Following is the e-mail I was asked to send to answer the "article" put out by OPB. We have gotten a great response and wanted to let the public know that we will be continuing our efforts - somehow, someway! Thank you so much for all the great posts of support, they really help us remember that it is worth the current tears!
Our Dear Friends and Volunteers;

The e-mail you received from Dana this morning is the truth and our beloved AIN is being forced out of OPB. It is a battle that has been raging for several months but OPB wants the office space (rather desperately apparently!) and we have been given less than six weeks to clear out.

Originally we were going to be able to keep broadcasting until June and would need to be out of the space completely by June 30th. That was changed during a lunch meeting with Tara yesterday when she informed Jerry and Liz that OPB wants us totally out of the building no later than April 30th - "the best laid plans of mice and men...............!" As you might imagine, we had just started to figure out how to best handle a move and keep serving our audience by June and now must try to compact what was going to be a struggle into even less time!

With that, it looks like we will have to stop broadcasting sometime in early April. While we had hoped to be able to have you finish your books for broadcast from our new home, under the new timeline that will be very tough so here is the new plan.

If you have only a few chapters left to read, please come in as soon as possible and finish your reading in the small production studio.

If you have quite a ways to go, but have finished more than three episodes, please bring the book in and leave it in your box with the episodes you have so far so that the book can be finished once we have new recording facilities.

If you have any personal property in the AIN office, please retrieve it as soon as possible so that it is not packed and moved elsewhere.

All of the recordings done so far and the completed books are being moved to a new space at the Commission of the Blind in downtown Portland. Jerry will have Omni Media Networks back on the air as soon as possible and will need our help to make sure that he has material to broadcast to those that have counted on your generous support for so long!

Liz will need all of the help she can get to edit those books that are complete and get everything packed and transported to the Commission. If you have a completed book that has not yet been aired, rest assured that it will be just as soon as possible! Liz and Jerry asked me to remind you again how very much your work has been appreciated and applauded by over 15,000 listeners - without your dedication, commitment and enthusiasm we never could have keep Golden Hours or the Accessible Information Network going for so long and with such success! In my language - "You Rock!!"

The next few weeks will be rather difficult but any support you can offer will be very greatly appreciated, even if it is just a shoulder to cry on every once in a while. This is a huge loss and the mourning process will take time, unfortunately, OPB can not give us the time to make this transition even a little easier so we must adapt and overcome as best we can. Please, please, please come into the office just as soon as possible and let Liz or I know what you plan to do and if there is any other way that you would be willing to help.

I will make sure that you get any updates as I receive them and, as always, you can call or e-mail either Liz or Jerry if you need more information than I have available. Thank you again and again for all of your hard work and generous contributions, they were and are appreciated!!

In Sorrow,
Wendy L. Graves
AIN Database Manager