October 2023 Business Meeting Summary

white clouds over snow covered mountain — Volcán de Fuego, Guatemala. Photo by Alain Bonnardeaux on Unsplash.

By Andy Thompson, MSDC Secretary

President Kenny Reynolds began the meeting by welcoming and thanking everyone for coming. He gave the traditional tip of the hat to the four members in attendance who previously served as MSDC club presidents. He then invited anyone who was attending MSDC for the first time to introduce themselves, and, if they liked, to share their interests. Harold, a geochemist living in San Francisco, said he joined MSDC because of the club's many talks posted on YouTube and thanked the club for welcoming him to the October Zoom meeting. Another new member, Joe, living in Washington, DC, expressed a strong interest in learning lapidary skills and received several resource possibilities including neighboring clubs.

Kenny then asked for a motion to approve the September business meeting minutes as published in the October issue of the Mineral Minutes. No recommended changes were raised and so the minutes were approved. He then asked if the officers had reports. Andy, the Secretary, had none and John, as Treasurer, reported the club now had 39 members including 3 new members having joined in the past month.

Editor Ken reported that of the 231 recipients of the club’s monthly emailed newsletter, slightly more than half had opened the September edition. In addition, he said there were more than 300 total “opens,” meaning some readers opened the email message multiple times, which Ken has been told, is a very good result.

Cindy, Vice President for Programs, said that she has lined up monthly speakers through June 2024, but September 2024 is currently open. The presenter for the club’s upcoming November 1st meeting is a long-time student of geology and mineralogy, Raymond McDougall, who will speak about the tides of Nova Scotia’s Bay of Fundy. See the full description and his interesting biography elsewhere in this newsletter. Kenny then moved the evening along by calling for, and receiving, a motion to close the business meeting. He turned the program over to Cindy to introduce Abigail Nalesnik, the evening’s presenter.