We are blown away by the totals after the first day. Keep up the great work!

Team Updates as of 1/4/09 at 8am!

We have 367 people registered to write reviews already! WOW! Thanks to everyone =)

Here is the team update for the morning. We already have a great start on writing reviews just a few hours into the fundraiser - I will update every evening with review information.

Thanks for helping us raise funds for a new server! Visit http://www.insiderpages.com/fundraisers/The-Mommies-Network-0901 to register your FREE account to help us raise more money!


Team Name / Members
TriadMommies 43
CentralValleyDads 3
BirminghamMommies 1
PhoenixMommies 5
LittleRockMommies 2
FresnoMommies 3
SLOCountyMommies 9
SouthValleyMommies 10
OrangeCountyMommies 1
SCValleyMommies 2
AtlantaAreaMommies 3
NWAtlantaMommies 4
GwinnettAreaMommies 7
SEGeorgiaMommies 4
HonoluluMommies 6
BoiseMommies 1
SEIndianaMommies 2
FrederickMommies 5
MidShoreMommies 1
BaltimoreMommies 17
ChesapeakeMommies 2
StLouisMommies 1
MyOmahaMommies 5
LincolnCountyMommies 3
VegasMommies 4
BuffaloMommies 3
RochesterMommies 1
AlamanceMommies 3
CharlotteMommies 35
HighCountryMommies 4
LakeNormanMommies 9
SandhillsMommies 2
SWPiedmontMommies 20
CentralFoothillsMommies 1
UnionCountyMommies 2
TriangleMommies 23
WilmingtonMommies 2
RoxboroMommies 2
FayettevilleMommies 8
JohnstonMommies 3
NorthFoothillsMommies 1
DanRiverMommies 6
AshevilleMommies 2
YorkAdamsMommies 1
YorkCountyMommies 14
CamdenMommies 1
CharlestonMommies 2
CentralTexasMommies 1
MidessaMommies 2
SaltLakeCityMommies 4
TooeleMommies 4
PeninsulaMommies 4
RichmondMommies 2
FredericksburgMommies 12
CentralVirginiaMommies 1
BeckleyMommies 3
KanawhaValleyMommies 1

If your site isn't listed, nobody has registered

I'll update with review totals later tonight!

Chelle's Intro

I'm Chelle (pronounced shelley) and I'm one of the members of the Operations Board. I work with a team of Network Administrators that serve as "big sisters" to some of the newer Site Administrators. I joined CharlotteMommies in 2004 and served as the moderator for the Twins, Triplets, and More forum as well as being a moderator for my area group. When UnionCountyMommies was created in 2006, I took on the role of Assistant Site Administrator and then stepped up to Site Administrator in 2007. I retired from UCM in 2008 to focus on my position with TMN.

I am a single mom of Jenna and Nathan, who will be 8 in February. I work full-time at the Union County chapter of the American Red Cross. As you can imagine, that doesn't leave much free time, but the little bit I have is spent reading, playing computer games, and watching movies.

Team Updates as of 1/3/09 AM

Get your members registered and ready to go Monday!!

TriadMommies 17
CentralValleyDads 2
LittleRockMommies 1
SLOCountyMommies 1
NWAtlantaMommies 4
GwinnettAreaMommies 3
BaltimoreMommies 13
StLouisMommies 1
LincolnCountyMommies 2
VegasMommies 3
CentralPiedmontMommies 3
CharlotteMommies 1
LakeNormanMommies 5
SWPiedmontMommies 4
UnionCountyMommies 1
TriangleMommies 12
JohnstonMommies 3
DanRiverMommies 1
AshevilleMommies 1
YorkCountyMommies 1
TooeleMommies 3
PeninsulaMommies 1
FredericksburgMommies 2
CentralVirginiaMommies 1
KanawhaValleyMommies 1

Everyone else is at 0

Becky's Intro

Hey everyone, I'm Becky. I am one of the 5 members of the Board of Directors of The Mommies Network. I founded TriadMommies.com back in September 2005 when my daughter was just a few months old. I joined the Board in January 2007 and stepped down from my position as Site Administrator on TriadMommies in Septemember 2007 to focus on my role with TMN. I do a little bit of everything for the Board, and spend most of my time on promotions and communications.

I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and moved to Greensboro, North Carolina for college in 1999. I've been in Greensboro ever since! In my free time offline I enjoy cooking, baking, reading, and doing all the fun things little girls like to do with my daughter.

Margie's Intro

Hello Mommies!

I'm Margie, a member of the Operations Board. I began my journey with the organization back in 2006 when I started my own site, SouthValleyMommies.com, here in Central California. I am currently the Community Manager/SST Leader. I work primarily with struggling or leaderless sites. My team and I help get them back on track and hire a new SA to keep the site going in a positive direction. When I am not saving the world (ahem, sites. lol), I am homeschooling my 5 year old son and recently took up sewing. You can also find me brainstorming or cooking a new recipe with my husband, Joseph. Joseph is currently the site administrator for CentralValleyDads.com and has just recently stepped into the TDN Network Administrator position.

Save the Server! TMN National Fundraiser

Save the Server!
[Cough] [cough] The system health is strained due to overwork and lack of sleep.
Write reviews and help TMN raise money for a new server so we won't have to see this message any more!


Save the Server!

The Mommies Network needs your help. We are raising money to pay for a new server. In order to continue growing, we need to add a new server to our system. At this point, we are unable to add any more sites to our network because we are maxed out (have you seen the "[Cough] [cough] The system health is strained due to overwork and lack of sleep." message at the bottom of the screen?). The basic server we need is at least $5,000. The more money we raise, the better quality server we can purchase. Our goal is to raise $10,000 during this fundraiser. The fundraiser runs from Sunday, January 4 through Sunday, January 25.


How can you help?
Join Insider Pages http://www.insiderpages.com/fundraisers/The-Mommies-Network-0901 and write reviews for businesses that you have patronized in the last 24 months. Invite your friends and families to write reviews as well - they do NOT need to live in your area, this is a national fundraiser ;) The more people who are writing reviews, the more successful this fundraiser will be! Our goal is to have all of our members write at least 10 reviews over the three weeks of the fundraiser. Each review can earn up to $1.50 for The Mommies Network! Every little bit helps!


You win too!
Your members have four chances to raise money for your site too!


• When TMN raises $1000, we will pick one participating site to receive $50 for a site party/event, and that site will receive a special theme color.

• When TMN raises $2500, we will pick one participating site to receive $100 for a site party/event, and that site will receive a special theme color.

• When TMN raises $5000, we will pick 1 participating site to receive $125 for a site party/event, and that site will receive a special theme color.

• When TMN raises $10,000, we will pick 1 participating site to receive $150 for a site party/event, and that site will receive a special theme color.

*A participating site is any site that has 10% or more of their members register, join their site team and write at least one review. Based on membership numbers as of December 2008.


