The International Computer Users Fellowship of Rotarians has been in existence since 1991, formed by a handful of Rotarians who had a dream of connecting the Rotary world by computer.

ICUFR offers its members:

1. State-of-the-art FORUM communications centre managed by our members for all Rotarians.

• Searchable wealth of Rotary information and fellowship

• Discussions on Rotary issues with high-profile Rotarians ( Cliff Dochterman and Wilf Wilkinson, to name just two)

• High 'Content to Noise' ratio, but still friendly and easy to use

• Useful categories and sections

• Can have email Notifications when topics of interest are updated

2. A friendly, dynamic website at www.icufr(dot)org.

3. Active mail lists sponsored by Irwin Taranto:

- A Rotary Discussion list

- A "friendship and fun" list

- A list for members of RIBI

4. Monthly Newsletters sent by email.

5. Annual Conferences where members can put a face to friends they’ve met online, where often outstanding ‘speakers’ from the communications industry and from our own members, plus key note speeches from leading Rotarians are part of the programmes.

Recent advancements include an ICUFR group on Facebook.

All members of the Rotary family are welcome to join us.

Stella Russell

Chairman

After some time, they decided to meet in person since sending photos by email was a long drawn out process. Connection times were 8,000 K tops. They formed a Group; of Rotarians on Prodigy - ROPr with Skip Turner as the leader. About the same time, the ICUFR was failing and Skip asked if they wanted to take it over to breathe some life into it. Someone had contacted him about the ROPr group and asked if they were interested. A few ROPrs were hesitant suspecting that our fellowship would be adversely effected by a formal organized effort. They really had a fun and lively group. Soon,  another element arose. Prodigy raised fees and started charging for time and messages. Many of them dropped Prodigy. Skip Dave and others worked hard to get CompuServe to give them their own forum. Initially they used ProComm's forum until they had enough members to form their own CompuServe Forum. CIS was more sophisticated and they had to adapt, use certain software, and become more 'puter savvy. I remember when Granny switched over, she was worried about developing her skills to communicate. But, she was sending people to their rooms in a very short time.

The first ROPR/ICUFR meeting was in Skokie, IL at the "Suites on the Interstate. Ken Scheffel arranged for the rooms and then missed the meeting because of travel emergencies.  The meeting format was established at this meeting. They toured the Rotary HQ and then had computer oriented meetings on Saturday and a banquet with speakers Saturday night. Friday night was a fellowship night and Al "Seleck" Dixon kept things light. her skills to communicate. But, she was sending people to their rooms in a very short time. The first ROPR/ICUFR meeting was in Skokie, IL at the "Suites on the Interstate. I arranged for the rooms and then missed the meeting because of travel emergencies - I was still employed then. The meeting format was established at this meeting. We toured the Rotary HQ and then had computer oriented meetings on Saturday and a banquet with speakers Saturday night. Friday night was a fellowship night and Al "Seleck" Dixon kept things light.