Conference 7.286::digital

    This probably falls under the category of urban legends. I have
    heard several variations of this story. Usually the only difference
    in the different variations is the PO address. SAve your stamps.
    
    Joe

	John Covert took the trouble to try to trace this down.  It
        seems there may be (once again) some truth in it.  However,
        I agree with Joe -- save your stamps.
        
        And PLEASE DON'T REDISTRIBUTE THIS TO YOUR FRIENDS.
        
        Tom
        
From:	COVERT::COVERT "John R. Covert  15-Dec-1988 1528" 15-DEC-1988 15:30
To:	DSSDEV::EPPES,DR::BLINN
Subj:	It's real, this time

Just like the one in England, this one is real.

The Post Office confirms that there is a P.O. Box and that Child's Last Wish
owns it and picks up the cards.  I've tried to call Child's Last Wish, but
their phone (904 596-4230) is busy.

At least it claims to be real.  It could be a scam for getting names and
addresses to sell for telemarketing, especially to charitable organizations.

/john

    Wierd.  When the one in England came around, I forwarded it in good
    faith only to be send a followup message telling me that it was a hoax. 
    This message is practically identical to that one except that it claims
    a Florida destination.
    
John

    re .-1: It could be a scam for getting names ...
    
    If you send a card then DON'T put your return address on it..

    I just saw something about this in one of the Usenet newsgroups
    the other day.  I'll see if I can find the message and post it here.
    
    Basically, this request WAS real but has now been withdrawn.  The boy
    in question has already received all the cards he needs for the
    record.

I hate to be the bearer of "bad" news, but this particular "Child's
Last Wish" campaign *is* a hoax. There have been public service 
announcements on most of the major Boston television and radio stations 
this morning, (WROR FM 98.5, for one) pleading with people to STOP 
sending cards to this address in Florida. The boy is a "real" person, 
but his cancer is in remission, and he made the Guinness Book in 1987 
(he received over 3 million postcards).

His name is Mario, not David and he lives in ENGLAND. The post office in 
Spring Hill, Florida is being inundated with 200k+ pieces of mail per week 
and has made a nationwide plea for people to ignore this resurrected 
campaign.

Newsgroups: misc.misc,misc.kids,misc.headlines
Path: decwrl!sun!pitstop!sundc!seismo!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!PHil
Subject: Florida Child Wish Come True, Inc.
Posted: 13 Dec 88 01:42:35 GMT
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Xref: decwrl misc.misc:5576 misc.kids:8546 misc.headlines:9367
 
On September 2nd of this year one of our customers posted a message to
Usenet through our gateway to the newsgroups misc.headlines, misc.misc
and misc.kids with distribution set to world.  Today we received a
letter from Ms. Frances T. Keefe, Founder and Executive Administrator
of the Florida Child's Wish Come True, Inc., organization.  As our
contribution to clarifying this matter, we submit both below.
 
Florida Child's Wish Come True, Inc., is a charitable organization
which is tax exempt under section 501(c)(3) by the Internal Revenue
Service.  Ms. Keefe contacted me on the phone this past Friday at our
408/973-9111 number, which to our knowledge has always been
operational.  She explained their situation to me and asked if I could
help.
 
If you are interested in helping out the real wish organization, I've
included their current wish list below.  Please do not send me any mail
regarding this as I am not in a position to answer any further
questions.  This is posted as a service hopefully to the the Wish
organization, the net, and hopefully the US Postal carrier on that
route!
 
Sincerely,
 
Phil Sih
 
Portal Communications Company
10385 Cherry Tree Lane
Cupertino CA 95014
 
408/973-9111	(voice)
408/725-0561	(data)
C PORTAL	(Telenet)
311040800264	(International PDN Address)
---------------
Original posting:
 
"Make a wish come true....
 
This message may not belong in the group to which I'm posting it, but
please do not flame me.  When I heard this story I decided to pass the
word along to everyone and posting it in many of the major groups
seemed to be the best way to accomplish that end.
 
A young boy named David is dying.  He has an incurable disease.  He
only wants one thing before he dies.  His wish is to be recorded in the
Guiness Book of World Records as being the person to have received the
most post cards ever.
 
To this end I'm posting to everyone on the net requesting that you send
David a post card to help him get his wish.  I would also appreciate it
if you would foreward (sic) this message to any local BBS's or news
groups who may not get these news feeds.
 
If you wish to mail a post card to David, you may send it to the
following address:
 
	David
	c/o Aline Morin
	Make A Wish Foundation
	1820 Arabin Rd
	West Palm Beach, FL 33406
	
Please send a card and help David's wish come true!"
 
<Name of user witheld>
 
---------------
The letter I got today:
 
From:
 
Frances T. Keefe
Founder and Executive Administrator
Florida Child's Wish Come True, Inc.
PO Box 5997 
Spring Hill, FL 34606
904/596-4230
 
Gentlemen:
 
I have received information that your are the people responsible for
sending out an electronic bulletin board message on the system known as
USNET (sic) concerning the boy who wanted to receive th post cards.  We
are the non-profit organization who requested these cards for "David"
last summer.  He as received over one million and is now in the Guiness
Book of Records.  For obvious reasons we had to use a false name.
However, his correct name is Mario Morby and he is now listed in the
latest published book from England.  I have seen this in print myself.
Also, please take note of our correct name.
 
I have a photocopy of your communication to the Make A Wish Foundation
(of which we are not a part) and I have attempted on three (3)
occasions to reach the Portal Communications at the 408/973-9111 but
get a recording that the number is not in service.
 
Please, I ask, beg you to please send another communication on the same
bulletin board that you sent the request out to have everyone pelase
cease from sending any more post cards or communications to David at
the 1820 Arabin Rd. West Palm Beach Florida address.  It has gotten so
out of hand that people are now sending Christmas Cards and schools are
sending entire boxes of home made crayon drawings (all of which weren't
asked for or eligible).
 
We appreciate your efforts to help David and all those who responded,
but now it must stop.  I am enclosing an up to date list of our latest
wish children that we are tyring to grant wishes to and haven't had
enough funds to do so.  If all those who were going to send us a post
card would send us $0.50 we would be able to grant all our wishes.  I
receiving at least 2 wishes per day and these childeren are equally
deserving as David'd wish.  Thank you.
 