Join Your Site's Team!
Want to get that prize for your local site!? Join their team in helping TMN SAVE THE SERVER!
Here are step by step instructions on how to get into your team and how you can participate!
Go To: http://www.insiderpages.com/fundraisers/The-Mommies-Network-0901
Click on the Join This Fundraiser.
Choose 'Select a Team' (located under Your Contribution on the right hand side)
Select your site's name from the drop down menu and join!


Keep up to date on our progress! Visit http://themommiesnetwork.blogspot.com to view updated progress on the fundraiser, participating sites, and more.


The fine print from Insider Pages:
* You must be at least 18 years old to participate.
* Your experience with the business or service reviewed must be a first-hand experience. No hearsay please.
* Your experience with the business or service provider must have occurred within the last 24 months.
* The reviewed company must still be in business.
* Reviews of restaurant chains (McDonalds, Outback Steakhouse, KFC, etc.), gas station chains, movie theater chains and national or regional chain stores (Target, Dollar Tree, Home Depot etc.) DO NOT qualify. You are welcome to write reviews for these businesses but they will not earn your organization money for the fundraiser. Most people are pretty familiar with these businesses and there tends to be little differentiation city to city and state to state. In other words, these are businesses that do not require a word-of-mouth referral so reviews of these businesses are of little value to people like you – and to our community of users.
* Copied reviews in whole or in part from any other sources do not qualify.
* Profanity, abusive or offensive language in reviews, reviews alleging illegal activity or malpractice, and reviews deemed inappropriate by Insider Pages editors do not qualify.
* Proper grammar, punctuation and spelling must be used. No "text speak" or ALL CAPS.
* Business owners and employees/associates are not allowed to review themselves. Instead, business owners should claim their business profile page and customize it by adding information, photos, special offers, their story, and more – all for FREE.
* If you are adding a new business to the Insider Pages database, please make sure to the best of your ability that the listing is not a duplicate and that the company's current contact information is provided. Information provided must be able to be verified by a third party source including another website, a business card, receipt, directory listing or other reliable source.
* Personal information or messages including email addresses, URLs, phone numbers and postal addresses (or both first and last name of an individual unless their name is also part of the business name) that are not already publicly available.
* Review submissions must be entered directly on the Insider Pages website.
* Reviews not meeting our terms and conditions or deemed inappropriate by Insider Pages editors do not qualify.


Thank you for supporting The Mommies Network!


Suzanne's Intro

Hello everyone!

I'm one of the 5 TMN board members. I joined the Board back in January 2006, which was also when I officially retired as site admin for CharlotteMommies.com, a role I held for about two years. I've worn many hats over the past three years, but my primary responsibility today is money. I pay the bills, reimburse community members for site expenses, balance the accounts, and help the Board make financial decisions.

This October my family relocated to Little Rock, AR after 12 wonderful years in Charlotte, NC. So now we're adjusting to that major change, plus learning how to manage with two kids!

I am a member of CharlotteMommies.com and Little RockMommies.com

Kristin's Intro

Hi everyone! I am Kristin, one of the Board of Directors for The Mommies Network. My primary responsibility is the technical side of TMN. I joined SLOCountyMommies when it opened, almost 3 years ago. I am a software engineer and also worked many years as a system administrator so I was really excited to get to use my skills to give back to TMN. When I am not on the computer for TMN or work, I am spending my time enjoying life on the CA coast with my husband and three daughters... and trying to photograph as much of it as I can. I look forward to blogging about the exciting things happening on the technical side of TMN.

Third Quarter 2008 in Review

Another quarter has passed!? Here's a run down of what we did during July, August and September.

Opened 18 Mommies sites: NorthValleyMommies (CA), DetroitMetroMommies (MI), AshevilleMommies (NC), StLouisMommies (MO), SEIndianaMommies (IN), DelMarVaMommies (MD/VA), ColumbusGAMommies (GA), ChicagoMetroMommies (IL), AustinMommies (TX), HoustonAreaMommies (TX), NorthMetroDCMommies (MD), LittleRockMommies (AR), NoVAMommies (VA), KnoxvilleMommies (TN), CentralIllinoisMommies (IL), SWJerseyMommies (NJ), KanawhaValleyMommies (WV), BirminghamMommies (AL)

Opened 2 Dads sites: TriadDads (NC) & AtlantaAreaDads (GA)

This brings us to a total of 110 communities (9 of which are Dads sites) in 33 states and Ontario, Canada.

Formed an Operating Board
The Operating Board is responsibly for day-to-day operations of The Mommies Network and The Dads Network. They manage several teams of volunteers who help our new sites get off the ground, support our established sites, and troubleshoot technical issues. This team has admin-level access on all communities via username "TMN Operating Board" and can also be reached via admin@themommiesnetwork.org

Chelle Osborne - retired Site Admin for UnionCountyMommies (NC) and mom to twins, Chelle manages our 15 Mommies Network Administrators - current and retired SAs who mentor SAs of up to five established communities.
Heath McCoy - retired Site Admin for CharlotteAreaDads (NC) and dad to three, Heath manages The Dads Network.
April Rink - Site Admin for SWPiedmontMommies (NC) and mom of two, April manages our tech support team and is helping with the transition to phpBB 3.0.
Amy Blalock - Site Admin for TriadMommies (NC) and mom of three boys, Amy manages several teams who help our new communities get more established.
Margie Gilbert - retired Site Admin for SouthValleyMommies (CA) and mom of one (her husband is SA CentralValleyDads (CA)), Margie's team manages struggling communities.

Replaced a Board Member
We were sad to lose Amanda Anderson, who resigned from the Board to spend her spare time on other interests. She was replaced with former SLOCountyMommies Manager, Kristin Amundsen-Cubanski. Kristin has a B.S. and Masters degrees in Computer Science and works full-time from home as a software engineer. We are thrilled to have someone with a strong technical background on our team and look forward to several improvements that are underway.

Through her contacts, Kristin was able to get us a new server for free! She is working to get this set up, and also changing our hosting provider, to eliminate some of the frustrating problems we've all been experiencing on the sites. Please hang in while we work out the kinks and make some improvements to our infrastructure. We are putting some projects and sites on hold to make improvements, but it still takes time to get it right, especially when we're all volunteers.

Site Birthdays
Congratulations to the following communities!
Six Years - CharlotteMommies (NC)
Three Years - PeninsulaMommies (VA), RichmondMommies (VA), TriadMommies (NC)
One Year - BeckleyMommies (WV), NorthChicagoMommies (IL) (formerly ChicagoAreaMommies), LakeCountryMommies (OK), CharlestonMommies (SC), MidUpstateMommies (SC), NorthPiedmontMommies (NC), RoxboroMommies (NC), ChesapeakeMommies (MD), LincolnCountyMommies (NE), FayettevilleMommies (NC), GreenvilleMommies (NC)

Charitable Initiatives
Here is a summary of charitable initiatives our communities did during the third quarter.

