February 2018 – President’s Message

Presidents Message

A Note from the President’s Desk . . .

Our Cascade Gem and Mineral Show is fast approaching. It’s approximately 7 ½ months until show time! At our general meeting, when the Board was getting ready to put a deposit on the venue, almost 100% of the attending membership said they would volunteer to help with the show. Well now is the time to step up. There are still a lot of positions that need volunteers so you can pretty much have a pick of what you would like to help out with. We need everyone’s input and ideas. Our first all-hands-on-deck show committee meeting is on Feb 5th at 6:30 to 7 pm, at Wendy’s, 505 E Smith St., Kent. Please plan on attending the Show Committee Meeting! The Board meeting follows the Show meeting and everyone is welcome to stay or not.

I will not be at our February Board and General meetings as Mike and I are heading to the Tucson Gem Show. We will be gone about 3 weeks as we are driving and planning on stopping to hunt for rocks along the way. We will also be looking to purchase items for ourselves plus 2 or 3 very nice items for our Show raffle.

The Club ended 2017 in very good financial shape. We have made great strides in balancing our budget plus having the funds for the show venue deposit. I want to thank everyone that has purchased items at our auctions throughout the year and bought the excess club machinery and rocks. The auctions are very important to the club as annual membership dues alone doesn’t cover our expenses.

I am very excited when looking ahead at 2018. Our club is steadily growing, our 2018 projected income and expenses are in balance and we have resumed our annual Rock & Gem Show. Thank you to everyone that has contributed their time and efforts to making our Club a success.

Kat Koch

CMS President

Updated: March 1, 2018 — 11:32 am

Presidents Message

  • From the Top of the Rock Pile Our annual club picnic went off great. The grass and Arboretum area was not wet or muddy, plus it didn’t rain while we were there. We had the usual club members attend, plus a few new faces. I forgot to count how many people attended, but I estimate around 40. Thank you, Angie and Brian, for shopping for the food and setting everything up. Thumbler’s Tumblers donated a tumbler for our picnic auction and another one for our holiday auction in December. The new double-barreled 15# tumbler sold for $120, approximately one-third the …

Meeting Announcements

  • We are going to show a video of the most unusual and amazing things found in Amber. It isn’t just insects. We are also going to have a recap of how our Gem Show did last month. Show ‘n Tell: An item that has something trapped inside or a picture rock, thunder egg, or geode that looks like it has an insect, animal, or face inside.

  • Maureen will speak on the geology and the movement of the Washington coastline over millions of years. Show ‘n Tell: Favorite rock or mineral from Washington

  • Glen Ripper is a leading authority on Obsidian. He is a walking encyclopedia which should make this an interesting and educational meeting. Show ‘n Tell: Obsidian – let’s see your colors.

  •   We start the day off with a potluck holiday meal. The club provides roasted turkey and ham. Members fill in with their favorite holiday potluck dish. We follow our meal with the election of officers for the coming year. Our final activity is our club auction. It is a great time to pick up great bargains on rough rocks, polished rocks, slabs, fossils, opal, etc. Our Young Tumblers can use their Rock Bucks to purchase auction items. This meeting is also our semi-annual food drive for the Kent Food Bank. Please remember to bring something. The Food Bank has informed us that they need feminine hygiene products and grape or strawberry jelly. People donate loads of peanut butter but never jelly. They also receive very few donations of feminine hygiene products.

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