If you have any questions, please call me and I will be happy to talk
to you.
 
 
<signed>
Francis T. Keefe
Founder and Executive Administrator
enc.
 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Their wish list:
 
Wish List
 
Name	Age	Family		Wish
 
Byron	6	Angela (M)	Meet Chuck Norris.  Requires trip to CA
		Marquee (B)	lodging, food and spending money for family.
 
Daniel	6	Bonita (M)	Rec'd Macintosh computer from another source.
		Stephen(F)	Awaiting word on new wish.
		Nathan(B)
		
Billy	18	Penny (M)	Wants to go to Football Super Bowl - requires
		Bill (F)	lodging, food, and spending money
		Angela (S)
 
Stephanie 12	Linda (M)	See Michael J. Fox
		David (B)
		Eric (B)
 
Allan	16	Ann (M)		Entertainment center
		Larry (F)
 
Robert 	3	Horstenia (M)	Kitchen set, utensils and Garfield
		John (F)
		Stephie (S)
 
Elsie	13	James (F)	Commodore 64 components, programs, games
 
Sabrina	11	Fay (M)		Nintendo
 
Mary	8	Pam (M)		Computer
		Andy (F)
		Randy, Tom, Andy (B)
		
Caesar	10	Elizabeth (M)	Lego 6395 Victory Lap Raceway
		Caesar (F)
		Gillma (S)
 
---------------------------------------------------------------------

    Radio station WROR stated this morning that this is a HOAX.
    

        I've seen this at every holiday that may evoke emotions for the
        last two years.

        It is a form of computer worm 8^)

Hmmm.  So now the folks at Child's Last Wish (tel no 904 596-4230) want us to
each send $0.50, eh?

/john

    I guess how this letter/Guiness record campaign is viewed depends
    on what information you get (wow--such understatement).  The news
    in Boston may have called it a hoax, but the news in St. Louis reported
    it (just last night on two different networks) as a plea for help
    that has gotten very out of hand.  They interviewed two of the people
    in Florida that are getting the 50K+ pieces of mail per day and
    I think they really are trying to get the word out to STOP sending
    mail to David.
    
    The plea for the letters was obviously, according to some spokeswoman
    they interviewed after the two in Florida, not controlled and monitored
    and so it's gotten to where it is today.
    
    The people in Florida are going to distribute this mail addressed
    to David to other children.

    It isn't what I would choose for my "last wish" either. (Maybe we
    should start a topic on that.) However, I'm disinclined to object to a
    6-year old wanting to be remembered in perhaps the only way he knows
    how.
    
    Wanting to set a record for collecting the most Christmas cards is no
    more ridiculous than the "adults" who do things like collect the
    world's largest hair ball or set a record for playing Monopoly
    underwater, all of which are harmless fun. Perhaps he just wanted some
    fun in his life after whatever ordeals his disease caused him.
    
    As far as people choosing to send a card, so what? I can easily see
    someone in the midst of mailing 100 cards (or even 10) chuckling at the
    idea of somebody else being absolutely inundated with them and getting
    into Guinness (sp?) as a result. "And what's one more card out of the 10
    I'm already sending today? If the kid really wants it, sure, I'll help
    him set his record."
    
    Personally, I find it every bit as constructive as the zillion wishes
    for "Peace on earth". If it makes you feel better, and it harms no one,
    then do it.

    I think helping somebody else have some fun is a "good deed".  There
    probably are better deeds.  Are we obliged to find the best possible
    deed in the world before we are allowed to take any satisfaction from
    doing it?  Who decides which deeds are good, better, or the best?  I
    think it all comes down to a personal decision, and I'm not willing to
    second guess somebody else on the matter.

    If it's not a hoax, I'm willing to send the kid a card.  It's also
    a reminder, though, to take a quick inventory of the people around
    me and their loved ones and their needs.  If I can do one, kind
    spontaneous deed for someone who is not expecting it, it will probably
    be worth a lot more than sending the 75,000th card to a kid who
    can't conceptualize "1000".                            
    
    

        This discussion has drifted far outside a topic related
        to "the Digital way of working".
        
        Discussion about whether or not EASYnet should be used
        for distributing such requests (e.g., "please send xxx
        to yyy") probably belong in PUNT::EASYNET.  I suppose general
        discussion about "Make A Wish" or similar groups should
        go in RAHAB::SOAPBOX.
        
Jim Stratton, co-moderator
        

    Oh, horror!  I've been sent to SOAPBOX!  Please, not that, Jim!
    ANYTHING but that! 

From:	POWDML::TERRELL      16-DEC-1988 10:26
To:	MED::CONNOR
Subj:	RE: please check out

Dave, 

I checked out the legitimacy of the request for Christmas Cards for David
and found that it was "not" a hoax.  The organization "Child's Last Wish"
did sponser the child "David" in his attempts to get into the Guiness 
Book.

If there can be any happiness found in a situation as sad as this, David
has realized his dream, and has set the record.  Response has been so 
overwhelming that they are now requesting the public "not" to send any
more cards, but are thankful for all the support.

Will you please notify those interested parties on the network so that
there won't be any further confusion.  If I can be of any further 
assistance, don't hesitate to call.

Gene Terrell Corporate Investigations 

    Dear Mr. Moderator:
    
    I'd like to disagree slightly with your assessment that this topic
    does not relate to the "Digital way of working".  Actually, at least
    as a peripheral aspect of the "way", it does.  DEC sponsors matching
    gift programs, Toys for Tots participation, "Adopt-a-Child", and
    other charitable employee participation programs.  DEC's network
    makes it possible for us to hear about and participate in these
    real or not-real mail-in plans.  DEC encourages community action
    and humanitarianism.
    
    I would like to add that, just like sweepstakes offers and other
    "too good to be true" prize offers that proliferate during the
    holidays, charitable scams (real con jobs as well as authentic if
    aggressive charitable solicitations) abound.  People should use
    good judgement.  My personal approach is to first think of the needy
    in my own extended family -- and there are some members of that
    group on welfare and in trouble.  Then I try to find a local way
    to help a specific individual or group I don't know.  Then, if the
    old budget allows, I look for reputable and commendable charities,
    preferably national ones that make a real impact.  The circle spreads
    from the center.
    
