MHVLUG took multiple attempts to get off the ground, SeanDague and MikeGrundy first tried to pull it off in October 2001. The hardest part of starting a group like this was actually finding an appropriate space to use. It took 3 major pushes before finding contacts at theMid Hudson Valley Library System, where we currently hold all our meetings.

In late 2002, SeanDague and Mike Chase-Salerno had finally gotten everything set. http://mhvlug.org went live in December 2002 (originally hosted on http://thunderlizards.net, then on PorkChop's machine, and now part of http://nycccp.net), as did the mailing list a short time later. We specifically scheduled the first meeting to be in March to let momentum grow. PorkChop gave the first talk on Firewalls and IP tables to a room of 50 eager attendees.

In 2003, MHVLUG had an informal election by confirmation, with the following officers:

• President - SeanDague

• Vice President - PorkChop

• Treasurer - Mike Chase-Salerno (now Mike Grundy)
• Publicity - Gary Pagliro (position now mostly defunct)
• Web Master - Jim Doherty (position now mostly defunct)

The organization is very informal in nature, so tasks tend to just be picked up by those who are ready and willing. The officers mailing list hasn't even been used in over a year.

We thank everyone who has presented at MHVLUG for their time, as well as the following who have helped in very significant ways:

• AdrianneMora and BruceLocke - for organizing our current LinuxHelpDay events at SUNY New Paltz

• DanSimones - for organizing previous LinuxHelpDay events at Cervalis