101 Reasons to Attend #congress_2018 - Genealogists for Families

Several members of the Kiva "Genealogists for Families Group" will be in attendance at Congress. Our motto is, 'We care about families (past, present and future).'

Our international group which was started in 2011 by Queensland Genealogist, Judy Webster, has  over 350 members. We first met as a Group at Congress in 2012. I wrote about it here: http://geniaus.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/congress-genealogists-for-families.html

We have made over 9,460 $US25 loans to people in third world countries.

• What is Kiva? https://www.kiva.org/about
• What is Genealogists for Families? http://genfamilies.blogspot.com.au/p/about.html
• Meet the team members https://www.kiva.org/team/genealogists/members
• Follow this link to join the Team: https://www.kiva.org/invitedto/genealogists/by/jill4772?

Team members will be wearing blue ribbons (kindly supplied by team Co-captain Pauleen Cass). Please say G'day and ask us about 'Genealogists for Families'.

Bankstown to Bolivia

It took me an hour and forty minutes to navigate through Sydney's peak hour traffic to visit Bankstown Family History Group on Tuesday but it was worth the effort and the drive home was a little under an hour.

It's always interesting to visit a new group to meet the genies, see how they conduct their meetings and what they have on their program. The meeting was similar to most of those I have witnessed  and there was evidence of camaraderie among the members. I was made very welcome.

It was the first meeting in a smart new venue for the Group, it is commendable that Bankstown Sports Club are providing this facility to the Group. President Lilian has some photos of the venue and me in action on her President's Page blog.

Highlight of the night was the unveiling of the Group's new website, http://bankstownfamilyhistorygroup.org.au/. Congratulations to the member responsible for getting it published, I'm sorry I didn't catch her name.

I was there to talk about my experiences as a Rootstech Ambassador and Presenter, it was pleasing that after President, Lilian Magill (a first-timer at Rootstech) and I gave our presentations a few people around me said the event sounded tempting.

At the conclusion of the meeting I was presented with a thank you card containing some paper money. I did not expect payment, it was my pleasure to visit and share my experiences. As a result I have invested the money in my Kiva account and through the Genealogists for Families Group I have made a loan to an entrepreneur in a third world country.

If you would like to join me in making a loan on Kiva please follow this link.