    It doesn't take much to send a card to a kid who is dying, but I
    guess I'd rather find the person who has been forgotten than contribute
    to world records.
    
    Just my 2 cents worth.  
    
    Sherry

    
    Does anyone know if this one is a hoax or not?  Below is the mail
    message I got today.
    
    
    
    
                         E L E C T R O N I C   M A I L
                    (DDN Host Address:  GW2.HANSCOM.AF.MIL)
 
                                        Date:      17-Apr-1990 11:15
                                        From:      Capt Ernest Finney 
                                        Username:  FINNEYE 
                                        Dept:      RADC/EE
                                        Tel No:    617-377-2988 (AV478)
 
TO: See Below
 
Subject: HELP FOR A YOUNG BOY
 
A good project for kids and adults.
 
  
 
Everyone,
 
	Today I learned of a young boy, Craig Sheigold, who is trying 
to enter the Guiness Book of World Records before he dies.  Craig has 
a terminal brain tumor and is currently hospitalized.  The Children's 
Wish Foundation is helping Craig to achieve his Guiness goal -- to 
have the world's largest collection of GET WELL cards.
 
	If you would like to help Craig, GET WELL cards can be sent
to him at:
 
			Craig Sheigold
			c/o Children's Wish Foundation
			32 Perimeter Center
			Atlanta, GA  30346
 
					Thanks,
 
					Roger
 
	P.S.- Please feel free to forward this request at will.  
              Surely you all agree that this is a wonderful cause which
              is worthy of our kind attention!	

    A telephone call (404-393-9474 from Atlanta information) to the address
    listed in .-1 resulted in the following:
    
		It is not a hoax.
    
		He has already reached his goal of 5 million cards.
    
		You can send more cards if you wish, up to May 1, 1990.
    
    The moderators of this conference will have to decide if this note
    constitutes inappropriate solicitation.

Am I the only one who thinks this way, or are there others who doubt
that such requests - even if not hoaxes - are indeed "wonderful causes"
(wording from .22)?

I'm sorry, but I don't see getting into the Guiness Book of Records for
post cards, get-well cards, etc., as such a noble goal -- something that
dying children should be encouraged to want, or should feel bad about if
the response falls short, or that people should feel guilty about if they
don't send, or that people should feel noble or charitable about if they
do send.  I would not have any problems, on the other hand, with appeals
for cards and letters such as:

    - From as many different parts of the world of the world as possible
      (would tie people of many countries and cultures in a common concern)
    - From anyone who shares a particular interest or activity of the child
      (soccer, baseball, chess, stamp collecting, etc.)
    - From those who have the same illness, or relatives of those people

To be interested merely in making the Book of Records seems a pretty mindless
goal. Besides, what about when the next kid comes along and breaks the current 
record (especially if the present "record-holder" is still alive), and the next
kid after that, and so forth? Is that the sort of "competition" we should 
get excited about?

Don't get me wrong -- I'm not saying that appeals designed to get into the
Book of Records are immoral or terrible; I'm just saying I don't see them 
as wonderful causes and great ideas.

        This came of usenet a couple of days ago.
        
        Notably. They do not want any more cards. The records have been
        broken, the hospital has better things to do than open mail for a
        sick child. Guiness have closed the category. They will not accept
        any challenges to this record. Don't send cards. Do not forward
        this request. If you recieve this request, advise the sender that
        they the facts wrong. Craig Shergold doesn't not want or need any
        more cards.!!!!!!!
        
        q
        
        
Article        16581
From: cc3z+@andrew.cmu.edu (Christopher N. Carlson)
Subject: Shergold not a hoax, but ...
 
 
     Ask for Cards, and Ye Shall Receive and Receive and Receive
			   by Douglas Burns
 
       WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- A 7-year-old English boy with cancer is
finding that once a story hits the modern-day grapevine of fax
machines and computer bulletin boards, it is impossible to stop.
       Critically ill with a rare brain tumor, Craig Shergold told his
parents and nurses at a British hospital in September of his wish
to be in the Guinness Book of World Records for owning the world's
largest collection of post cards. The same wish was fulfilled only
a year earlier for another English boy with cancer.
       Once the news was out, it flowed through every conceivable
medium to even the most unimaginable places on the globe.
       Budget Rent A Car in Miami got news about Craig from a Budget
office in Gibraltar and sent one of their employees out to alert
South Florida businesses.
       ``We also passed it around to all our offices in the nation,''
said Maria Borchers, director of travel marketing.
       Children's Wish International, a non-profit organization based
in Atlanta, is also working to get cards for Craig. One of its
appeals made its way to a computer bulletin board run by Bechtel, a
Maryland-based company with an office in Palm Beach Gardens.
       ``We are getting 10,000 to 15,000 cards for Craig per day,''
said Arthur Stein, director of Children's Wish International.
       But Craig doesn't want any more cards.
       In November, he received a certificate from Guinness after his
mountain-sized collection of 1.5 million cards broke the record set
in 1988 by Mario Morby, a 13-year-old cancer victim.
       Since then, Craig's dream has become a logistical nightmare for
his parents, phone operators and the Royal Marsden Hospital in
Surrey, England.
       Monday, the unofficial count for Craig's collection reached 4
million, said Mark Young, a Guinness Publishing Ltd. spokesmen. The
hospital has set up a separate answering service to implore callers
to refrain from sending more postcards.
       Despite pleas of mercy and reports in the media, hundreds of
post cards continue to pour into the hospital every day.
       ``Thank you for being so kind,'' said Maria Dest, a nurse at
Royal Marsden. ``But he really does not need any more post cards.''
       Dest said that whenever a corporation gets wind of Craig's
plight, the bundles of mail increase.
       ``As soon as it starts to slow down, it goes around again,'' she
said. Dest would not discuss the specifics of his condition. ``His
condition is deteriorating, but he is still able to talk and
function,'' she said.
       Young, with Guinness, said he gets several calls every day from
people who question if Craig Shergold even exists.
       ``This is definitely legitimate and Craig will be in the 1990
Guinness Book,'' said Young.
       But because of the problems the two appeals have caused, Young
said Guinness plans to discontinue the category.
       The public outpouring for Mario and now Craig surprised
virtually everyone involved, he said.
       ``These two boys really captured the public imagination,'' Young
said.
 
