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Volunteer Network

The Planetary Society's
Global Volunteer Network Newsletter

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Dear Planetary Society Volunteers,

Summer time in the Northern Hemisphere is generally a quiet time with many people taking vacations from work and studies. While the previous three months saw volunteers all over the globe organize events on behalf of The Planetary Society, this quarter saw fewer events, but those that occurred were characterized by their innovation and creativity. I hope you will be inspired to read what other volunteers are doing and perhaps adapt their ideas to create your own. You Make It Happen! And we Thank You So Much!

In this Newsletter you'll also find information on our newly redesigned website. Members and volunteers alike have written to commend the staff on the ease with which we can now navigate around the site. The search feature is very welcomed and the Members Only section has won a lot of praise.

Thank you for all your creativity and enthusiastic support during our 25th Anniversary year!

- Lonny Baker, Global Volunteer Leader

Volunteer Activities

Resources  
Web Links "For Members Only"

Volunteer Activities

• Arizona - Veronica Ann Zabala-Aliberto helped organize numerous space-related events in Arizona. "Mars Mania", held in Tucson in August at the University of Arizona, celebrated the role the university plays in Mars exploration. About 200 people visited her table, watched movies on her portable DVD player, and browsed through lots of material provided by the Arizona State University NASA Space Photography Laboratory, JPL Solar System Ambassador Program, and, of course, The Planetary Society. "We had many people interested in signing up as members for The Planetary Society. I gave them free copies of The Planetary Report as well as the flyer for a reduced membership fee to take home and look over and turn in at their own leisure."

In September, Veronica Ann set up educational outreach tables at the opening night celebration of the IMAX movie Magnificent Desolation in Tempe. For more than a week, she kept the table stocked with Society materials, along with material from several other space-oriented organizations. Assisting her was Society volunteer Ray Poulsen.

• Florida - As soon as Ari Litwin joined the Volunteer Network, he offered to contact the University of Central Florida astronomy club and make a presentation on The Planetary Society. With a 50% student discount offer, he encouraged his fellow students to join the Society. Wrote Ari, "I meet the officers of the astronomy club. A handful of people have shown interest in The Planetary Society, and I am currently encouraging them to join.  I think the 50% discount will help." We appreciate the efforts that Ari and all our volunteers make on behalf of the Society!

Click to enlarge > The Bay Area Volunteers Network Kids and adults enjoy LEGOs Rover and Mars 3D Panorama.

• Northern California - Summer was a busy time for The Planetary Society Bay Area Volunteer Network (TPSBAVN). In July, Regional Coordinator Matt Lucking and Tracy Avent attended NASA Ames Family Night. Wrote Matt: "It was well attended, mostly families--lots of children. I'm sure that we sparked the interest of the next generation.  We had the Spirit/Opportunity model on display, which was very popular with the kids. Tracy set up his telescope, which had quite a line for most of the evening. We handed out a boxful of Planetary Reports and a stack of Solar Sail decals.

In August, TPSBAVN set up a table at the annual conference of the Astronomical Association of Northern California (AANC). They not only promoted the Society to the hundreds of amateur astronomers who attended the conference, but were also able to promote their own upcoming lecture in September featuring NASA Scientist and Society Advisory Council Chair Dr. Chris McKay who spoke on the Deep Impact mission. Both events were well attended and highly successful. Many thanks to Matt for scheduling volunteers Tracy Avent, Lonny Baker, Marty Gregory, Todd Hansen, Cindy Pavlinac, Ron Peterson, and David Mark.

• Southern California - Pasadena volunteers supported many Society events over several months. On July 4, Comet Bash, a highly successful event organized by Society Director of Projects Bruce Betts, drew about 800 people to watch and celebrate the successful impact of the Deep Impact probe into comet Tempel 1. Wrote Bruce, "Our speakers (Society Executive Director Lou Friedman, Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart, Society Vice President Bill Nye, and Deep Impact mission specialist Bill Smythe) were all entertaining and informative. The crowd was extremely enthusiastic, staying long after the impact, some staying until we closed down at 1:30 in the morning.  I note that Bill Nye stayed until after 1:30 am, along with several of our staff, helping to entertain the crowd and promote The Planetary Society. . . witnessing the impact live was an event I and many others will not forget " Helping to make this a successful event were many Pasadena volunteers: Steve Adams, Rosemary Agabra, Mary Brown, Zina Brown, Gina Brown, Rocky Brown, Susan Hargis, Robert Kelly, and Regional Coordinator Anna May Tomaszewski.

Pasadena volunteers Steve Adams, Robert Kelly, and Alan Langston spent an entire day at the Discovery Science Center tending a Society table that included an interactive Mars LEGO rover display with a laptop computer that controlled the rover, a 3-D Mars Panorama poster, solar sail stickers and Mars bookmarks for the kids, Planetary Reports and membership information for the adults. Museum visitors enjoyed operating the rover and marveled at the Mars landscape using 3-D glasses.

• Texas - Dan Stockelman represented the Society at the three-day "Festival of Stars" sponsored by the Dallas Science Place at Calumet Community Center near Dallas. Fourth through sixth grade school children were invited to look at space and science based exhibits. "The students were very interested in space, the stars, and events that can happen there.  We talked to kids and parents alike, spreading news and information, promoting education and science.  There was a lot of interest in the things we had brought.  The 3-D poster was a very big hit." Dan is interested in organizing a Dallas Area Volunteer Network.

Click to enlarge > Chippawa Falls Volunteers Window display draws attention in Chippawa Falls.

• Wisconsin - New Volunteers, John and Mildred Wiltrout of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, made a Planetary Society poster to hang in the window of their business. They have distributed Planetary Reports and membership forms. Their plan is to recruit new members in their area. "When we have more members, we will have some meetings and see what our next step should be. It is our goal to increase membership and interest in space exploration. We will have an ultimate goal of getting more young people interested and involved."

Resources

Volunteers often ask what materials are available from The Planetary Society to help them make a public presentation. Several Power Point presentations developed by the Society and volunteers are available. A sampling of programs includes “The Planetary Society Exploring New Worlds Seeking Other Life” (Dr. Louis Friedman), Exploring Mars Saturn and Beyond (Ken Kremer), and A wonderful overview of the Society and our many projects (Todd Sullivan). Contact Rita for information . We can also provide you with copies of The Planetary Report, bookmarks, stickers and posters when appropriate.

You may use any information you find on our website:  www.planetary.org . We ask only that you credit the source of material, be it The Planetary Society, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), or the European Space Agency (ESA). If you create a poster or power point presentation, we ask that you send Rita a preview copy for her review. And we encourage you to let us know about your presentation and whether you would like to share it with others.

Our new website has a beautiful new look and is easy to access. Click on Participate at the top of the page to find all the links to our Volunteer pages.

Web Links "For Members Only"

Planetary Society members are invited to get access back issues of the Planetary Report and participate in an on-going, on-line Members Forum. You will need to login and provide your member code. Contact comments@planetary.org for log-in and password information.

If you are not a yet a member of The Planetary Society, you can join by going to http://planetary.org.

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