Arizona here we come...MCJ website

Hello family, hope your 2024 has been good so far. We have very exciting updates to share and we're close to announcing plans for MCJ 2024 in the Phoenix, Arizona area. Our host, Kay Bodude and family are putting together an event you won't want to miss in the valley of the sun so look for those details by next week.

On a slightly different note, we've been diligently working on upgrading both the functionality and the look of our website and we need everyone to check it out and give us some feedback. The #1 objective of the website changes are to link our MCJ family tree so that everyone can see how we are connected as family and I'm proud to say that vision is coming alive.

I'd like to thank our committee working on this project beginning with Carolyn Johnson who has worked tirelessly not only recently in adding the family tree functionality to the website but also going back to 2010 when she produced in booklet form a presentation on our family connections. Judith Collins has been an invaluable resource in the discipline of genealogy for our family, as has Vincent Johnson and Justin Johnson. Terrilyn Johnson has brought energy and focus to the project along with Tameka Law and Diana Barnes. And lastly, Pearl Askew has given her time to aid the project in various ways. A total team effort!

So, if you're all ready to check out the fruits of our labor just log on to www.mcjfamilies.com and go through each menu drop down to see all the cool new things to see and do on the website. Now, it is still a work in progress so we are actually depending on you guys to help us by observing any flaws or things that can be improved and giving us feedback. How do you give feedback? Glad you asked, just use the handy lets chat button on each page which allows you to send messages that we"ll receive and respond to.

Here is a listing of what you can expect when you go to the website.

1). log on the www.mcjfamilies.com You'll notice it should be easier to get on than it was previously.

2). Front page new look

3). Latest features buttons all work. Try them out and input info for the various compartments. Right now we are collecting the info and eventually that info will be displayed for all to see but not yet.

4). If you own a business please complete the business directory form, again you won't see the listing yet but soon you will

5). Under the family database tab please complete this form for your immediate household. At the bottom of that page you are strongly encouraged to indicate your plans to attend the reunion, this will be very helpful for our hosts. Eventually you'll be able to select from various payment methods in order to pay your dues and it'll all happen online.

6). The member directory will be ported over from all previous website registrations so if you previously applied for and received website credentials you do not need to do this again. Many chose to only list email addresses and not physical addresses and phone numbers so if you would like to provide more complete details please do use the member directory form to do so.

7). Under the Our Roots dropdown you will have access to screen shots of our MCJ family tree. The screen shots are from ancestry

Bear in mind these screen shots are snapshots of the family tree and not dynamic (editable) but only represent essentially a still photograph. The button to the right advances the screen so you can see progressively more detail in the family tree. Only two screenshots are there presently but we will ad more. Our committee is working to populate progressively more detail so that it will continue to grow and list more and more family members.

8). I'm sure everyone will appreciate that when I do a blog post that you will no longer be required to log onto the website to read the entire post like before.

9). Lastly, the social media buttons for facebook, twitter etc. are connected and we now have our very own youtube channel where we will display videos including the Four Portraits in Black documentary that CBS did on our family years ago.

Wow! Thats alot. Kudos to the team for their hard work on the website. Look forward to the exciting MCJ 2024 Arizona announcement with planning details soon and check out the website and give feedback!

Much Love,

MCJ Planning Committee