 
 
        

	The Childrens' Wish Foundation is also under intense scrutiny by the 
Georgia State Attorney General's office, and other state agencies, for 
improper bookkeeping in a non-profit foundation, falsifying stories, etc.

Instead, give a dollar to any of the many organizations that use it to
reduce by one the 40,000 children below the age of five who die each
and every DAY for lack of simple foods and medicine.

The cost of those 5,000,000 cards could have saved thousands of lives.

- greg

    
    Sorry to bother everyone, as this is already being discussed in
    MEIS::ASKENET, 1998.11+.  I'm afraid I didn't think to check that
    notesfile before checking this one.
    
    The conclusion there was that the organization says that it isn't a
    hoax, but that they are under investigation so we can't believe them.
    

    
    
    	Talk about misdirected $$'s.  Just because it was seemingly
    	the right thing to do:
    
    	A hospital had to deal with 5,000,000 cards
    	The Guiness people had to close a category
    	The US Postal service gained $1,250,000.
    
    	What's the point here?
    
    	DM

	For those convinced that this continually recurring story
is true, I direct you to a book dealing with such Urban Legends,
"Curses, Broiled Again" by Professor Jan Harold Brunvand. This is
the third book of "Urban Legends" by the Professor, and its definitely
an amusing read.

	See the chapter "Postcards for Little Buddy", which starts off
by pointing out that this tale has roots nearly a century old. Personally,
I've seen it surface at least 6 times, each time finally debunked.

	As a side note, the same chapter exposes another myth that 
always bothered me, namely, the collecting of gumwrappers, cigarette
packs or pulltabs for some unnamed persons dialysis treatments. I often
wondered why we didn't just go out and buy them a roll of aluminum foil
and save the effort? :-)
							John

    This time the "urban legend: is an urban legend !

    The boy exists, we have seen him on TV, when Monaco's football player
    gave him a ball signed by the whole team. 

    Personally , I have strong objections to the whole approach of
    spreading these appeals in the computer networks. Such requests tend to
    live much longer time then anticipated and distress originators for years.
    Now and then, all good people are taken for a ride by pranksters.

    If you really want to help somebody, there are plenty of opportunities
    literally round the corner. 

    			wlodek

    
    RE:.24
        
>>To be interested merely in making the Book of Records seems a pretty mindless
>>goal.                                                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  ^^^^
    To someone else it may be a reason for living!
    
    
    RE: .27
    
>Instead, give a dollar to any of the many organizations that use it to
>reduce by one the 40,000 children below the age of five who die each
>and every DAY for lack of simple foods and medicine.
>
>The cost of those 5,000,000 cards could have saved thousands of lives.

    The cost of 1 plane used to kill people, how many people could that
    save? 
    
    Here I bring up the old question how could America justify spending
    millions of dollars just to get a few men on the moon when they had
    thousands/millions in their cities below the poverty line and how many
    starving or dying of cold in the winter?
    
        
    RE:.29
    
       Talk about misdirected $$'s.  Just because it was seemingly
        the right thing to do:

        A hospital had to deal with 5,000,000 cards
        The Guiness people had to close a category
        The US Postal service gained $1,250,000.

        What's the point here?
  
    
    Why don't you ask Craig or Craigs parents that one! Hopefully out of
    these types of things a few more people/corporations who could really 
    help (large donations to fund research etc.) were awakened into doing
    something.
    
    If only we had a magic detector to know which is true and which is a
    hoax!

    The Brooks Pharmacy in Gardner has this thing (or one like it) as a
    "memo to employees" stuck on the front main entrance.

re
>Note 676.32             Child's Last Wish Mail - HOAX????               32 of 33
>VISA::CHURCH "Dave Church, DT Eng. Europe/Valbonne"  45 lines  30-APR-1990 04:25
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

      Hey dave we could have found a point on which we agree. My first
      response was how could people be so small minded about the dying wish of
      some 'stupid' child.

      If nothing else I find that while I am sitting overweight and in full
      health an appeal like this reminds me how lucky I am. (hoax or real).
      Some cultures will go to great extremes to cover up the less fortunate
      members of the society.  I regard hostility to these appeals as just
      another example.

Re .34, .32, and perhaps others: If you are suggesting that I (based on my
comments in .24) am "small minded," want to "cover up the less fortunate
members of society," or regard the child as "stupid," I will simply say
that these suggestions are completely false. I could say other things also,
but they would violate the rules of this conference.

To those who would criticize me and others who question the wisdom of
such appeals, I ask: Why have you not denounced the Guinness Book of
Records for closing off the category? Why are you not expressing outrage
that Guinness is denying tens, hundreds, even thousands of other children
the opportunity to achieve their dying wish or to have this one reason
for hanging onto life?

I'll tell you why: because the folks at Guinness and I and probably you too
are uncomfortable at the prospect of such appeals becoming everyday
occurrences, and do not want to encourage other children, their parents,
and their relatives to have this kind of a wish. And as I noted in .24,
there are many other ways that dying children could communicate with and
receive support from people all over the world, if that is what they want.

    The "send cards to Craig Shergold" message is back!
    
    I've received it from two independant mailing lists in the past 4
    business hours.
    
    I've sent replies to the people who forwarded the message.
    
    If you get one of these messages, PLEASE tell people NOT to send cards!
    (There is a full explanation in 676.25).  Let's try to stop this
    out-of-date message before it deluges the network yet again!
    
    Thanks!
    
    -- Russ

    While not a computer virus, perhaps "send cards" is equivalent to the
    common cold: it just keeps going around and around.

This was posted on the Internet just a few days ago....

Lee



NEWS item from news.announce.important
From: Gene Spafford "spaf@cs.purdue.edu"
Re: DO NOT SENT ANY {GET WELL, POST, BUSINESS} CARDS TO CRAIG


If you call the ``Children's Make a Wish'' foundation, you will find
that they are not soliciting any form of card for Craig Shergold or
anyone else.  Better yet, if you call the Guinness people (US
publisher is "Facts on File" @ 212-683--2244 ext. 336), you can get
this same story confirmed.  You will also find that they will no
longer endorse or support any effort to break this record.

