Walkers in Darkness, Inc.

"State of Walkers" 2002Fellow Walkers:Each New Years Day I like to write to you all on the anniversary of thefounding of the Walkers in Darkness mailing list.  This year, as we enter2002, we begin our 11th year and I would like to begin this message withsomething a little different from what I usually write.Part 1:This time, I would like to quote an old message I found in my archives from1995.Sun, 19 Mar 1995From : This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Subject : ByeSorry to hit you folks with this.  You have all been very good to me.  Iguess I finally reached the point where I can no longer deal with thedescent into hell even one more time.  Those of you who have been thererecently will understand what I mean.It's just not worth the pain 'cause every time I think I am feeling a littlebit better and every time I start to feel that my life has the least littlebit of meaning or purpose, I hit the hard reality that I am just kiddingmyself and there is no way that I can win the battle because it is a battleagainst myself.If my opponent was some seen or unseen entity external to my being, I mighthave a chance.  Unfortunately, that isn't the case.  The demon is part of mysoul and there is no way to separate me from it.  Trying to kill it is goingto end up killing me along with the Beast.By the time you read this, I will be gone.I am starting to feel the pills kick in as I type this and my demise will belike a tree falling in the woods -- no one is here to hear it.Don't feel sad or bad for me.  This is a lot better this way and I wouldrather just fade away peacefully than to go on knowing that there will neverbe a chance for peace if I live.Bye.A very desperate message from a very desperate person who had lost the onething we all depend on for survival - hope.I know how that feels.  Because, you see, the person who sent that post tothe Walkers list on a dark Sunday night in 1995 was me.Many things have changed since then.  New doctors; better meds; a differentdiagnosis; better treatment; lots of therapy; and most of all Walkers.I would have never thought, in those dark hours, that I would ever recoverfrom my illness.  I would have never thought that I would still be involvedwith Walkers after all of these years or that many years later Walkers wouldmetamorphosis from a listserv to the nationally recognized charitableorganization that it has become.And, I certainly never thought that I would end up being the President ofthat organization, nor that I'd be seeing myself and the organizationfeatured in a national newspaper like the Washington Post.You see, I had lost sight of a couple important facts.  One being that wereally do not know why we are here until it is shown to us.  The other isthat, no matter how hopeless life appears at the time, there is *always*hope.I know that it is very easy to lose track of those things and if you everdo, print this out and read it again because the same rules apply to all ofus.Part 2:2001 was a year that many of us entered with great hope and optimism andleft with terror, confusion and pessimism.The traffic on our web site went from about 350,000 from Nov. 1997 to Jun.2000 to over 400,00 in the year from Jun. 2000 to Jun 2001 alone.  Rightnow, we are on track to hit about 700,000 visitors this year if things keepup at the current pace.We are seeing more people than ever looking for information, help,understanding and support.  Luckily, we have still been able to provide themwith it.Last year, I put a lot of my energies into improving the infrastructure thatWalkers runs on so that we could accommodate more visitors and more traffic.That seems to have paid off.  This year, if we are able to, I hope toconcentrate on increasing awareness of what we offer and try to reach moreof the people out there who can benefit from what we offer.  We havesomething truly unique and beneficial here.A special thanks goes out to all of the volunteers, officers and Boardmembers who help make this all possible.  I do not know how I would do thiswithout all of you.And, to the members of our lists, forums and chat rooms:  You have a bigpart in this as well.  As we see new members joining our lists, forums andchat rooms, we depend on you to make them feel welcome and offer themsupport.  We also always need your financial support in the form of yourdonations.  But, most of all, we need you to keep walking along with therest of us and keep sharing the strength, the hope and the light that isWalkers.Mark "Mongo" ObergJanuary 1, 2002

  Privacy Statement for Walkers in Darkness Walkers.org has created this privacy statement in order to demonstrate our firm commitment to privacy. The following discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices for this website: Walkers.org..   We use your IP address to help diagnose problems with our server, and to administer our Web site. Our site's registration form requires users to give us contact information (like their name and email address). The information is used to allow you the ability to post messages to our discussion forums and to receive replies via email.  The customer's contact information is used to contact the visitor when necessary. Users may opt-out of receiving future mailings; see the choice/opt-out section below. This site contains links to other sites. Walkers.org is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such Web sites. Our online surveys ask visitors for demographic information (like their zip code, age, or income level). Demographic and profile data is also collected at our site. This information is shared with advertisers on an aggregate basis. We use outside ad companies to display ads on our site. Ads may contain cookies, and appear to be coming from our site, but in reality they are coming from our partners who are serving ads on our site. Our site uses a cookie in the discussion forums to allow you the ability to store your user account information on your computer so that you do not have to enter it each time. We do not have access to any information about you from cookies you might receive while visiting our site that are set by our advertising companies or by links that are external to this site. Google, as a third party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on your site. Google's use of the DART cookie enables it to serve ads to your users based on their visit to your sites and other sites on the Internet. Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy. Public Forums This site makes chat rooms, forums, message boards, and/or news groups available to its users. Please remember that any information that is disclosed in these areas becomes public information and you should exercise caution when deciding to disclose your personal information. Security This site has security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control. Choice/Opt-Out This site gives users the following options for removing their information from our database to not receive future communications or to no longer receive our service. You can send email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it You can send mail to the following postal address: OBERG, Walkers in Darkness, 256 Belleville Rd., New Bedford, MA 02745 In order to assist you with cancelling your login accounts with us, you must provide the following information: Your full name, as registered on our site Your login name and password Your email address, as registered on our site The specific part of our site (URL) that you want to be deleted from.  (As we have several independent sections of the site which allow or require registration, we must know which parts of the siite you wish to be deleted from.  If you do not provide this specific information, we will be unable to assist you with your request.) Correct/Update This site gives users the following options for changing and modifying information previously provided. email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it send mail to the following postal address: OBERG, Walkers in Darkness, 256 Belleville Rd., New Bedford, MA 02745 Contacting the Web Site If you have any questions about this privacy statement, the practices of this site, or your dealings with this Web site, you can contact   OBERG Walkers in Darkness 256 Belleville Rd. New Bedford, MA 02745 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it