diff --git a/app/models/invitation.rb b/app/models/invitation.rb
index 4ee802817..c7f3fb8b8 100644
--- a/app/models/invitation.rb
+++ b/app/models/invitation.rb
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ class Invitation
 
   def self.create_invitee(opts = {})
     invitee = User.find_or_initialize_with_error_by(:email, opts[:email])
-
+    invitee.invites = opts[:invites]
     if invitee.new_record?
       invitee.errors.clear if invitee.email.try(:match, Devise.email_regexp)
     else
diff --git a/app/views/devise/mailer/_batch_invites.html.haml b/app/views/devise/mailer/_batch_invites.html.haml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b6aca3426
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/views/devise/mailer/_batch_invites.html.haml
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+%p
+  Today is the day that alpha invites for Diaspora are handed out.
+  Chances are you were one of the first to support Diaspora.
+%p
+  We are elated to offer you a first glimpse of our Alpha release. 
+  We know there still are bugs and missing features, but we are excited by the progress we made in these short months.
+%p
+  We would love your feedback, as it is the users of Diaspora which should drive what it becomes.
+%p
+  For suggestions, feature requests, or bug reports, please use the "Feedback" link found on the left side of the page.  
+%p
+  Find more details on what what we have released on our blog, http://blog.joindiaspora.com
diff --git a/app/views/devise/mailer/_batch_invites.html.yml b/app/views/devise/mailer/_batch_invites.html.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6d05d5a7b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/views/devise/mailer/_batch_invites.html.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+%p
+  Today is the day that alpha invites for Diaspora are handed out.
+  Chances are you were one of the first to support Diaspora.
+
+  We are elated to offer you a first glimpse of our Alpha release. 
+  We know there still are bugs and missing features, but we are excited by the progress we made in these short months.
+
+  We would love your feedback, as it is the users of Diaspora which should drive what it becomes.
+
+  For suggestions, feature requests, or bug reports, please use the "Feedback" link found on the left side of the page.  
+
+  Find more details on what what we have released
diff --git a/app/views/devise/mailer/invitation.html.haml b/app/views/devise/mailer/invitation.html.haml
index c4a9a184c..206714fa1 100644
--- a/app/views/devise/mailer/invitation.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/devise/mailer/invitation.html.haml
@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@
         = t('devise.mailer.welcome', :email => @resource.email)
       -if @invs.count > 0
         = render :partial => 'inviters'
+
+      -else
+        = render :partial => 'batch_invites'
       %p= link_to t('.accept'), accept_invitation_url(@resource, :invitation_token => @resource.invitation_token), :class => "large_text"
       %p.small
         = t('.ignore')
diff --git a/lib/rake_helpers.rb b/lib/rake_helpers.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5198e4760
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/rake_helpers.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+#   Copyright (c) 2010, Diaspora Inc.  This file is
+#   licensed under the Affero General Public License version 3 or later.  See
+#   the COPYRIGHT file.
+module RakeHelpers
+  def process_emails(csv, num_to_process, offset)
+    require 'fastercsv'
+    backers = FasterCSV.read(csv)    
+    churn_through = 0
+    num_to_process.times do |n|
+      if backers[n+offset] == nil
+        break
+      end
+      churn_through = n
+      backer_name = backers[n+offset][0].to_s.strip
+      backer_email = backers[n+offset][1].to_s.gsub('.ksr', '').strip
+      puts "sending email to: #{backer_name} #{backer_email}"
+      Invitation.create_invitee(:email => backer_email, :name => backer_name, :invites => 5)
+    end
+    churn_through
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/tasks/batch_inviter.rake b/lib/tasks/batch_inviter.rake
index 49ba4a1dc..b2f09738c 100644
--- a/lib/tasks/batch_inviter.rake
+++ b/lib/tasks/batch_inviter.rake
@@ -1,31 +1,34 @@
 #   Copyright (c) 2010, Diaspora Inc.  This file is
 #   licensed under the Affero General Public License version 3 or later.  See
 #   the COPYRIGHT file.
+require File.join(Rails.root, 'lib', 'rake_helpers')
+include RakeHelpers
 
 namespace :invites do
 
   desc 'send a bunch of invites from a csv with rows of name, email' 
-  task :send, :filename, :number, :start do
-    
-  unless args[:filename] && args[:number] && args[:start]
-    raise "please give me {filename} {number of people to churn}, {where to start in the file}"
-  end
+ 
+  task :send, :filename, :number, :start do |t, args|
+   puts "this task assumes the first line of your csv is just titles(1 indexed)"
+   puts "MAKE SURE YOU HAVE RAN THIS ON THE RIGHT DB rake 'invites:send[filename, number, start] RAILS_ ENV=production'"
+   puts Rails.env
+   unless args[:filename]
+      raise "please give me {filename.csv} {number of people to churn}, {where to start in the file}"
+    end
 
 
     require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../../config/environment'
-    require 'fastercsv'
     
     filename = args[:filename]
     start = args[:start].to_i || 0
-    number_of_backers = args[:number].to_i || 1000
+    number_of_backers = args[:number] || 1000
     offset = 1 + start
-    puts "emailing #{number_of_backers} listed in #{filename} starting at #{start}"
-    backers = FasterCSV.read("bkr.csv")
+    puts "emailing #{number_of_backers.to_i} people listed in #{filename} starting at #{offset}"
 
-    #number_of_backers.times do |n|
-    #  backer_name = backers[n+offset][0]
-    #  backer_email = backers[n+offset][1].gsub('.ksr', '')
-    #  send_email(backer_name, backer_email)
-    #end
+    finish_num = process_emails(filename, number_of_backers.to_i, offset)
+
+    puts "you ended on #{offset + finish_num}"
+    puts "all done"
   end
+
 end