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An open letter to members
(Continued from Page 1)
the club running smoothly. You know who they are. Most of their names appear in the masthead of this newsletter. I am sure that you appreciate their efforts as much as I do, but appreciation is not enough.
An organization of volunteers works best when everyone does a little so that no one has to do too much. Lately things haven't been happening this way with the Tri-Valley Stargazers. The burden has fallen on too few shoulders. We risk burning out some of our most active members, and we have tasks falling through the cracks. We need your help.
Last year, a number of directors told me that Mondays were particularly bad for our planning meetings and asked me if we could change the meeting day. I polled the board and officers and concluded that we would get better attendance if we switched to Thursdays. We did that early this year. Surprisingly, attendance dropped. At several meetings, only three or four of us attended. Technically, this doesn't even constitute a quorum, but rather that cancel the meetings, we have had to muddle through. We are now switching back to Mondays. I hope that attendance will improve. It must! I should not have to remind the directors that they are expected to attend most meetings. I know that you can't attend them all and that a couple of you can rarely attend. This, however, should be the exception, not the rule.
We have been asking for help with a number of tasks. A few of you have stepped forward. Thank you. We need more of you to do so. I am going to list some of the things that we need help doing. None of these should be overwhelming. Most should be pretty easy. Some are not getting done and some are extra burdens on people who have already been doing too much for too long. Let's spread the work around.
We need someone to set up the refreshments at our Friday general meetings. Chris Cody has been doing this in addition to his work as librarian. (And he drives all the way from Benicia!) Please contact Chris at (707) 747-6550 or ccody@bcsg.com to find out what is involved.
Jim McIntire is retiring as Parks Star Party Coordinator. Someone needs to take his place. Even though
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you wouldn't have anything to do for the next few months (these are mainly summer star parties), it would put our minds at ease if you could step forward soon to let us know that you can help with this. You can reach Jim at (209) 836-3836 or jim911@pacbell.net.
We want to establish a Mentor Program to help new amateurs get off on the right foot. Mentors will help them in selecting binoculars and telescopes, show them how to find things in the sky, direct them to some good books, star atlases, etc. We need a number of people to help with this, and one person to oversee the program. This need not be a big deal--occasional get-togethers and/or star parties with "newbies," being available at meetings to answer questions, etc.--and should be fun, especially if the load is shared. (We do some of this already, but a more formal program would be valuable.)
One duty that has gone undone for too long is Club Historian. It would be very helpful for us to have a longer and more complete record of this club's past. Perhaps some veteran members could contribute their knowledge and memories. Having one individual to facilitate this process would be very useful to the club.
Another important job is that of AANC Representative. The Astronomical Association of Northern California, the umbrella group to which TVS belongs, meets six times a year in Berkeley. AANC plans Astronomy Day activities, as well as an annual workshop, the Star-B-Q at Fremont Peak, and other joint projects. Since I moved from Oakland, I have been unable to attend most of these meetings. It would be great if someone from TVS could represent us to AANC.
We should have a Publicity Director to send brief news releases to local media announcing our meetings, public star parties and events on a regular basis. It would help us serve our community better.
I really could use some help arranging speakers for our meetings. If you know, hear, or read about amateur or professional astronomers in the Bay Area (or who may be visiting at the right time) who might be interesting speakers, please contact them or refer them to me.
Chuck Grant wears far too many hats. Not only is (Continued on Page 7)
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