WilmingtonMommies (NC) held two school supply drives and partnered with WilmingtonDads (NC) in the Light the Night Walk, raising $1,325 for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
TriangleMommies (NC) had a school supplies drive, collecting from their membership as well as via a Staples store staffed with 15 TM volunteers during the tax free weekend.
BaltimoreMommies (MD) had a school supply drive and collected 376 items.
NWAtlantaMommies (GA) did "Operation Paperback" - collecting paperback books for overseas military personnel; and collected three garbage bags of stuffed animals for fireman to give to children who lost everything in a fire.
SouthValleyMommies (CA) had a charity Bunco night, collecting household items and clothes for the Kings Community Action Organization, a local non-profit; made and served lunch to a crew working on a Habitat for Humanity house; and had a Charitable Baby Shower, collecting $1,200 worth of items for The Children's Dept at the Battered Womens Shelter.
GwinnettAreaMommies (GA) held a school supplies drive, putting together 15 Smile Packs full of supplies for 2 Title 1 Schools in the area; sent out a large box of goodies to a soldier in Iraq each month; and collected 112 canned foods for a local food bank during their monthly meet and greet.
LakeNormanMommies (NC) did their annual "flocking" (members pay to have a yard filled with pink flamingos), raising $2,881.50 for Barium Springs Home for Children.
LincolnCountyMommies (NE) participating in the national Newborn's In Need Charitable Baby Shower, collecting 467 items via drop boxes they set up at local businesses. Items went to their local Women's Resource Center. They also raised $255 for Relay for Life.
TriadMommies (NC) held an online auction and set aside $500 of the $1,564 collected to purchase materials to make blankets for Project Linus. They plan to make 52 blankets within the next few months.
CharlotteMommies (NC) gathered and donated close to $1,000 worth of new and used toys that were given to State Troopers, Matthews Help Center, and the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services; held a Charitable Baby Shower donating items to Florence Crittenton Services; and had a school supplies drive, donating $450 worth of new school supplies to a local elementary school.
UnionCountyMommies (NC) collected 1,576 school supply items for the Union County Department of Social Services.
FresnoMommies (CA) "adopted" a room at a local family shelter, and made it beautiful.
SWPiedmontMommies (NC) collected a trunk full of school supplies at events and gave them to a local elementary school.
NorthPiedmontMommies (NC) held a diaper drive for The Genesis House, a local family shelter.
ChesapeakeMommies (MD) collected a minivan full of new and gently used children's items for Birthright Crisis Pregnancy Center.
HudsonValleyMommies (NY) held a food drive for The Highland Community Action, filling a large box the kids decorated and 3 bags for this food pantry.
DanRiverMommies (NC) held a Charitable Baby Shower and collected $350 worth of new baby items for the Rockingham Pregnancy Care Center.
RochesterMommies (NY) held a school supplies drive for a local city school; collected over 7 garbage bags of gently used stuffed animals for Bivona, an abused child advocacy center; and raised over $400 for the Autism Speaks walk.

Heather, Suzanne, Becky, Amy & Kristin
Board of Directors
The Mommies Network

Second Quarter 2008 in Review

Welcome to summer! It's hard to believe we're halfway through the year already. As usual, we've been busy. Some of the results of our work you'll see in this post but a lot you won't see until later on this year. We're hard at work on lots of technical and operational improvements that we hope to be telling you about soon. In the meantime, here's a recap of what's happened in April, May and June.

Opened 16 New Communities
14 New Mommies Sites BoiseMommies (ID), DanRiverMommies (NC), FranklinMommies (PA), StatesboroMommies (GA), UintahBasinMommies (UT), YorkAdamsMommies (PA), NorthCentralMommies (WV), HartfordMommies (CT), KearneyMommies (NE), BatonRougeMommies (LA), CentralVirginiaMommies (VA), FortWorthMommies (TX), LouisvilleMommies (KY), re-opened NorthMetroplexMommies (TX)
2 New Dads Sites PhoenixAreaDads (AZ), WilmingtonDads (NC)

Added to Our Volunteer Teams
The larger we get the harder this is to do alone. We rely not only on our site administrators to make this work, but on a large and growing group of moms and dads who help other community managers, site administrators and TMNs board.

Network Administrators: Our NAs are experienced Site Administrators who guide and assist other communities in our Network. They are also responsible for interviewing and selecting replacement and co-SAs. We had a lot of changes to this group this quarter, so we're just going to list them all so we don't leave anyone out (like last time ). Each Mommies community has an NA with admin-level access on the sites she covers, with the username TMNFirstname (i.e. TMNStacey). We do not currently have a Dads NA but hope that will change over the next few months as our Dads site administrators get more experience and help us learn more about how to best run a Dads site.

Network Administrator Managers: Michelle Finnegan, retired CharlotteMommies (NC) SA, & Chelle Osborne, retired UnionCountyMommies (NC) SA

Alicia Walz: founder and SA of YorkCountyMommies (SC)
April Rink: founder and SA of SWPiedmontMommies (NC)
Amanda Perryman: SA of NorthPiedmontMommies (NC)
Amelia Elander: SA of RichmondMommies (VA)
Amy Blalock: SA of TriadMommies (NC)
Andrea Davitt: founder and SA of RochesterMommies (NY)
Beth Benjamin: SA of TriangleMommies (NC)
Chrissy Thomas: SA of PhoenixMommies (AZ)
Erica Lettice: SA of CentralPiedmontMommies (NC)
Jaime Rhinehart: SA of CentralFoothillsMommies (NC)
Jeannie Toberman: retired SA of AlamanceMommies (NC)
Kimberly Scott: founder and retired SA of UnionCountyMommies (NC)
Kim Dronsky: founder and retired SA of CentralPiedmontMommies (NC)
Lori Fleming: SA of LakeNormanMommies (NC)
Margie Gilbert: founder and retired SA of SouthValleyMommies (CA)
Megan Marks: SA of FresnoMommies (CA)
Stacey Isler: founder and SA of FredericksburgMommies (VA)
Stacey Kirk: retired SA of CharlotteMommies (NC)

Site Advisors: These experienced site administrators and managers guide our communities by focusing on a specific role or task.

