CRIMINAL MINDS CONVENTION UPDATE:

Criminal Minds: I wanted to take a moment and update everyone on the status of the first Criminal Minds convention tentatively scheduled for the end of June or first week in July. Because Criminal Minds fans live all over the globe it has been impossible to find a month that will please everyone based on the overwhelming emails of interest we have received. A very small committee, representing various Criminal Minds groups, is traveling to LA the last week in Feb. to book a hotel and to plan an itinerary based on the meeting rooms we find and the tourist attractions that we find that meet the limited financial budget that several people have asked us to be sensitive to. Ed Bernero, the Executive Producer of Criminal Minds, will be popping into the convention in 2009 at some point which is exciting and several of the writers have also expressed their desire to meet the CM fans attending.

Lori, the Co-Mod of the Criminal Minds Conversation Yahoo group, Debbie, moderator on the Criminal Minds Fanatic message board as well as Lee's wonderful MGG site, and Phoenix, moderator on the CMF message board are working hard to pre-plan as much as they can before our Feb visit. For more info please feel free to email them at loripppls@msn.com or Spymama6863@gmail.com

Now let me answer some of the generic questions I have had emailed to me: No, you do not need to be a member of the Criminal Minds Fanatic message board or Yahoo group to attend the convention. You just need to want to attend! Yes, we realize that those of you traveling from Europe and beyond will want to stay in LA for more days than the convention lasts since you are traveling so far and we are going to pick a hotel that is available for you to continue living in after/before the convention begins. Yes, we can help match you up with a roommate if you need to share a room to save money. Yes, there will probably be scholarship funds for those who may need a bit of financial help. I will know more about this at a later time. Right now the charity committee is committed to making sure that Kim Harrison is #1 in donations for her Aids Marathon but that fundraiser is over in September. The committee raising money in Rick Dunkle's name to benefit the Red Cross has a goal of $7,500 and they are about a third of the way there, so that needs to be accomplished. Criminal Minds fans are helping with the Actors Fund Assistance Fund but that won't affect our ability to raise funds. Once Kim and Rick's charities are completed we can start raising funds for those that need help. Once again our wonderful and generous friends, Allie and Maura, have pledged to help start that fund with $500 so we will need to wait and see what we can do concerning convention assistance.

You now know as much as I know! :)