It is important to note that the Fifth Chair Foundation is an entirely volunteer effort. There are no employees, no stipends, no monetary reward of any sort for Fifth Chair volunteers or board members. These volunteer mentors agree to play weekly with their adopted novice and answer questions via email. An e-mail discussion group, available free to any OKbridge member, devoted entirely to learning issues. But the Foundation's help is not confined to Okbridge.
Future plans are ambitious.
Thanks to a grant from the ACBL s Education Foundation, the Fifth Chair Foundation will open an interactive Bridge Classroom during the first quarter of 1999. Bridge teachers and their students will then have a place on the internet, specifically designed for instructional purposes, to conduct classes. Software beta-testing will begin in the Fall of 1998. The Foundation, along with OKbridge and the ACBL, will sponsor the 1999 Junior Collegiate Team Championships , April 17-18, 1999. Plans are currently in the works for a series of Fifth Chair guest lectures on the Internet Gaming Zone , which now offers duplicate bridge play.