To: pike-dna-l@rootsweb.com
Date: Wed,  6 Dec 2006 18:43:37 -0330 (NST)
From: dapike@math.mun.ca (David Pike)
Subject: [PIKE-DNA] Coupons and Sponsorships


Hi everybody.

Mostly I'm writing this email to pass along some news from
FamilyTreeDNA.  Yesterday they gave each surname project a
number of coupons, as follows:

- 2 coupons valued at $30 apiece, good for 37-marker or 67-marker Y-DNA tests
- 2 coupons valued at $20 apiece, good for 25-marker Y-DNA tests
- 2 coupons valued at $15 apiece, good for mtDNA tests

The strings that are attached to these vouchers are that:

- they can only be applied to test kits ordered after December 5th
  (so in effect, they cannot be used by existing customers of FTDNA)
- the remainder of the cost for the corresponding DNA tests must
  be paid in full by December 31st (but it's okay if the DNA samples
  take longer to be delivered to FamilyTreeDNA)

Anybody who wants to claim one of these coupons should contact myself
and/or Stuart.  We'll make them available on a first-come first-served
basis.

While on the general topic of recruiting new participants into our project,
let me take this opportunity to remind people that thanks to several
donations to our sponsorship fund, we are still able to offer the
following support for newcomers to our project:

- $75 for a Y-DNA test for anybody with a Pike lineage that has been
  reliably traced back 8 or more generations without connecting with
  any of the lines already in our project
- $75 for a Y-DNA test for anybody with a Pike lineage that has been
  reliably traced back 4 or more generations to the British Isles or
  mainland Europe without connecting with any of the lines already
  in our project
- $50 for a Y-DNA test for anybody living outside of North America

In exchange for receiving such support, we require that recipients
agree to have details of their Pike lineage posted on our website in
conjunction with their DNA results.  Currently we have a bit over $200
on hand, which is to say that we are able to provide several sponsorships
with the available funds... again, these are on a first-come first-served
basis, so contact myself and/or Stuart if you are interested in making
use of this support.

A few additional details about sponsorships are listed on our project's
"How to Join" page at
http://www.math.mun.ca/~dapike/family_history/pike/DNA/index.php?content=join.html

Some people might be wondering about the coupons for mtDNA tests, so
let me mention that everybody (both men and women) have mtDNA.  Unlike
Y-DNA though, mtDNA is inherited only from one's mother, so it can reveal
some information about one's direct maternal line (kind of like Y-DNA
reveals information about one's direct paternal line).  A few of our
project participants have had their mtDNA tested and have agreed to have
their results posted online at:
http://www.math.mun.ca/~dapike/family_history/pike/DNA/index.php?content=mtDNAresults.html
To be frank though, the mtDNA coupons would reduce the basic mtDNA test
from $129 to $114, whereas the exact same test can be obtained for about $99
via the National Geographic Society's Genographic Project at
https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/index.html
[NGS-GP will automatically do a mtDNA test when they're told that the DNA
sample sent to them is from a woman ... for men, they automatically do
a 12-marker Y-DNA test instead]

Finally, to say a few words about recent and pending test results, our
project has had a few new results come back from the lab in the past
week or so... when I get a chance, I'll write a separate email to
mention some of them in more detail.  Meanwhile, we've got about 5
new test results that are likely to come back from the lab in the next
week or so... I'm anxiously waiting to see what they reveal.

- David.