Many years ago, Craig Shergold had a brain tumor, believed inoperable.
He sought to set the Guinness record for get-well cards.  The call was
well-publicized, and he did, indeed set the record (consult a recent
edition of the book --- he has received in excess of 16 million cards
to date; he officially set the record as of 17 Nov 1989).

As part of this whole story, his plight caught the attention of John
Kluge, the US billionaire, who paid for Craig to come to the US and
receive specialized treatment.  As a result, Craig has recovered
completely from his tumor.  He is also no longer seven, but well into
his teens (you can see how out-of-date the request for cards is from
this -- it's like circulating a letter encouraging people to vote for
Carter for President).

The problem is that the mimeographed sheets and letters seeking cards
for Craig have continued to be circulated.  As a result, cards
continue to pour in to the post office for Royal Marsden Hospital in
England.  Worse, the appeal has mutated into various other versions,
such as an appeal for business cards, one for postcards, and another
version that appeals for holiday cards.

The Shergold family has publicly appealed many times that people cease
to mail them cards and letters, and that no more appeals be made on
their behalf. One easily accessible way to verify this is with the
article on page 24 of the 19 July 1990 NY Times.  People Magazine wrote
an article about it on June 1, 1991, page 63.  Even Ann Landers has
carried an item on this [6/23/91], but people still keep trying to send
cards.  Both Guinness and Royal Marsden have repeatedly issued press
releases asking people to stop circulating requests for cards, as they
are creating an undue burden on both the hospital and the postal service.

The Guinness people have discontinued the category to prevent this
kind of thing from ever happening again, and are doing their utmost to
kill any further mailings.  The Royal Marsden Hospital is at a loss
what to do with the cards that continue to arrive --- most are being
sold to stamp collectors and paper recyclers, and none go on to Craig.

This appeal for Craig, as well as many urban legends, regularly appear
on electronic bulletin boards around the world, and in many
organizational newsletters and bulletins.  It is both heartening and
unfortunate that there are so many well-meaning people who continue to
propagate these stories.  It is too bad that so many people are
unwilling to verify their information before passing such things
along, especially when a simple phone call will suffice to do so.  In
this case, opening a recent copy of a book carried by nearly every
library and bookstore would illuminate the situation.

If you would still like to do something for a dying child, consider
making a donation to a charity such as UNICEF or to the International
Red Cross (Red Crescent, Red Magen David).  Many thousands of children
are dying daily around the world from disease and starvation, and
countless millions more are suffering from the ravages of war, famine,
disease, and natural disaster.  Think how many of them might be helped
by the millions of dollars in postage spent on cards to Craig
Shergold....   Addresses (in US) are:

	UNICEF               American National Red Cross       
	1 UN Plaza	     17th & D Streets                  
	New York, NY 10017   Washington, DC 20006              
			     Attn: international children's aid

[Also, I encourage you to save this announcement, in either electronic
or hard copy form, and to post it to any bulletin board you've seen the
original plea on.  If you see it in the future, as you probably will,
you can attach a copy of this announcement.  Wouldn't it be great to
finally kill this story, which spreads like a virus? - MRH]
	
-- 
Professor Gene Spafford
Dept. of Computer Sciences
Purdue University
W. Lafayette IN 47907-1398
spaf@cs.purdue.edu

    A month ago, i asked about the cards my children were making for a
    church project.  Sure enough, they were for Craig Shergold.  I found
    the (1991) article in Reader's Digest, we called the organizer, and
    got it stopped for all the other kids in the parish.  A bit
    embarassing, but the 100 or so cards were redirected to nursing homes.
    
    	mwr
    

    I just got this message too!  It was forwarded about nine times,
    through manufacturing to the field...around the world...!
    
    Ouch!  Time to correct a few hundred dec'ies
    
    Gil
    

    It just arrived here in Burlington, VT (BTO)
    
    Larry

    It was flying around here too.
    DEC-Europe.
    
    Jan.

    Help us all......  There was a sign posted at our Daycare center when I
    walked in tonight - you guessed it; Craig is still 7 and still looking
    for cards.
    
    It was interesting; the person at the daycare center who posted the
    sign, indicated that they just got this info in the mail from a well
    known charity organization.
    
    --Scott

    Re: .-1
    
    And of course, you made the correction at the daycare center, and got
    the name of the "well known charity institution" so you could inform
    them as well.  Good going.

    I saw it in a USENET posting yesterday. 

    It is difficult to believe that anyone who has had access to any
    network has not run across it several times.

    Jamie.

Can we accept the fact that there are a lot of people out there that just might
love nothing better than to keep a hoax going?

- George

    I suppose there are some people who might enjoy keeping going what they
    know is a hoax, but I suspect that this is kept going by people who are
    trying to be nice and simple don't know any better because the rumor
    propogates better than its correction.

Though i'm beginning to wonder what's going on.   The person at the daycare
center indicated to me they got this info from the "make a wish" organization
(i'll verify that this evening).

    Scott
    		shoot it down in flames...
    
    /Andy

    re .49
    
    
    Isn't the "Make-a-wish" foundation under investigation by the FBI for
    activities related to this?
    
    q
    

    RE. >>Isn't the "Make-a-wish" foundation under investigation...
    
    I'm not sure that is the organization.  There are many "make-a-wish"
    organizations.  My daughter was sent to Disney World by "A Childs Wish
    Come True".  It was a very special trip and I will always be thankful
    to them.  Also, the Starlight Foundation grants wishes and they are
    also excellent.
    
    Marie                                     
    

    Why are people so uptight about these electronic urban legends?  I LOVE
    the idiotic chain letters, warnings about LSD tattoos, appeals for
    doubtful charities and foundations, reports of Elvis sightings, and
    copies of the Mrs. Fields cooky recipe that bounce around the network.
    
    This stuff is one of the few human things that our network has brought
    to us.  It's a lot better than reading about guys running up big bar
    bills on their expense accounts, the plant closings and vice
    presidential resignations, the latest incomprehensible company
    reorganization, the hopeful notes about new products that are doomed to
    failure, the bitching about the DCU election, etc., etc.
    
