MPN Reorganized and Ready

Columbia, MD - April 7, 2003: After a year of work the Military Pagan Network, Inc. (MPN) has re-opened to new memberships and announces its new organizational structure and staff.  Over the course of the past year MPN's founder and Chairman, John Machate, has been working with the Board of Directors to determine the future of MPN and how best to meet goals set by the Board. "In 1997 we had no idea how things would turn out for us.  We established some goals, expanded services and made changes to allow more involvement.  Some things worked, some did not and after 5 years we had to re-evaluate and re-organize."

As part of the re-organization the position the Board of Directors and the Executive Staff positions have been separated to insure staff continuity while still allowing a member base to elect the Board of Directors. The position of Coordinator that most people are so familiar with is gone, and been replaced by the Chairman as the leading board member and the Executive Director as the leading staff member, today founder John Machate fills both roles.  The rest of the Executive Staff consists of the Director of Operations, Stephanie Urquhart, Director of Membership, Scott Waters, Director of Finance and the Members Advocate.   All of the Executive Staff positions are appointed by the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors is elected by the membership of MPN on an annual basis, with each Board member serving a three year term.  Other staff members include Fred Fritz as Advocacy Affairs Manager and Pat Machate as Program Coordinator (Adopt a Pagan Soldier.)  Many staff positions are open for members of MPN.

To focus on the re-organization process MPN stopped accepting new members.  With the process being completed the board has authorized that membership in MPN be re-opened and an ad campaign has begun to get the word out to the community that MPN is ready, willing and able.  Also note that MPN will no longer be posting MPN members online. We have found that the work the Witches Voice ( http://www.witchvox.com) is doing far surpasses anything we can do in regards to putting people in contact with one another.  MPN will continue to list our Point's of Contact on our website, as they are our local representatives and military Pagan advocates. If your base has a Point of Contact we encourage you to meet with them prior to getting involved with the local community. The POC will work with you to meet like minded people that are "safe" for military person's to interact with on a regular basis.

Founded in 1992, incorporated in 1997 the Military Pagan Network Inc. acted as a store and group information resource for Neopagans in the military. The corporation now provides material regarding various Neopagan religions to the Chaplaincy, as well as fulfilling its original goal of providing contacts near military bases around the world. In 1997 the corporation expanded its services to include assisting military members with the proper handling of harassment and discrimination. In 1999 the IRS awarded the Military Pagan Network, Inc. an advanced determination of tax-exempt status in accordance with Internal Revenue Code 501(a) as an organization described in section 501(c)3.  In 2002 that advanced determination was lifted and the Military Pagan Network, Inc. has been found to be tax exempt as described in section 501(a) as an organization described in section 501(c)3 if the Internal Revenue Code.

Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Military Pagan Network, please visit the Military Pagan Network website at http://www.milpagan.org/ .
Copyright 2003, Military Pagan Network Inc.

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