Our traditional OCA Outreach program focused on events where volunteer club members brought telescopes to certain locations, generally schools or parks, for students, their families or members of the general public (depending on the location) to view through.  The Outreach Coordinator was the contact for the schools or other entities that wanted to set up viewing events, managed the calendar, had a list of volunteers for these types of events, and would send out notices of upcoming Outreach events to the group of volunteers and determine who could cover the events that had been scheduled.  At the events, the Coordinator or someone designated by the Coordinator would handle the logistics for the club’s part of the event – such things as making sure we had access to the viewing area, that we were setting up in the correct area, that area lights were out after the viewing started, etc.  Jim Benet, who set up the program and streamlined how it was administered over the many years he ran it, has generously donated his software and other tools for handling all of these functions smoothly and easily.  Although Jim handled all of the administration of the program himself, there is no reason that can’t be handled by a team instead of a single person.

That’s the kind of program we want to build again, an Outreach program that our club volunteers enjoy participating in as much as those who are doing the viewing.  Are you interested in helping to get this kind of program going again?  If so, we’d love to hear from you, whether you are interested in being the Coordinator for the program, in helping to administer the program in some other capacity, or in being a volunteer for Outreach events – please email OCA Secretary