    Chill out, people - this stuff is GREAT!
    
    Larry

    Gonna miss it when you retire, Larry?  Or can you keep an account
    with your RETIRED badge?  Hmmm.  I don't think anybody has asked
    that question yet.		:-)

re: .53

Well, maybe its because the people involved in the receipt of the mail
have asked repeatedly for it to stop. 

- George

    A short while back I received a spoof chain letter on the net. There
    was no way that any rational person could have taken it at face value.
    Two days later I received a warning that this chain letter was in the
    net and the dire consequences of propagating it. It would appear that
    after you reach a certain level in this Corporation you go off and have
    your sense of humour surgically removed.

    As to this call from the terminally ill young lad. Well I was agin it
    from the start. In its original form it requested a "Get Well Soon"
    card. Personally I think it is rather a sick thing to send to a
    terminally ill person. I also remember pointing out that the cards
    would continue to flow long after the child had died. As it happened he
    is in remission and still alive. But I'll bet he is regretting having
    ever thought of the idea.

    If you are looking for people who would like the cards to keep coming,
    two likely candidates spring to mind, the Post Office and the Card
    Makers. They must have made millions on it.

    Jamie.

        Re: .46

>    It is difficult to believe that anyone who has had access to any
>    network has not run across it several times.

        Yes, but there is a continuous stream of new people on the net. 
        One large group is first year college students.  At the start of
        every semester, there is a rash of stupid questions on usenet. 
        It used to be much worse, but now there is more experience with
        preventing and damping the reaction (e.g., appropriate warnings
        in documentation and FAQ lists).

        					B.J.

    Isn't it too bad that the original request asked for cards...  If it
    had asked that $1.00 (rather than spending $1.00+ on a card) be given
    to xyz charity, then no matter how long the legend lived, it could do
    something useful...
    
    Maybe we could restart it, but name some charity (like the DCU!! :-) :-)
    as the beneficiary.  All donations could be made in this lad's name
    even.
    
    cheers,
    jeff
    
    

The kid's in remission, but the hoax is metastasizing.

re: >Note 676.52             Child's Last Wish Mail - HOAX????               52 of 59
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>    RE. >>Isn't the "Make-a-wish" foundation under investigation...
>    I'm not sure that is the organization.  There are many "make-a-wish"
>    organizations.  My daughter was sent to Disney World by "A Childs Wish

There may be several "Make-a-wish" foundations, or sub-groups within
each geographic area.

The one in Boston was closed by the FBI for misleadn claims. The amount they
were actually providing was something in the order of 1/10 of 1%,
and they used the rest for 'admininstrative costs' ... (salaries, perks,
etc).

Typically 'honest' fund raising groups only keep between 35% to 755 for
administrative costs; with the Salvation Army around 3 - 5% for 
administrative costs and a several others (United Jewish Appeal).

There was  a fairly comprehensive list of many of the larger natiomal
charities in Consumer Reports a few months back.


Bob

    Craig was interviewed by BBC radio 4 last week about the business card
    hoax .
    
    Yes it is a hoax, and he pleaded for the senders to send a small
    donation to a charity instead. 
    
    He gets so much post/mail that he has his own postman and sorter at the
    post office ( Well it keeps a few people employed anyway ! ) , and as
    far as sorting goes he is classed as a small town .
    
    I wonder out of interest how many Digital business cards he has ? 
    
    No No I was only jesting please dont send any .
    
                               KR
    
    
                                 

    It would seem that this has been around for a long time.  While
    researching some family history in the local paper, I came across the
    following:
    
              We understand that not a few young people here have
              responded to an appeal from Kanesville, Ky., to
              assist a lame girl there to obtain a million or two
              cancelled postage stamps.  A dispatch from Indiana
              says: --
              
              ``The Rev. L. H. Bunday to-day received a letter
              from the postmaster at Kanesville saying the girl's
              story is not true; there is no medical institute
              there and no crippled girl.  He further says Miss
              Brown has been receiving thousands of letters under
              such misrepresentations and she has collected
              millions of stamps.  What she wants with them he
              says he does not know.''
              
              -- The Arlington [Mass.] Advocate, 1 February 1895
              

I have a few questions about this - 
   (There may be a better forum, but this string is here, so . . . )

1) Who the heck is responsible for unearthing this thing every so often?

2) Where the heck _do_ the cards end up when someone is sucked in by this?

3) What if some kid _REALLY_ was dying and wanted to try this? (Kinda like
   the SNL sketch this last week on "People Who Ruined It For Everbody".)

-Jack

>   (There may be a better forum, but this string is here, so . . . )

    The ultimate forum for discussing things like this is the USENET
    newsgroup "alt.folklore.urban"
    
> 1) Who the heck is responsible for unearthing this thing every so often?

    Usually well-meaning folks who haven't heard about it before.
    
> 2) Where the heck _do_ the cards end up when someone is sucked in by this?

    I've heard a couple of possibilities.  The first is that some poor
    understaffed children's hospital in Great Britain ends up getting
    buried in cards.
    
    The second thing I've heard is even sneakier (and it may be the origin
    of the basenote post): Usually these things ask for greeting cards
    or postcards.  I *HAVE* heard of headhunters, MLMers, and others whose
    jobs depend heavily on networking to circulate this rumor asking for
    *business* cards and changing the address to their *own* address.
    Great way to compile a mailing list of the gullible and soft-hearted 8-)
    
> 3) What if some kid _REALLY_ was dying and wanted to try this? (Kinda like
>    the SNL sketch this last week on "People Who Ruined It For Everbody".)
    
    He or she would best be advised to pick some *other* last wish (maybe
    getting into the Guinness Book for having collected the most aluminum
    can-tabs?  Perhaps because the kid's choking doberman is in dire need
    of dialysis and they can't get to the hospital because the family car
    was filled with cement by a jealous husband who was mad about being
    charged $250 for the Mrs. Fields cookie recipe....)
    
    --jim
    

  I dug this out of an "Old Farmer's Almanac" a couple years back.  What
  a way to put the brakes on a hoax!
  ========================================================================
    
  Mario Morby, 12, a cancer patient in remission in Streetly, England,
  who had amassed a Guinness-book record two million postcards of get-
  well support from around the world, was found suffocated in December
  1988 after a pile of an estimated 500,000 cards fell over on him.