Promotions: Dana Gillis, LakeNormanMommies (NC), Valerie Hurtado, SEGeorgiaMommies (GA)
Charitable Initivatives: Jamie Rippy, LakeNormanMommies (NC)
Sponsorships: Kristin Amundsen-Cubanski, SLOCountyMommies (CA)
Fundraising: Lori Blanchfield, CharlotteMommies (NC)
Hospitality: Stephanie White, TriangleMommies (NC) Amie Martin, TriadMommies (NC)
Newsletter: Karin Amundsen, VegasMommies (NV)
General SA Support: Tracy Rodriguez, GwinnettAreaMommies (GA)
Events: Amanda Perryman, NorthPiedmontMommies (NC)

TMN Volunteers: We launched a new volunteer program to get a few members from our communities to help us with things like obtaining grants, public relations, graphics and more. Please visit http://www.themommiesnetwork.org/volunteer.php for more info on the type of help we need. We're still adding moms and dads to this team, but so far we have the following volunteers:

Grant Research and Writing: Kristy Sartain SandhillsMommies (NC) and Robbie-Lyn Morgan CharlotteMommies (NC)
Graphics: Christine Byrd TriadMommies (NC)
Public Relations: Patty Boccadoro BuxmontMommies (PA)
Fundraising: Lori Blanchfield CharlotteMommies (NC)
Promotions: Carrie Smith CharlotteMommies (NC)

TMN Advisors: These two have been working with us for a long time now, but we don't want to leave them out!

Linda McAfee: a member of CharlotteMommies (NC), Linda works with the board to manage all of our new site applications and the site launch process.
Kevin: a member of CharlotteAreaDads (NC), Kevin is our technical guru.

New Partnerships
National Assoc. of Mothers' Centers - founded in 1975, the NAMC offers programs in communities, libraries and workplaces that use a model for non-hierarchical leadership and non-judgmental communication. "Our approach encourages participants to connect with others in a safe, nurturing environment. Our Mothers’ Center programs, events, and MOTHERS public policy initiative all lead not only to healthier, happier mothers, but healthier children, families and communities, too." Board member Suzanne Johnston spoke at their conference in April. We hope to test out incorporate Mothers' Centers into our Mommies communities later this year. http://www.motherscenter.org

The Elysium Compact - Their mission is to provide educational services to students worldwide. They strive to make a difference in the United States by increasing the number of high school graduates and increasing the number of students enrolled in higher education. Their organization is currently focused on efforts in California, but their goal is to improve literacy and educational attainment worldwide and will be branching out to other states. You can learn more about this organization at http://www.elysiumcompact.org

New Support Forum
Our communities start with a standard set of "core" forums and then add general and support group forums as their membership grows and shows a need for these "add-on" forums. To meet the needs of our diverse membership this quarter we added the following private support group, which has been opened on two communities. If you have questions about available "add-on" forums please contact your site administrator(s).

LGBT Families
A private group for members who are lesbian , bisexual, or transgender; or moms of LGBT children.

CaringBridge Donation
We sent a check to CaringBridge in the amount of $3,939.92 as a result of our Pennies for Paxton national charitable drive held during March and April. Thank you for your participation!

Site Anniversaries
Congratulations to the following communities!
3 years: TriangleMommies (NC), HudsonValleyMommies (NY), SaltLakeCityMommies (UT), WilmingtonMommies (NC)
2 years: AlamanceMommies (NC), AtlantaAreaMommies (GA)
1 year: SouthValleyMommies (CA), TriangleAreaDads (NC), BaltimoreMommies (MD), IllinoisValleyMommies (IL), JacksonvilleMommies (FL), OrangeCountyMommies (CA) CincinnatiMommies (OH), PhoenixMommies (AZ), CentralValleyDads (CA), VegasMommies (NV)

Charitable Summary
Here's a brief summary of some of the charitable efforts some of our communities did during this quarter:
March of Dimes: several communities participated in their local March of Dimes "March for Babies" charitable walk. Together LakeNormanMommies (NC), RochesterMommies (NY), FredericksburgMommies (VA), HighCountryMommies (NC), ChesapeakeMommies (MD), VegasMommies (NV), GreenvilleMommies (NC), SouthValleyMommies (CA), FayettevilleMommies (NC), FrederickMommies (MD), AlamanceMommies (NC), SEWisconsinMommies (WI), BaltimoreMommies (MD), WilmingtonMommies (NC) and PeninsulaMommies raised $27,082 to help this organization improve the health of babies. WOW!!!

SCValleyMommies (CA) had a canned food drive for SCV Food Pantry.
SandhillsMommies (NC) partnered with SAND (See Ability, Not Disability), holding a bake sale to pay for t-shirts for their participants. SAND provides a venue for children with learning and/or developmental disabilities the opportunity to participate in a loosely organized sport environment. SAND's director, Christine, is a member of SandhillsMommies.
RochesterMommies (NY) collected food for A Meal & More, Inc., a local soup kitchen, laundry detergent or baby wipes for the Sisters of Mercy/ Andrews Center, a foster home, and prepared a meal at the local Ronald McDonald house.
HighCountryMommies (NC) is working on charitable crafting project to benefit Goods 4 Girls, sewing reusable menstrual pads for donations to areas of Africa.
TriangleMommies (NC) participated in Race for the Cure and raised over $9,000, the third highest fundraising community team out of 750 teams!
GwinnettAreaMommies (GA) continued to support The Lawrenceville Co-Op, an alliance of area churches that supports emergency needs within the community. This quarter they donated 122 items.
AlamanceMommies (NC) collected items for the local Police Department and Victim Services so families dealing with domestic violence can have a safe and fresh start on life, and had a canned food drive for Loaves and Fishes.
HudsonValleyMommies (NY) donated items leftover from their yard sale to the Grace Smith House, a domestic violence shelter.
CharlotteMommies (NC) raised $3,000 with an online auction and donated the proceeds to Inspire the Fire, a group that works for positive change in adolescents through faith, fun and the arts and NC Parents of Blind Children, an afterschool program for blind and visually impaired elementary school aged children in Charlotte (run by two members of CharlotteMommies)
TriadMommies (NC) held their 2nd annual Charity Baby Shower to benefit Room At the Inn of the Carolinas, a comprehensive program helping homeless, single, pregnant women, not only during their pregnancies but also after the birth of their babies. They collected over 2,000 items (not including diapers and wipes)! They also participated in the "Relay for Life" raising $680 for the American Cancer Society.
WilmingtonMommies (NC) participated in the "Relay for Life" for the American Cancer Society raising a total of $2,151; collected items for the Domestic Violence Shelter and donated items to fill handbags given to each of the women in their empowerment and enrichment programs; gave leftover yardsale items to Safe Haven of Pender (offers help to victims of domestic violence) and held a Charitable Baby Shower benefiting Lifeline Pregnancy Center in celebration of their 3rd site birthday. Members donated a carload full of new and gently used baby items, 10 boxes of baby and maternity items and raised $143 from the sale of raffle tickets.
MidessaMommies(TX) held a bake sale that raised nearly $300 for CASA West Texas, which supports victims of child abuse.
PeninsulaMommies (VA) held a food drive during their site birthday party.

Ways You Can Help
GoodSearch
If you search the web, please make your searches benefit our Network by using GoodSearch as your standard search engine. As a registered 501c(3) non-profit we receive $0.01 for every search done on our behalf. With over 25,000 members nationwide these pennies can add up! Last year we used these funds to purchase a thank you gift for each of our site administrators. We love to show our volunteers how much we appreciate them but it's tough to do this without "extra" funds.

