ADMIN: UNATHORIZED CHAIN LETTER HURTS MAKE-A-WISH

[Avery Todd]

List,

   Sorry if this off-topic message offends anyone but because of the
subject I thought it was worth posting.

Avery

>Date: Sun, 10 Nov 1996 20:01:21 -0800
>From: Patrick Douglas Crispen <crispen@campus.mci.net>
>Subject: ADMIN: UNATHORIZED CHAIN LETTER HURTS MAKE-A-WISH
>Sender: The Internet TourBus - A virtual tour of cyberspace
> <TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM>
>To: TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
>Reply-to: TOURBUS-Request@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
>MIME-version: 1.0
>Approved-By: Patrick Douglas Crispen <crispen@CAMPUS.MCI.NET>
>
>Thanks to an unauthorized chain letter that is circulating around the
>Internet encouraging people to send business cards to a seriously ill boy,
>The Make-A-Wish Foundation, an organization that grants wishes to children
>diagnosed with a life-threatening ilness, is being flooded with thousands
>of unwanted pieces of snail mail each day.
>
>Seeing the damage that this unauthorized chain letter has caused to the
>Make-A-Wish foundation, I ask that you do the following:
>
>     1. Read the following press release carefully;
>
>     2. Visit http://www.wish.org/wish/craig.html or call
>        (800) 215-1333, extension 184, to verify on your own that the
>        facts contained in the following press release are legitimate
>        [a good rule of thumb for Internet survival is to *NEVER*
>        forward *ANY* e-mail letter on to your friends or coworkers
>        without first verifying that the contents of that letter are
>        factual]; and
>
>     3. After you have verified that the following press release is
>        factual, PLEASE forward this entire e-mail letter to as many
>        people as is possible.
>
>With the holiday season just around the corner, I hope that we can all join
>together to give the Make-A-Wish Foundation the greatest Christmas gift
>possible.  Let's kill this unauthorized chain letter once and for all, and
>help Make-A-Wish get back to doing what they do best: granting the *REAL*
>wishes of children diagnosed with terminal diseases.
>
>   (\__/)  .~    ~. ))
>   /O O  ./      .'             Patrick Douglas Crispen
>  {O__,   \    {               The University of Alabama
>    / .  . )    \                crispen@campus.mci.net
>    |-| '-' \    }           http://ua1vm.ua.edu/~crispen/
>   .(   _(   )_.'
>  '---.~_ _ _&                    Warning: squirrels.
>
>Make-A-Wish Foundation=AE of America
>100 W. Clarendon, Suite 2200
>Phoenix, AZ 85013-3518
>(800) 722-9474
>Fax: (602) 279-0855
>
>Media Release
>
>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- Call (800) 215-1333, ext. 184 for pre-recorded
>Craig Shergold message.
>
>                     UPDATE ON CRAIG SHERGOLD
>
>PHOENIX, AZ - - An unauthorized chain letter encouraging people to send
>business cards to a seriously ill boy continues to generate thousands of
>pieces of mail each day, even though the boy is now healed and the family
>has requested an end to the mail.
>
>News reports stated in 1989 that Craig Shergold, a 9-year-old English boy
>diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor, wanted to be recorded in the
>Guinness Book of World Records for receiving the most greeting cards. His
>wish was fulfilled in 1990 after receiving 16 million cards.
>
>Shergold's tumor was successfully removed in March 1991. However, the cards
>and letters continue. Several versions of the letter exist, most of which
>wrongly claim that the young boy remains terminally ill and now wants to
>receive the largest number of business cards. The addressee is encouraged
>to gather business cards, forward them to an incorrect address in Georgia
>and then forward the chain letter to 10 friends.
>
>"The chain letter claims that Make-A-Wish is involved," stated James E.
>Gordon, Chairman of the Board of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America.
>"That is not true. Our organization is not, and has never been associated
>with the letter. Yet our office continues to receive numerous phone calls
>each month about the letter, diverting our staff time and resources from
>our mission. The Make-A-Wish Foundation requests that people please stop
>sending business cards or greeting cards to Craig Shergold."
>
>The Make-A-Wish Foundation of America has set up a special 800 number to
>explain the situation. Callers can listen to a pre-recorded message by
>dialing (800) 215-1333, ext. 184.
>
>Make-A-Wish Foundation of America, based in Phoenix, has 82 chapters in the
>United States. Any child between the ages of two-and-a-half and 18 who has
>been determined to have a life-threatening illness is eligible to receive a
>wish. The first wish was granted in Phoenix in 1980, and since then
>Make-A-Wish has granted more than 37,000 wishes ranging from building a
>backyard fishing pond to an all-expense paid trip to Disney World.
>
>For further information regarding the Make-A-Wish Foundation and qualifying
>children, contact (800) 722-9474.
>

_____________________________________
Avery Todd, RPT
Moores School of Music
University of Houston
713-743-3226
atodd@uh.edu
_____________________________________