November 2023 Business Meeting Summary
By Andy Thompson, MSDC Secretary
President Kenny Reynolds called the meeting to order and, for their service, thanked three past MSDC presidents who were in attendance. He welcomed visitors who were attending for the first time (or were relatively new to MSDC) and three shared their interests in attending: Wayne (of Philly), “Mom” (a former science educator), and Terri (with a science background now living in Kansas City, MO).
Kenny then called for a motion to approve the October business meeting minutes as published in the November newsletter. The motion was offered, seconded, and implicitly approved unanimously. Attendees offered no new reports of geology in the news, old business or new business.
Donations & Volunteers Needed for the NVMC Show
MSDC’s secretary, Andy, then outlined MSDC’s fund raising efforts geared to selling mineral specimens and geology books at a club table at the upcoming Northern Virginia Mineral Club’s annual gem & mineral show on November 18 and 19 at George Mason University. We ask MSDC members to donate minerals so that sales revenue can be used to support the club’s annual donations to the Smithsonian or to help fund a geology student’s research. He asked MSDC members willing to donate minerals or to volunteer for a few hours to staff the club’s table to contact Kenny Reynolds or Andy to make the arrangements.
Cindy, our Vice President for Programs, noted that in place of a formal presentation, our December meeting will be a holiday party at a member’s home on Saturday evening, December 9. For more information, contact Kenny Reynolds. In January, our presenter will be Thomas Hale, a graduate student at the University of Delaware’s geology department. The topic is TBA.
Editor’s Report
Newsletter Editor Ken called attention to the “Geology in the News” article in last month’s issue of Mineral Minutes. It provided links to 4 stories of geology-related events, including the recently-returned Bennu asteroid minerals, now on display at the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History. Ken asked for some volunteers to help coordinate gathering titles and links to such articles for the newsletter, or at least, to send him links to articles that might interest our readers.
Treasurer’s Report
Although an audio difficulty prevented a full report, John did make it clear that there was a need to raise funds if we are to continue our annual donations. He reported no significant change in the club’s finances.
With no further business to conduct, Kenny called for and obtained a motion to close the business meeting and handed the mic over to Cindy, our VP for Programs, to introduce the evening’s presenter.