VisionWorks' Breakthrough Solutions
Community and Regional Success Stories
A Virtual Family – October 2004
A leader in Van Buren, Arkansas’s VISION 2010 initiative,
Marjorie Armstrong tells the story of how she met people on an
internet chat room and "found a family." This is a great story about
the power of the Internet to nurture human relationships.
"I enjoyed reading about (Mark Peterson’s) experience at the
airport demonstrating the power of the Internet in relationships.
Around 1993, I wandered into an Internet chat room and found a
family. Since that time, about 30 of us have had an ongoing
relationship over the Internet. We ultimately created our own
private little discussion board, and we "talk" daily. Almost all of
us live somewhere in Arkansas, but we had one friend who lived in
Georgia. One of our group is a young man who worked for the State
Health Department. He met a young woman on another discussion board,
married, and they moved to Minnesota. He now posts photos of their
precious two-year-old boy.
Most of us are baby boomers, though we have a number of older
posters, too. We have roughly equal numbers of men and women. I have
actually met only three of our little group. We've talked at times
about having a get-together, but nothing has jelled. I may never
meet most of them. Still, they're my family."
Marjorie Armstrong, Beebe, AR
NOTE: Marjorie served as Executive Director of the Van Buren
Chamber of Commerce when Van Buren participated in the VISION 2010
program. She did a wonderful job and has since moved to Beebe, where
she is the Executive Director of the Beebe Economic Development
Commission.
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