Visit http://www.GoodSearch.com
Type in "The Mommies Network" as the charity you search for
Download the GoodSearch toolbar for IE, Firefox or Mac.
Search!

Friends of TMN
Heather founded CharlotteMommies.com in 2002 because she didn't want to pay to join a local mom's group or mom/baby class. The Mommies Network was founded on the same premise. That's why it's free to join your community, and we don't charge anything for moms and dads to start up new communities. We don't even charge our sites anything to belong to our Network.

Currently we're paying our bills (mostly hosting, domain names, cell phones, software) primarily through funds from a partnership with a group that owns three parenting magazines in North Carolina. Last fall we hired a National Sponsorship Manager, Rachelle Watkins (rachelle@themommiesnetwork.org), with the goal of providing us with a steady stream of income from site, newsletter and forum sponsorships. She's off to a fantastic start and we're currently running about break-even between paying her stipend and collections to date. Obviously the longer she works at this the easier it becomes, so we view this as a long-term investment in our future.

If we had "extra" money right now we'd be spending it business cards for our newer sites (we had to stop paying for those), liability insurance, some time with a non-profit lawyer, better support and training for our Network Admins, a bookkeeper, and technical enhancements/improvements.

Many of you have asked how you can directly support our efforts to improve our Network and open new communities (we don't even try and the applications just keep coming ), so for those of you who are interested we set up an easy way for you to donate directly to TMN. Please don't misunderstand, we're not asking or requiring you to donate, we're just providing a simple way for those who want to contribute to do so. http://www.themommiesnetwork.org/friendsoftmn.php

Heather, Suzanne, Becky, Amy & Amanda
Board of Directors
The Mommies Network

First Quarter 2008 in Review

Happy Spring!

Each quarter we like to update everyone on what The Mommies Network has accomplished as it helps us to all stay in touch. We can't believe it's already April, and we're pretty surprised at how much we got done over the past few months!

Partnerships
We're pleased to announce that we have formed partnerships with two non-profit organizations: Newborns in Need and The Breast Milk Project.

Newborns in Need, Inc. (NIN) is a 501(c)3 charity organized to take care of sick and needy babies and their families; and in cases of crisis, to help where help is needed.http://www.newbornsinneed.org/ We will be talking with all of our Mommies and Dads communities on how they can work with this organization to help needy babies in the United States.

The International Breast Milk Project is the first organization in the world to provide donor breast milk from the United States to babies orphaned by disease and poverty. They currently have "chapters" that organize and promote breast milk collection as well as social gatherings. TMN is now going to fulfill the social aspect of their chapters, while also providing them with another way to promote their cause.http://www.breastmilkproject.org

Technical Update

- Created http://status.themommiesnetwork.org as a communication tool for members in the event of a server outage
- Moved email for all communities to the Google Apps system, freeing our server for more growth
- Instituted some new metrics for objective historical tracking of server performance, including the "lag index"
- Increased the time requirement for searches from 15 seconds to 60 seconds as a way to reduce overall server load
- Instituted blocking for over 200 malicious robots affecting server performance
- Continued ongoing adjustments to database server configuration for performance improvements
- Updated the TMN support forums (for TMN volunteers, site admins and managers) to phpBB version 3.0 as the first step in migrating all sites to this version.

Interesting statistics for Q1:

- Our network averaged 35,415 visits per day
- The busiest times are typically 9pm-3am (Eastern)
- Most heavy-duty reading is done at the 6am hour and the midnight hour (Eastern)
- Leading states for visitors are: NC, VA, CA, MD, NY
- Leading states for time spent on the site are: NV, AZ, PA, GA, IN

A Note from TMNs President about recent technical problems
We are on a dedicated server. From all our research, we have more than ample room and processing speed to do what we are doing. We believe that it is either a configuration issue with mySQL, disk I/O issues or maybe a combination of both. We just moved all of the passwords to a new system that may help alleviate the problem. We are also working on changing the way our cloning works so that the identification information is stored in a config table on the database rather than in a file, and that the information is stored in cache when a person calls it up, rather than having to call it up with each page load. This should also alleviate some problems... but it just takes time to get all of the changes made.

We feel fairly certain that there is some major stumbling block that if we just find it, it will completely relieve the system bog-downs... but we just haven't found that yet. The configurations are incredibly complicated and there are millions of different combinations... the I/O issues -- we are working to resolve, but it basically involves re-writing a significant portion of code, not to mention setting up all of the tables. We are working diligently on these things, but are limited by the time we have available... I do assure you, however, that every moment of spare time is focused on resolving these issues. We do not like to have our members, our site admins and our other volunteers angry and frustrated! We are doing everything we can, within our resources, to resolve these problems as soon as possible.

Pennies for Paxton
THANK YOU to everyone who contributed and passed the word around about our charitable drive for http://www.CaringBridge.com in honor of Paxton Griffith. Together we collected over $4,000 (actual donation will be less due to PayPal fees) to help this non-profit organization assist families in communicating with their loved ones during a health crisis. Many members of our Network benefit from this organization, and at this time we especially remember Paxton Griffith, the four-month-old daughter of Lacey and Jennifer Griffith - a valued TMN volunteer, site administrator, and fellow mommy. Paxton passed away on February 29. http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/paxton

Welcome Our Newest Communities
We opened 9 new Mommies communities in the first quarter: SEGeorgiaMommies (GA), OttawaMommies (ON, Canada), SEWisconsinMommies (WI), TemeculaMommies (CA), TooeleMommies (UT), SalemMommies (OR), MidessaMommies (TX), KCMommies (KS/MO), WichitaMommies (KS) which brought us to 75 communities across 25 states and 1 Canadian province (then the first weekend in April we opened 6 more Mommies and 1 more Dads communities so we're actually at 82 now )

Our New Network Administrators and NA Managers
We could not manage such a large amount of communities without our Network Administrators! These "veteran" site administrators each guide several TMN or TDN communities and serve as a back-up when the SA takes time away. You can find our who is the NA for your community, and how to contact him/her by visiting your University forum. In the first quarter we added two NA Managers and five new NAs.

Chelle Osborne (former SA for UnionCountyMommies (NC)) and Michelle Finnegan (former SA for CharlotteMommies (NC)) are now our NA Managers. They guide, back-up and manage our team of 13 Mommies and Dads Network Administrators. Our newest NAs are as follows, we appreciate their wiliness to help other communities have as much success as their own!

Jeannie Toberman - retired site administrator for AlamanceMommies (NC)
April Rink - founder and site administrator for SWPiedmontMommies (NC)
Lori Fleming - co-site administrator for LakeNormanMommies (NC)
Margie Gilbert - founder and site administrator for SouthValleyMommies (CA)
Crystal Seaton - former co-site administrator for TriangleMommies (NC)
Chrissy Thomas - site administrator for PhoenixMommies (AZ)
Helene Perez - founder and site administrator for BuffaloMommies (NY)

Happy Birthday!
We must be getting "old" - just look at this list of one and two year old communities!

