(openPR) - ICORS Uses Email Lists to Transform Lives, Wins L-Soft’s LISTSERV Choice Awards

Stockholm, December 8, 2009 – More than 90,000 people the world over who face illness, disability, family issues and other challenges are getting the message – literally – that they are not alone thanks to LISTSERV email lists run by The Information Center for Online Resources and Services, Inc. (ICORS). In honour of ICORS’ life-changing use of email lists to help people in need, L-Soft, exclusive developer of LISTSERV email list software, awarded ICORS the grand prize in its annual LISTSERV Choice Awards competition.

“ICORS is a new breed of charitable organisation that doesn’t just use but operates solely within the environment of the Internet,” said Jasper van Beusekom, an ICORS Founder and Director. “Our success shows that using email lists to share support and information is effective and efficient for a large number of people who might not find that level of support in any other way. And for people with rare diseases, the one-in-a-million, they are desperately trying to find anyone who has even heard of it.”

ICORS runs 272 lists that reach about 93,000 subscribers in 147 countries. ICORS subscribers cover all continents except Antarctica, with some 80 percent in North America. People who come to one or more of the email lists among ICORS’ extensive array are looking for support and information on the particular challenges they are facing day-to-day, such as living with autism, coping with menopause, surviving childhood abuse and parenting gifted children. Individuals who are experienced with and frequently living with the various challenges that their lists address channel their experience and understanding to work as list owners. They serve their subscriber communities, facilitating and moderating the flow of information and support in a sensitive and safe online environment. Subscribers can post questions and concerns to an ICORS list, quickly generating support and answers from all over the world, connecting them with the experiences and knowledge of many others who are coping with the same issue.

"ICORS' email lists empower people who feel alone and uninformed and make them feel supported and knowledgeable," said Eric Thomas, L-Soft Founder and CEO, who invented LISTSERV, the original email list software in 1986. "Finding people who 'get it' because they are in the same situation is an enormous relief that, in many cases, would not have been possible without the Internet. ICORS is being recognised because its sensitive, safe and supportive LISTSERV email communities help people with challenges that they would otherwise have to face alone."

Karen Reznek, also an ICORS Founder and Director and the head list owner of the Asperger list, said: “Speaking as a parent of a child with a significant disability, ICORS has been a lifesaver. And we have older adults with high-functioning autism, who joined the discussion lists and learned for the first time that there are other people who are like them, telling us ‘I never knew there was someone else like me.’ But my daughter has grown up knowing there are many people like her. She has grown up in a very different way, thanks to LISTSERV.”

Van Beusekom and Reznek, along with Cynthia Teeters and Tom Rawson, are the ICORS founders and directors who work together to provide leadership support to the constituent list owners. According to Reznek, “LISTSERV software gives us the flexibility to accomplish whatever we need, and the support provided by L-Soft's knowledgeable and very helpful staff – a staff that apparently never sleeps – has been invaluable. L-Soft has gone far above and beyond all expectations to keep ICORS running flawlessly.” ICORS leadership stated that a more secure environment is created with LISTSERV than with other email list software.

ICORS is the fourth organisation to win the annual grand prize in L-Soft's LISTSERV Choice Awards program, launched in 2004 to recognise the most successful and beneficial LISTSERV email list or LISTSERV Maestro email marketing campaign. This award recognises the positive results that organisations and individuals can achieve using opt-in email list technology and includes public voting to determine the top three finalists for L-Soft jury consideration. The other two finalists in this year’s competition were World Wide Words and The International Waldenstrom’s Globulinemia Talk List.

Discover more about ICORS and its email lists by reading the case studies at: www.lsoft.se/news/choicewinners2008-09.asp

About L-Soft

L-Soft, which was incorporated in 1994, is the exclusive provider of LISTSERV brand email list management software, email marketing software and email list hosting services for managing email newsletters, discussion groups and marketing campaigns. L-Soft's pioneering LISTSERV email list management software products serve more than 100 million list subscriptions. L-Soft is ranked among the top 10 workplaces for gender equality in a 2009 survey by Veckans Affärer (Swedish Business Week), a leading business journal. L-Soft celebrates its 15th anniversary in 2009. To learn more about L-Soft, visit: www.lsoft.se

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