Report to MSDC Members from your Board of Directors

by Andy Thompson, MSDC Secretary

Earlier this year, your Board of Directors met to discuss how our club can better serve your interests. We identified and discussed four priorities that are detailed below. If you might be interested in helping with any of these priorities, please reach out to any of the board members. Their names and contact information are included in every newsletter, but for your convenience, at the bottom of this column, as well.

In short, we need your help to keep our club moving forward!

Our Priorities

Our president Dan Teich aims to have at least two types of social gathering yearly, one by having one of our 10 monthly evening club meeting be in-person, with a speaker, perhaps at a local DC public library or other site near a Metro stop or DC public library. This will be a hybrid gathering, in-person and via Zoom for everyone living beyond the Washington Beltway.

A second type of social meeting could be in the form of a summer picnic or winter holiday gathering, perhaps including a voluntary mineral exchange, show and tell, shared food and fun. Let us know your thoughts! We'd love to get your help in organizing or planning a social event.

2. Identify Coordinators to Help Plan Field Trips

Support our Club’s Several Missions

MSDC would like to have more field trips and we are open to a variety of suggestions. One example: you could organize different types of field trips for mineral education, such as the recent late-April guided tours at the Smithsonian Geology, Gems & Mineral Hall.

Another example: you could organize traditional mineral collecting field trip events. One more example: you could help find good homes for our donated minerals such as those that are sold each November at the NVMC mineral sale at the George Mason University show.

Each of these events requires volunteers working together on short-term tasks, such as helping to collect, curate and transport donated minerals. Having many helpers makes it fun and requires only a few hours of work, not an overwhelming task.

3. Encourage You to Help in Other Ways

You can see how successful MSDC has been with our excellent monthly programs arranged by Ken Reynolds and Laura Dwyer. This happens in part by all members being on the lookout for interesting program topics and our ability to attract experienced presenters.

Please help us identify potential presenters for our meetings. Candidates include, for example, people you consider to be mentors, dealers who might be willing to share their expertise, or speakers you've heard before and want to hear from again.

Ditto for our monthly “Mineral Minutes” newsletter edited by Ken Rock who encourages all to consider contributing to “Geology in the News” or submitting articles/stories. Ken is willing to share what he knows about publishing our newsletter and wants to find someone willing to learn new things. You don't have to have much computer literacy to do it! Please reach out to Ken if you are interested in learning more.

Do you have a Zoom account or experience hosting Zoom events? We are looking to find someone to help manage our monthly Zoom meetings. Please reach out to Betty Thompson (bdthompson01@yahoo.com) who arranges our Zoom meetings. She would most definitely appreciate some help.

For these and our other routine tasks, we need your help as back-ups and supporters. Let any BOD member know if you might be interested in exploring helping us.

4. Expand the Membership to Include Students and Youth

The youth are our future. Every mineral club that wants its mission to continue will encourage and inspire young people. MSDC membership does not have an age (or height) requirement to join us. We have a history that dates back to 1942 of meeting in the early evening. Some members have signed up as a “family membership” and so it includes youth.

Your BOD is mulling over this need and exploring possibilities. And, it is not about raising funds. Quite the contrary. We invite you to share any thoughts you may have about how MSDC might go about inspiring students and young people who will serve as the next leaders of our club.

For decades, MSDC provides a grant to support a geology student at George Washington University. We also make an annual donation to the Smithsonian Department of Mineral Sciences. Many of our members have personal stories of how they began collecting rocks as children and felt the pleasure of discovery, beauty and mystery. With a little help from us, it can blossom.

Our newest BOD member, Andy Gold, at the close of our Board meeting captured these four priorities by recalling, when he and Amelia first joined MSDC and we were meeting in person in the NMNH pre-Covid, they felt the magic of our club was in our talking together, telling stories, and sharing our humanity. Well said Andy. That’s what our club strives to be, with your help.

Current MSDC Board Members and Contact Information

-- Dan Teich, President: danteichdvm@yahoo.com

-- Ken Reynolds, Vice President for Programs: kennyreynolds62@gmail.com

-- John Weidner, Treasurer: jfweidner42@gmail.com

-- Andy Thompson, Secretary: thompson01@starpower.net

-- Andrea Lubawy, Director: andrea.lubawy@gmail.com

-- Craig Moore, Director: crrocks77@icloud.com

-- Andy Gold, Director: andygold77@gmail.com

-- Ken Rock, Newsletter Editor: kennethnrock@gmail.com