2 Years: HonoluluMommies (HI), FrederickMommies (MD), LakeNormanMommies (NC), UnionCountyMommies (NC), SLOCountyMommies (CA), UtahCountyMommies (UT), CentralFoothillsMommies (NC), CentralPiedmontMommies (NC)

1 Year: IndyMommies (IN), HighCountryMommies (NC), MyOmahaMommies (NE), SaltLakeCityDads (UT), BuffaloMommies (NY), CamdenMommies (NC), CharlotteAreaDads (NC)

Updated Community Logos
Look up and most of you will see that your community logo has been updated (we are still uploading logos and have finished thru sites that start with P). In order to help brand TMN and TDN we altered the logo tagline to mention these organizations instead of the area covered by your community.

Site Gear Shop Changes
Unfortunately we wasted our time and in some cases you wasted your money on merchandise from the Mommies and Dads gear sites we set up earlier this year. The quality of the items we purchased to try out this company were great, but the feedback we got from many members was very different. So we cut ties with that company and switched everyone over to Printfection. Your community store can be found at http://www.printfection.com/sitename (please make sure you type in your site name and don't just click on this link ). Profits go to each individual community.

Updated the Community Rules
Please re-read the Community Rules (click Rules, top of screen) as a couple of these were updated. The biggest changes were to rule #8 (promoting other groups) and to the part about "Property of The Mommies Network" at the very bottom. Please keep in mind that you cannot speak on behalf of TMN or this community unless you have permission to do so. So, for example, if you're mad at a local business please keep our name and the name of this community out of it.

Membership Blitz results
Congratulations to the following communities who had outstanding results in our Second Annual Q1 Membership Blitz. Each first place community will receive $100 from TMN in their site account.

Greatest Membership Increase: 18+ Month Old Communities
1. CharlotteMommies (NC) 633
2. TriangleMommies (NC) 600
3. RichmondMommies (VA) 289

Greatest Membership Increase: <18>
1. RochesterMommies (NY) 322
2. FredericksburgMommies (VA) 262
3. PhoenixMommies (AZ) 240

Greatest Percentage Increase in Membership: 18+ Month Old Communities
1. RichmondMommies (VA) 49%
2. TriangleMommies (NC) 36%
3. TriadMommies (NC) 35%

Greatest Percentage Increase in Membership: <18>
1. GreenvilleMommies (NC) 393%
2. RochesterMommies (NY) 275%
3. SCValleyMommies (CA) 245%

Community Charitable Efforts
Here are some of the charitable efforts made by TMN/TDN communities during the first quarter:

LincolnCountyMommies (NE) collected toys, toiletries and clothing for The Bridge of Hope Child Advocacy Center, which was established to help ease stress on children involved in abusive situations.

LakeNormanMommies (NC) collected disposable cameras at their 2nd Birthday Party to benefit a local camp for children with illnesses and diseases. These cameras will ensure that the children attending camp will be able to document their time at camp with memories that can last forever.

UnionCountyMommies (NC) had a towel drive for a local homeless shelter. They also participated in the American Red Cross Fashion + Passion Show and raised over $800 for their local ARC chapter.

PhoenixMommies (AZ) held a clothing and diaper drive for a local shelter.

TriangleMommies (NC) partnered with McDonalds and McKeeman Communications Group to promote and support the Share Your Heart drive benefiting the Ronald McDonald House Charities of NC. They hosted playdates at local McDonalds during the first two weeks in February and encouraged members to purchase $1 hearts for the drive - most purchased multiple hearts. They also hosted home playdates and Valentines playdates where members could purchase hearts.

CharlotteMommies (NC) had an after Christmas Toy Drive and a Spring Auction which raised $2794 which was split between North Carolina Parents of Blind Children and Inspire the Fire.

CharlotteAreaDads (NC) held their first quarterly Habitat for Humanity volunteer day, doing some shingling and other work on a house in central Charlotte.

Want to Help?
We added a page with volunteer opportunities to TMN.org so if you're interested in helping out please visit http://www.themommiesnetwork.org/volunteer.php

Please remember to GoodSearch and GoodShop
The Mommies Network earns $0.01 for every search done on our behalf on http://www.GoodSearch.com - funds we use to help keep this community free. Please consider switching to GoodSearch as your standard search engine to help us fund this organization. You can also make online purchases via http://www.GoodShop.com and TMN earns a percentage.



Thank you!

Heather, Suzanne, Becky, Amy & Amanda
Board of Directors
The Mommies Network

Fourth Quarter 2007 in Review

In continuing our efforts to do a better job with communicating with community members, here's a quick review of what we accomplished in October, November and December.

Opened 1 Dads site: FrederickDads (MD)
Opened 11 Mommies sites: FredericksburgMommies (VA), JohnstonMommies (NC), CarteretMommies (NC), NorthFoothillsMommies (NC), AsheboroMommies (NC), GwinnettAreaMommies (GA), NWAtlantaMommies (GA), SCValleyMommies (CA), ForsythMommies (GA), RochesterMommies (NY), SEAtlantaMommies (GA)

Welcomed 2,727 new members to the Network, a 16% increase

Celebrated the following community birthdays:

1 year: BuxmontMommies (PA), SWPiedmontMommies (NC), FresnoMommies (CA), CentralTexasMommies (TX), MidShoreMommies (MD), SandhillsMommies (NC), YorkCountyMommies (SC)

Added our first Dads Network Administrator - Matt McAffee of CharlotteAreaDads (NC). Matt is working with our 5 Dads communities to help them grow and thrive, as well as helping us determine and provide for the unique needs of fathers.

Hired our first employee. Rachelle Watkins, a sales professional and mom in Charlotte, NC is now our National Sponsorship Manager. She is responsible for finding local and national businesses to sponsor our communities. Her focus is on the greater Charlotte, NC area as that is where we have the highest concentration of members, but her responsibilities are national. We are thrilled to have reached the point where we can work with a professional to provide a better cash flow to our organization, enabling us to continue with our mission of supporting more moms and dads. If you know of an organization who should be promoting their business to our members please contact Rachelle at rachelle@themommiesnetwork.org

The holidays are a time of giving for many, and our communities are no exception. We are very impressed with the following list of things some of our communities have done this quarter. Thank you to everyone who participated in these efforts and the team members who made them happen.

AlamanceMommies (NC), LakeNormanMommies (NC), HudsonValleyMommies (NY), RichmondMommies (VA) and CentralFoothillsMommies (NC) provided gifts and food for local needy families during the holidays

SWPiedmontMommies (NC) collected items for Operation Suitcase, a program designed to assist local agencies in providing immediate and temporary needs for children being removed from abusive home situations.

SLOCountyMommies (CA) collected children's coats during their Halloween party for "Coats for Kids"

VegasMommies (NV) and RichmondMommies (VA) collected food and clothing for their local SafeNest, a domestic violence shelter for women and children.

