Well as you have all seen your "Gente di Mare" website continues to grow. Our membership continues to increase at a steady pace and the number of views over the last year has surprised us all I think.

"Gente" was the brainchild of 'the Boss' - Nuccia, and she has worked tirelessly to ensure that all the things she dreamed of for our site are gradually coming to fruition.

First and foremost of course was The Home Page, followed by the Forum and then the Surname Database. But then all the other databases have been added and are improving as information you need is added and updated. The Photo Help and the Translations are both areas that are growing as we speak and have both become very popular.

"Gente" now works under several registered domain names and we will very soon need to increase our bandwidth. The domain name registrations do require renewals and the bandwidth we pay for is the same... So there is a continuing cost for us to be able to provide "Gente" facilities for you all.

It is for this reason that we have (reluctantly) decided to seek donations. This is not something we EXPECT or ask you to do.... but a way to help the maintenance and running costs of our site. So if you have recieved some really useful help, maybe a search or a translation this is a way for you to help ensure that we can continue to provide the means for this kind of help to continue.

You will see our new Paypal 'Make a Donation' button on the site. It is easy to do and you DON'T need a Paypal account to donate. You can choose how much, or how little you want to donate and in which currency. There is no charge what-so-ever to you for using this system and it IS secure.

On behalf of Nuccia and myself I should like to thank you all for your continued support of "Gente di Mare"