  (This story is credited to Chuck Shepherd, author of the weekly column,
  "News of the Weird.")
    

    Carig Shergold does really exist, he really did request for post cards
    and, as far as I am aware, did get into the Guiness Book of Records.
    
    This all took place some years ago. At the last account Craig is fully
    recovered but seriously peed off with thousands of post cards, name
    cards etc. The british post office is also somewhat fed up with the
    whole situation as is the hospital. 
    
    From what I can remember, various parties put out a message every
    couple of years PLEADING people NOT to send any more. The ones that the
    post office get have to be kept for a couple of years then incinerated.
    
    Simon

    > [Craig] Shergold does really exist, he really did request for post cards
    > and, as far as I am aware, did get into the Guiness Book of Records.
    
    I hate to say this, but how do you know this to be true? 8-)
    
    The thing about urban legends that nobody likes to talk about is that
    they vividly illustrate our information vulnerability.  We rely on
    numerous sources of information to carry on our daily lives
    (newspapers, radio/tv, friends, billboards, placards, wheat-pasted
    handbills, letter bombs...), yet many times we have *no way* of
    ensuring the accuracy of the information received.
    
    Urban legends have fooled even the most trusted professional
    fact-checkers (e.g. newspapers, police departments, even certain
    top-secret three-letter Federal agencies 8-) ).  Once an urban legend
    receives the imprimatur of such an entity, it gains *credibility* even
    though its *factual basis* remains exactly zero.
    
    It would not surprise me to hear that a newspaper fabricated the "Craig
    Shergold is alive and well and doesn't need any more postcards" story
    as a means of counteracting the effects of the original story 8-)
    
    --jim
    

    I know that Craig Shergold does exists. When the request first went out
    he and the hospital had a lot of TV air time. They showed him in the
    hospital. They even showed pictures more recently when the requested
    people to stop sending cards etc.
    
    
    Simon

    Simon's correct. Craig Shergold is British.
    
    Laurie.

    
    Good grief, you mean the kid survived a fatal illness in Britain?
    
    Colin
    
    fe(R)

    
    Re .70:
    
    That's how he got in the Guinness Book of World Records...
    

               <<< MEIS::NOTES$:[NOTES$LIBRARY]ASKENET.NOTE;4 >>>
                            -< Ask The Easynet V4 >-
================================================================================
Note 3410.0            The request which would not die...             No replies
QUARK::LIONEL "Free advice is worth every cent"     106 lines   1-MAR-1992 15:06
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    If you've ever seen requests from well-intentioned people for cards to
    be sent to a boy named Craig Shergold (it has appeared in ASKENET
    several times), or even if you haven't, please read the following
    message.  Thanks.
    
    					Steve
    
From:	ERIS::CALLAS "Trust an olive, but tie up your camel.  01-Mar-1992 1411"  1-MAR-1992 
14:13:17.32
To:	ERISTOCRACY
CC:	
Subj:	Don't send those cards...

From:	US1RMC::"Ward_Travis@transarc.com" "MAIL-11 Daemon" 1 March '92 1:24 pm
To:	eris::callas
Subj:	Definitive death of a net sweeper

---------- Forwarded message begins here ----------


From: spaf@cs.purdue.edu (Gene Spafford)
Newsgroups: news.announce.important
Subject: DO NOT SENT ANY {GET WELL, POST, BUSINESS} CARDS TO CRAIG SHERGOLD!
Date: 17 Feb 92 19:43:21 GMT
Organization: SERC, Department of Computer Sciences, Purdue Univ.
Approved: Mark.Horton@ATT.COM

If you call the ``Children's Make a Wish'' foundation, you will find
that they are not soliciting any form of card for Craig Shergold or
anyone else.  Better yet, if you call the Guinness people (US
publisher is "Facts on File" @ 212-683--2244 ext. 336), you can get
this same story confirmed.  You will also find that they will no
longer endorse or support any effort to break this record.

Many years ago, Craig Shergold had a brain tumor, believed inoperable.
He sought to set the Guinness record for get-well cards.  The call was
well-publicized, and he did, indeed set the record (consult a recent
edition of the book --- he has received in excess of 16 million cards
to date; he officially set the record as of 17 Nov 1989).

As part of this whole story, his plight caught the attention of John
Kluge, the US billionaire, who paid for Craig to come to the US and
receive specialized treatment.  As a result, Craig has recovered
completely from his tumor.  He is also no longer seven, but well into
his teens (you can see how out-of-date the request for cards is from
this -- it's like circulating a letter encouraging people to vote for
Carter for President).

The problem is that the mimeographed sheets and letters seeking cards
for Craig have continued to be circulated.  As a result, cards
continue to pour in to the post office for Royal Marsden Hospital in
England.  Worse, the appeal has mutated into various other versions,
such as an appeal for business cards, one for postcards, and another
version that appeals for holiday cards.

The Shergold family has publicly appealed many times that people cease
to mail them cards and letters, and that no more appeals be made on
their behalf. One easily accessible way to verify this is with the
article on page 24 of the 19 July 1990 NY Times.  People Magazine wrote
an article about it on June 1, 1991, page 63.  Even Ann Landers has
carried an item on this [6/23/91], but people still keep trying to send
cards.  Both Guinness and Royal Marsden have repeatedly issued press
releases asking people to stop circulating requests for cards, as they
are creating an undue burden on both the hospital and the postal service.

The Guinness people have discontinued the category to prevent this
kind of thing from ever happening again, and are doing their utmost to
kill any further mailings.  The Royal Marsden Hospital is at a loss
what to do with the cards that continue to arrive --- most are being
sold to stamp collectors and paper recyclers, and none go on to Craig.

This appeal for Craig, as well as many urban legends, regularly appear
on electronic bulletin boards around the world, and in many
organizational newsletters and bulletins.  It is both heartening and
unfortunate that there are so many well-meaning people who continue to
propagate these stories.  It is too bad that so many people are
unwilling to verify their information before passing such things
along, especially when a simple phone call will suffice to do so.  In
this case, opening a recent copy of a book carried by nearly every
library and bookstore would illuminate the situation.

