RE: COMMON Education Foundation (CEF) & Al Barsa Memorial Scholarship

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:midrange-l-
bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Pete Massiello
Sent: Monday, April 07, 2008 9:08 PM
To: 'Midrange Systems Technical Discussion'
Subject: COMMON Education Foundation (CEF) & Al Barsa Memorial
Scholarship

Here is the information as promised.

Tonight the COMMON Education Foundation (CEF) established the Al Barsa
Memorial Scholarship. This special scholarship is intended to remember
our
friend Al Barsa who was always willing to help everyone in the System i
community. He had a heart of gold and was always there to help, to
listen,
to advise, and of course to swap family stories. No matter who you
were, Al
would come over and talk with you during a conference and make you feel
at
ease. Al was also extremely influential inside of IBM when it came to
the
AS/400, iSeries, System i even though he never worked for IBM. He was
always
working his hardest to make our beloved i the best platform in the
world,
and we have Al to thank for his constant critiquing of IBM. You could
always count on Al to open COMMON's Sound-off with comments on how IBM
Rochester had performed over the last year. Everyone remembers Al's
Sound-off comments about V3R1.

Al's dedication to the System i was only surpassed by his dedication to
his
family. His entire face would light up when he spoke about Albert and
Christie; he had a lot to be proud of in their accomplishments. Al was
also
involved in the charter days of the CEF, as he and Jim Sloan were the
initial benefactors of the CEF by providing the initial seed money.

In the esteem of doing for others in the i community, this annual award
of a
Conference Registration and plaque will go to a recipient who
exemplifies
Al's commitment and dedication to the i community. We will be posting
an
application for this award in the Fall to be given out at the COMMON
Annual
meeting. This award is open to any and all people in the i community.

Now, we need your help in funding this award. If you have learned from
Al,
if Al has helped you or your career in any way, if you have heard him
speak,
a User Group who had Al as a speaker, or if you are a friend, we ask
that
you contribute to this scholarship in Al's memory. There is a
contribution
form with directions at the bottom of the
http://www.common.org/foundation
webpage that can be used to make your donation to the Al Barsa Memorial
Scholarship, the COMMON Foundation, or both. If the form isn't yet
updated,
just write Al Barsa Memorial Scholarship on the top of the current
form, and
your donation will be appropriately applied.

We thank you in advance for your generous support.

CEF Board of Directors


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