August Meeting Minutes
Minutes of the Meeting of Shenandoah Valley Gem and Mineral Society
Meeting date: August 12, 2024
What an exciting time we had at our monthly meeting on August 12! Lots and lots of free stuff to take home, door prizes, new members and a very intriguing program. If you haven't been to one of our meetings, please try to attend. We had 23 members present.
Jack gave us an update about the show. He had flyers & notepads to hand out, as well as our new car magnet signs with a QR code that gives information about the show. We have 41 vendors signed up so far and we need to SET UP OVER 300 TABLES on Thursday, Sep. 19th - and take them down on Sunday. {Many of our members are getting older/have medical issues, so if you have some strong friends that could help, please bring them!} We also need a few healthy individuals to climb tall ladders and hook up electric cords for some of the vendors.
Jack has our website up to date with info. Marcia M. did a YouTube video that summarizes the last few shows: https://youtu.be/tfYRLUFosog. We are trying to get on the community bulletin boards. FaceBook is our biggest advertiser - most of our visitors cited that as the way they heard about us. Go to https://www.facebook.com/ShenandoahValleyGemMineralSociety
We will be notifying other mineral clubs in VA to help us spread the word. Our vendors also give out information. Our volunteers will be on "neighborhood watch" for the vendors. (If you are on this duty, and see something, please discreetly notify the vendor.) We also give the vendors bathroom breaks & offer snacks/water to them.
A very important part of our show - and our club is the only one that does this out of all the many, many shows across the US - is to provide a meal on Friday night for the vendors and club. The club provides chicken & drinks, as well as paper goods. PLEASE LET ME KNOW ASAP THE SIDE DISHES/DESSERTS YOU PLAN ON BRINGING. The club can purchase more items if we absolutely have to, but we need to know ahead of time. There will be around 100 people eating at 6:30. {We can use some people to bring coolers of ice to cool drinks for the vendors/helpers.}
Scott G, our Show Guru, who signs on our vendors, initiates contracts, handles all the money collected, pays the bills and does the schematic for the booths, will not be able to be at the show until Friday evening. He has moved to NC for a new job. Is there someone(s) who would be willing to take over this vital role for our club for next year? The show can't go on if there is no one to organize all these essential duties.
Kelly, always ready with an interesting fact to share, said that if we put all our show tables end-to-end, we will have almost 1/2 mile of tables full of rocks & minerals for the public to peruse!
Debbie and Cindy picked up over 60 boxes of rocks, minerals and fossils donated by Will Crowder, a club member who lives in Ivy. Debbie brought 16 boxes to the meeting, and almost all of the items found their way home with some very appreciative club members. Will collected these samples himself from VA, WV and a few places out west. There will be more boxes of free items each meeting until they are gone. Thank you, Will!
Mike P, our president, also brought a plethora of various minerals. He had some 6" sized quartz, calcite & amethyst that we used as door prizes. He had bags of pebble-sized minerals such as black tourmaline, cat's eye, corundum, aventurine, and sodalite. Some members will be donating these to school groups and scouts. Some will make their way to our sluice and kiddie sandbox for the show.Thank you, Mike for sharing!
Please let me know if you are available to help at the show!! THANKS
Sep 9: 7 pm. Planning for the show. Program to be determined.
Sep 19: Set up for the show at EXPO
Sep 20-22: The 56th Annual Gem & Mineral Show (Set up Thursday 9/19) Show Friday - Sunday (20th -22nd) Mark your calendars and get ready to have some fun helping!!!
Lots of WONDERFUL volunteers making our 56th annual Gem. Mineral & Jewelry Show a resounding success!! I am already making a list of volunteers, so please let me know when you can help. Thanks!
Club Officers and Staff 2016-2024
President – Michael Pabst
Vice President – Leo Cloutier
Educational Outreach -- Deborah Grimm
Secretary/Newsletter -- Deborah Grimm
Field Trip Coordinators - TBD
Co-Treasurers – Scott Gregory/Deborah Grimm
Show Team Leaders – Scott Gregory/Jack Glenn
Web Site Coordinator – Jack Glenn
Club web site: shenandoahvalleyrockclub.org
Club Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ShenandoahValleyGemMineralSociety
Club email: svgem-min-club@live.com