If you would still like to do something for a dying child, consider
making a donation to a charity such as UNICEF or to the International
Red Cross (Red Crescent, Red Magen David).  Many thousands of children
are dying daily around the world from disease and starvation, and
countless millions more are suffering from the ravages of war, famine,
disease, and natural disaster.  Think how many of them might be helped
by the millions of dollars in postage spent on cards to Craig
Shergold....   Addresses (in US) are:

	UNICEF               American National Red Cross       
	1 UN Plaza	     17th & D Streets                  
	New York, NY 10017   Washington, DC 20006              
			     Attn: international children's aid

[Also, I encourage you to save this announcement, in either electronic
or hard copy form, and to post it to any bulletin board you've seen the
original plea on.  If you see it in the future, as you probably will,
you can attach a copy of this announcement.  Wouldn't it be great to
finally kill this story, which spreads like a virus? - MRH]
	
-- 
Professor Gene Spafford
Dept. of Computer Sciences
Purdue University
W. Lafayette IN 47907-1398
spaf@cs.purdue.edu

The business-card variant of the Craig Shergold story has surfaced again -
the Nashua Telegraph printed an item saying that a local businesswoman was
asking people to send business cards to a Craig Shergold in Georgia and that
she is spreading the news via chain letter!

I spoke with the Telegraph's managing editor, told him it was a hoax, and
am faxing him the item from .38.

					Steve

    
    this "kid" hoax will live on forever.  

    I've never seen an article about Craig Shergold.
    
    I'm beginning to believe that these claims about
    a 'hoax' are simply a hoax.
    

re .76,

Actually, I've never actually *seen* Dave Porter.  In fact, I've never even seen
this system called MU.

Hoax?

Paul

Very appropriate that you have not seen a system called "MU".

 re .-1:  close!  :-)
    
 $ show log sys$announce
    
   "SYS$ANNOUNCE" = "does a VAX have Buddah-nature?" (LNM$SYSTEM_TABLE)
    

That should be Buddha.

    Just to put this to bed finally, Craig still receives so many cards
    each day that he does not want that the Post Office have officially
    designated his house, not just as a street of its own, not just a
    district, not even a city, but (if I remember correctly) a large
    county.  His last appeal was on the BBC programme "That's Life", where
    he commented that they got so much post that frequently important bills
    were buried under the junk for months at a time, and therefore fell way
    overdue.
    
    Some people have even been ordering an extra carton of business cards
    just so they can send the whole lot to him.
    
    (I have even seen this particular appeal appear and then be killed
    twice on CIX, the UK conferencing system/BB that I use.)
    
    	Ian

And it still won't die.  I just now was forwarded email about this from a no
doubt well meaning person.

It's actually kind of amazing.  You've got to wonder if this thing has an
eternal life on the EASYnet, or if it gets introduced from external sources from
time to time.

--Scott

Yep.  It just went out to several very large distribution lists at DEC;
the one I received it through has about 650 people on it.

/john

    
    	Might be time to change the wording to something like "looking to
    	break the record for most playing cards received".  At least it'll
    	be a little variety to add to the story.
    

Naw - make it "most network interface cards" or something challenging like
that...

You can't kill these - new suckers keep discovering them and pass them on.

				Steve

    
650 addressees!!!!
    
    Geez - with the network on its proverbial knees it really galls me to
    see fellow employees (it's too forgiving to describe them "well meaning") 
    breaking company policy by distributing this cheap chain letter junk
    mail.  
    
    Let's not encourage the practice on the Easynet with benign indifference.
    
    /Chris.
    

Being one of the 650, I'd say the whistle was blown quite loudly.

Jim

Someone recently sent out one claiming that someone was suffering from a rare
tropical disease and was "trying to collect the most free AOL diskettes" and
gave his own address.

/john

    >"...collect the most free AOL diskettes"...
    
    Too late. I've got them all--or seem to; even our cats get them.

    
    	RE: a few back
    
    	This isn't a chain letter in the true sense of the word.  It's
    	a request to send a postcard to Craig, not a request to forward
    	the letter to him.
    
    	Therefore it's perfectly legal, although still quite useless as
    	of about 5 years ago.
    

Since the notes ends with a "Please pass this on to whomever ...",
I'd say it has the key ingredient to put it in the same class as 
chain letters.

Jim

    
    	In that case, I guess I should ignore the letters from Corporate
    	that include warnings of the "PC virus of the week".
    
    	8^)
    

    
.90>   	This isn't a chain letter in the true sense of the word.  It's
.90>   	a request to send a postcard to Craig, not a request to forward
.90>  	the letter to him.
    
    That makes it a solicitation using corporate resources. People have
    been fired for this.
    

    
    	Wow, some of you people are awfully uptight, for computer geeks.
    
    	8^)
    

This is a chain letter in the old ARPA sense, in that it wasted taxpayer
resources and was thus forbidden (though not clearly illegal).  It's not clear
that wasting resources on the new for-profit Internet is forbidden, and it's
certainly not illegal.  (Wasting Digital's resources is forbidden by company
policy.)

However, it's not a chain letter in the legal sense (w.r.t the post office).

To be an illegal chain letter, it would have to be a pyramid scheme or make
a credible threat for failure to pass it on.  (Bad luck isn't a credible
threat.)

/john

    Re .95:
    
    > It's not clear that wasting resources on the new for-profit Internet
    > is forbidden, . . .
    
    Well, then I'll clarify at least part of it.  It is forbidden in my
    subdomain.
    
    
    				-- edp
    
    
Public key fingerprint:  8e ad 63 61 ba 0c 26 86  32 0a 7d 28 db e7 6f 75
To find PGP, read note 2688.4 in Humane::IBMPC_Shareware.

  Digital Equipment Corporation Business Network?

  	mikeP

I think in order to understand these stories that never die you
have to remember that this happened even before there was an internet.
All that's changed is that now it's practically automated.

This sort of old garbage I just delete. It's the ones that threaten me
that burn me up. Or even worse, I've gotten internet hate mail. Not
directed at me but a general manifesto type letter that blamed pretty
much everyone but WASPS for all the ills of the world. When I tried
to track it back to the sender the address turned out to be false. 
liesl