TriangleMommies (NC) had a "Winter Warm-Up" event and collected non-perishable food items, winter coats and gear for the Food Bank of NC and the Durham and Raleigh Rescue Missions. UnionCountyMommies (NC) had a coat and canned food drive for their local Department of Social Services.

TriadMommies (NC) collected nearly 500 lbs. of food for their local Second Harvest Food Bank. HonoluluMommies (HI), AlamanceMommies (NC), CharlotteMommies (NC), CarteretMommies (NC), PhoenixMommies (AZ) and LakeNormanMommies (NC) also had food drives to benefit local organizations.

LakeNormanMommies (NC), CarteretMommies (NC), PeninsulaMommies (VA), AtlantaAreaMommies (GA) and CharlotteMommies/CharlotteAreaDads (NC) collected toys and assisted in their local Toys for Tots program.

PhoenixMommies (AZ) sent a care package to a Marine and his unit in Iraq.

CentralPiedmontMommies (NC) participated in the Autism Walk and raised over $2,000. PhoenixMommies (AZ) raised over $1,000 participating in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk.

LakeNormanMommies (NC) made cards for the children staying at their local children's hospital during Christmas, and also participated in a radioathon benefiting a children's hospital

CharlotteMommies (NC) had a "quacking" event that involved leaving a collection of little rubber ducks in member's lawns which raised $500 for the Autism Society.

Please make http://www.GoodSearch.com (powered by Yahoo!) your standard search engine with The Mommies Network as the beneficiary. The Network gets $0.01 per search, and it doesn't cost you anything.

Heather, Suzanne, Becky, Amy & Amanda
Board of Directors
The Mommies Network

Third Quarter 2007 in Review

In continuing our efforts to do a better job with communicating with community members, here's a quick review of what we accomplished in July, August and September.

Opened 11 new Mommies sites: BeckleyMommies (WV), ChicagoAreaMommies (IL), LakeCountryMommies (OK), CharlestonMommies (SC), MidUpstateMommies (SC), GreenvilleMommies (NC), NorthPiedmontMommies (NC), RoxboroMommies (NC), FayettevilleMommies (NC), ChesapeakeMommies (MD), LincolnCountyMommies (NE). This is the most new sites we've ever opened in one quarter.

Welcomed 3,083 new members to the Network, a 23% increase - so today we have over 16,000 members across 54 sites in 20 states.

Renewed our partnership with Carolina Parenting magazine (a free monthly parenting magazine published in three North Carolina cities) and extended it to cover all of the communities in the greater Charlotte, Triad and Triangle areas.

Celebrated the following community birthdays

5 years: CharlotteMommies
2 years: PeninsulaMommies, RichmondMommies, TriadMommies

Since we have opened 29 communities so far this year, we spent some time this quarter reorganizing and adding more experienced site admins and managers to our team. These changes will help us to support such a large and growing Network.

Added two new members to our Board of Directors: Amy Sloan, founder of LakeNormanMommies and Candice Toy, founder of BaltimoreMommies. Together with Heather Meininger (co-founder of CharlotteMommies and founder of TMN), Suzanne Johnston (former site admin of CharlotteMommies) and Becky Sardo (founder of TriadMommies) this team is excited to work together and help The Mommies Network continue to grow and support more moms and dads. This change to our board will become official in January.

Added the Network Administrator role to help guide each site as they grow and help them create the best support community possible. We are fortunate to have ten experienced site administrators serving in this role.

Created three Stage Teams to help support our communities, with each stage encompassing sites of a similar membership size. Each stage has 2-3 Advisors (current site administrators and managers) and a Board member working to help each community grow, learn from each other and support it's members.

Added four TMN Advisors to our team, to help us from a Network-wide perspective. We now have 4 Mommies and one Dad on our Advisory Team.

So in total we have five board members and 25 additional volunteers - all working to help us achieve our goal of helping moms and dads find support and friendship in their local community. You can read brief bios of our team on http://www.themommiesnetwork.org/staff.php

We'd like to end this review by sharing some of the things our more established communities have done this quarter. We look forward to watching our site grow so more moms and dads can have such a positive impact for their members and their local community.

SLOCountyMommies (CA) had an online auction and raised $4,346 for charity. The decided to give 75% of the money to the San Luis Obispo Children's Museum and 25% to The Mommies Network.

TriangleMommies (NC) had a dinner in honor of their site founder, Marissa, who had "retired" as site admin. Instead of purchasing her thank you gift they brought cash donations to a charity Marissa selected - Pregnancy Support Services.

LakeNormanMommies (NC) raised $1,565 by "flocking" their members (with a bunch of pink flamingos!). This combined with the online auction raised a total of $3,023 for AChildsPlace.org

CharlotteMommies (NC) donated $3,000 to help build two local parks, in honor of 2 slain police officers. They raised these funds via an online auction held in June.

UnionCountyMommies (NC), CharlotteMommies (NC), YorkCountyMommies (SC), PeninsulaMommies (VA) & CentralPiedmontMommies (NC) all held very successful school supplies drives benefiting local children.

AlamanceMommies (NC) sent their second care package to a soldier in Iraq - about 15 lbs of goodies! They hope to find a solider who is also a mom to sponsor next. One of the solders responded: "We all appreciate the awesome support and the goodies that were sent...It's always great to see the guys happy... Especially here. Small care packages speak volumes and the effect they can have on a young guy's morale can definitely make a difference."

AtlantaAreaMommies (GA) Atlanta Area Mommies collected pillows for a local domestic violence shelter, trying to make sure every woman and child had a brand new pillow to sleep on when they arrived at the shelter.

Please don't forget to switch your standard search engine to http://www.GoodSearch.com to help pay for this free community! We appreciate the support.

Heather, Suzanne, Becky, Amy & Candice
Board of Directors
The Mommies Network

Second Quarter 2007 in Review

In continuing our efforts to do a better job with communicating with community members, here's what we accomplished in the second quarter.

Opened eight new Mommies communities: SouthValleyMommies (CA), BaltimoreMommies (MD), JacksonvilleMommies (FL), CincinnatiMommies (OH), VegasMommies (NV), IllinoisValleyMommies (IL), PhoenixMommies (AZ), OrangeCountyMommies (CA), NorthMetroplexMommies (TX) bringing us to a total of 39 Mommies sites.

Opened two new Dads communities: TriangleAreaDads.com (NC), CentralValleyDads (CA) bringing us to a total of four Dads sites.

Experienced a 30% growth in membership nationwide from 10,309 to 13,425 members.

Migrated the Network to a new server, which provided capacity for a 5x performance boost, doubled network bandwidth, instituted a stronger back-up system and survived a catastrophic hardware failure.

Increased member participation in GoodSearch.com by 275% WOW! THANK YOU for making GoodSearch.com your regular search engine and doing your searches on behalf of The Mommies Network. We receive $0.01/search so for the second quarter they will be sending us a check for $726.77! That really helps us run this Network!

