A Salute and a Few Tips

March 7, 2009

Dear BerkShares Businesses,

In January we learned that the principal supporters of the BerkShares
program could not maintain their level of funding because of economic
losses. We are working with new foundations to pick up this loss, but do not
anticipate new donations until this summer. This has meant that as of the
middle of March we are losing our executive director and her leadership, but
not the program. Sharon Palma remains an active board member and will
continue with what has become the popular "Local Biz" show on WSBS with
co-host Steffen Root. E. F. Schumacher Society will continue the office
management of the program including business sign ups, web maintenance, and
media contact.

Members of the BerkShares board of directors are all taking more active
roles in the program during this interim period. We anticipate resuming
Sharon's position when funding is again secured.

You can reach Sharon at her personal email: slpalma@verizon.net.

We salute Sharon for her good work on behalf of BerkShares over the past six
months. Her professional style and skills have served to introduce the
program to new constituencies and raised the profile of the Berkshires own
local currency. In the upcoming week three different TV crews will be in
the region talking with BerkShares businesses and users about the program
starting with FujiTV out of Japan.

A few BerkShares business tips from Sharon:

1. Be sure to have smaller BerkShares bills on hand to make change for
customers paying in BerkShares.

2. Berkshares are available from any of the 12 participating banks at
ninety-five federal dollars for one hundred BerkShares ($95 = 100B$).

3. Have you offered BerkShares in change to customers paying in federal
dollars? BerkShares become a talking point about the importance of
supporting the local economy, about the role of local businesses in a
sustainable economic system, about steps in building a green economy.

4. Some of your customers may not yet know about BerkShares. Keep
BerkShares Directories on hand to point out the many local venues for
re-circulation. Need more directories? -- call (528-1737) or email
(info@berkshares.org) the BerkShares office for delivery.

5. If you have excess BerkShares on hand that your business is unable to
spend at the moment, trade your personal federal dollars for the BerkShares
and spend them yourself, creating an easy re-circulation method.

Do you have your own favorite tips? Please share them by return email so
they can be incorporated into future emails to businesses. Thank you for
your participation!

BerkShares Team
P O Box 125
Great Barrington, MA 01230
(413) 528-1737
www.berkshares.org