Save Afghan Hound Pedigree Database

The Afghan Hound International Website and Pedigree Database has been serving the worldwide breed community for over 13 years, but we have lost access to one of the most useful tools we breeders, fanciers and judges have.  The server has been taken down due to failure of payment.  We risk losing over 270,000 Afghan Hound pedigrees and well over 33,000 photographs.  

Pam

Pam Croft, who started the Afghan Hounds International website and the AHI Pedigree Database and has been the driving force behind its development, maintenance, has done the lion's share of the data entry and funded the hosting over the last decade has been in the hospital from several strokes.  Her capacity has been limited and has been unable to maintain the website and database.  Bills have piled up over the past several months for the service and has gone to collections totalling $660.  She is largely unaware of what is happening to her beloved database.  We are asking that amount only plus the overhead of the GoFundMe.

Immediate Steps

A team of volunteers who have been administrators, programmers and helpers with Pam over the years have banded together to save the data from complete lossage.  The first step is paying the bills.  We are now in contact with the data host and the collection agency and have access to the accounts and server.  

Future Plans

Due to the permanent ill health of Pam who oversaw the pedigree database it now falls to us as custodians of the Afghan Hound database to ensure it continues to thrive for our community as it is such a valuable resource.  We are setting up a group of data custodians for the AHI Pedigree Database so a situation like this doesn't happen again.  The group is comprised of people only interested in the community and our free access to the data.  At the moment, AHI is overspending for hosting, but until we pay what is due, we do not have access to any of the information or the backups.  Once the site is back up and we are able to recover the data, we will look at more affordable hosting options,  optioning some ad services to make the site self-sustaining and better backup options.

How You Can Help

Give what you can: $5, $10... to get the database back online and restore everyone's access to it.  It won't take much from each of us or very long to hit our goal based on the worldwide usage of our database.  Any excess will go to pre-paying for future hosting and service.  Thank you for your generosity.

Thank Pam

If you'd like to send a card or gifts to Pam, wishing her well and thank her for all she's done for the breed over the years, please send them to:  Eastbourne District General Hospital, Hailsham 4 Ward, Kings Drive, Eastbourne BN21 2UD