Created http://www.TheDadsNetwork.org to help separate the men a bit, since, well...they are different!

Celebrated the following community birthdays

2 years: TriangleMommies, HudsonValleyMommies, SaltLakeCityMommies & WilmingtonMommies
1 year: AlamanceMommies & AtlantaAreaMommies
Welcomed one new Regional Manager to our team, bringing us to a total of five moms focused on helping to nurture and grow our sites:

Jennifer Murdock, Western Regional Manager (SaltLakeCity, SLOCounty, Fresno, UtahCounty, Honolulu, SouthValley, Vegas)
Amy Sloan, Southeastern Regional Manager (LakeNorman, Triangle, Charlotte, Alamance, Sandhills)
Kim Dronsky, Southeastern Regional Manager (CentralPiedmont, Statesville, YorkCo, HighCountry, UnionCounty)
Amanda Anderson, Northeast Regional Manager (Richmond, HudsonValley, Peninsula, Frederick, MidShore, Buxmont, Buffalo)
Kelly Segraves, Southeastern Regional Manager (AtlantaArea, Camden, Wilmington, SWPiedmont, Jacksonville)
Your Regional Manager can be reached via PM to the "TMNRegAdvisor" account on this site. We will be adding a Regional Manager for our Central and Dads sites later this year.

Welcomed four new Advisors to our team, bringing us to a total of the following nine moms and dads focused on helping TMN and our sites be successful in specific areas:

Amanda Keys (Charlotte) - Charitable Events Advisor
Ruth Vuong (Charlotte) - Graphic Designer
Alison Crabtree (Charlotte) - Chief Financial Officer
Beth Benjamin (Triangle) - Promotions Advisor
Jaime Pierce (SLOCounty) - Fundraising Advisor
Kevin Meininger (CharlotteAreaDads) - Technical Advisor
Linda McAffee (Charlotte) - Usergroup Advisor
Sabrina Thompson-Fisher (Triangle) - Events Advisor: Interest Groups
Elizabeth Dickel (SLOCounty) - Events Advisor: Major
Kellie Hedrick (CentralPiedmont) - Research Assistant

Congratulations to the following communities for being our fastest growing groups in each population category!

1,000,000+ total site area population

TriangleMommies - 419 new members
AtlantaAreaMommies - 201
RichmondMommies - 96
FrederickMommies - 94
CharlotteAreaDads - 89

500,000 - 1,000,000 total site area population

CharlotteMommies - 407 new members
TriadMommies - 137
HonoluluMommies - 114

250,000 - 500,000 total site area population

LakeNormanMommies - 136 new members
CentralPiedmontMommies - 109
UtahCountyMommies - 87
PeninsulaMommies - 78

Less than 250,000 total site area population

SLOCountyMommies - 156 new members
UnionCountyMommies - 121
AlamanceMommies - 56

Heather, Suzanne & Becky
Board of Directors
The Mommies Network

First Quarter 2007 in Review

One of our goals this year is to do a better job communicating to YOU. As part of this we decided to post our accomplishments on a quarterly basis. So here's what we did last quarter!

Opened six new Mommies sites: HighCountryMommies (NC), MyOmahaMommies (NE), BuffaloMommies (NY), CamdenMommies (SC), JeffersonCountyMommies (MO)

Opened our first two sites for Dads only: SaltLakeCityDads (UT) and CharlotteAreaDads (NC)
Do you know a dad who might want to start a Dads site? Please have him visit http://www.themommiesnetwork.org/dads.php

Welcomed over 3,200 new members to the Network - a 57% increase, so today we have over 10,000 members across 33 sites in 14 states.

Completed the first phase of a major site overhaul, with several new features including...

"Refer a friend" form (Community page)
Flyers links (Community page)
Recipe Database (Community page)
Additional "View Recent Posts" options (Forum Index)
News and local weather (Home page)
Network Site list (main pages drop-down)
Sponsorship rate sheets (Sponsors tab)
Partners list (Partners page)
Welcomed three new Regional Managers to our team, bringing us to a total of five moms focused on helping to nurture and grow our sites:

Jennifer Murdock, Western Regional Manager (SaltLakeCity, SLOCounty, Fresno, UtahCounty, Honolulu)
Amy Sloan, Southeastern Regional Manager (LakeNorman, Triangle, Alamance, AtlantaArea, Sandhills)
Kim Dronsky, Southeastern Regional Manager (CentralPiedmont, Statesville, YorkCo, HighCountry, UnionCounty)
Amanda Anderson, Northeast Regional Manager (Richmond, HudsonValley, Peninsula, Frederick, MidShore, Buxmont, Buffalo)
Rebecca Sardo, Southeastern Regional Manager & Director (Triad, Charlotte, Camden, Wilmington, SWPiedmont)
Your Regional Manager can be reached via PM to the "TMNRegAdvisor" account on this site. We will be adding a Regional Manager for our Central and Dads sites later this year.

Welcomed two new Advisors to our team, bringing us to a total of the following six moms and dads focused on helping TMN and our sites be successful in specific areas:

Amanda Keys (Charlotte) - Charitable Events Advisor
Ruth Vuong (Charlotte) - Graphic Designer
Alison Crabtree (Charlotte) - Chief Financial Officer
Beth Benjamin (Triangle) - Promotions Advisor
Jaime Pierce (SLOCounty) - Fundraising Advisor
Kevin Meininger (Charlotte) - Technical Advisor

We hope you are enjoying your site - getting the support you need and developing strong friendships with other local moms and dads. We have BIG goals for the rest of the year, many of which cost money, so if you'd like to thank us for providing this free resource please....

Make http://www.GoodSearch.com your standard search engine with The Mommies Network as the beneficiary. The Network gets $0.01 per search, and it doesn't cost you anything.

Purchase toys thru http://www.eBeanstalk.com (used code TMN01 and get 10% off and free shipping) and ask your friends and family to do the same. Tell them you heard about them thru The Mommies Network and 10% of your purchase will be donated back to the Network.

Get a local business to sponsor this site. We have very attractive forum, newsletter and site sponsorship options - with all the details on the Sponsors tab. Ask your site admin for more information!

With over 10,000 members these little things can really add up, allowing us to reach out to more moms and dads, provide our sites with new features and faster access, and enabling us to make significant charitable donations.

And lastly....congratulations to the following three sites who each won $100 (torwards a site celebration) from TMN during our First Quarter Membership Blitz:

Greatest Increase in Number of Members: TriangleMommies with 438 new members

Greatest Percentage Increase in Membership: AtlantaAreaMommies with 305%

Greatest Percentage Increase in Board Participation (members with >10 posts): MidShoreMommies with a 424% increase

Congratulations, and enjoy spending that money!

Regards,

Heather Meininger, Suzanne Johnston & Becky Sardo
Board of Directors
The Mommies Network