If you are amazed at what CCGMS offers you probably have the person sitting next to you at a meeting to thank.  You may be new and don't know what you can contribute or you may think you don't know enough about the club.  Well the truth is, you'll learn more by becoming more involved with the club as a volunteer. 

Cobb County Gem and Mineral Society is a non-profit all volunteer organization.  We rely on volunteers to keep our club humming.  Volunteers are needed for a variety of positions but let's get you started by dipping your feet into the volunteer pool.  If everyone does a little we can get a lot done!

What Types of Volunteers Do You Need?

Enjoy those good refreshments at the end of the meeting?  See Becky Hunt about bringing a cake, cookies, chips, sandwiches or an item of your choice to the meeting.  Bring the receipt for the item and turn it into our Treasurer, Wayne Dodd, for reimbursement.  Homemade is always appreciated.  See Becky Hunt.

Do you get mail?  Save your stamps and bring them to a meeting and turn them in to Donna Barrett for the Stamp Program.  Leave a quarter to half-inch border around the stamp when you cut it out.

Is sewing your hobby?  Throughout the year we need members to take material home to sew grab bags.  Return one stack and take more material home to sew. Volunteers stuff the grab bags full of rocks and minerals and sell them at our annual show.  See Pat Brown if you can help with the sewing.

Do you like to meet new people?  Volunteer to work our annual Gem and Mineral Show the weekend before Thanksgiving. We need people to welcome people, work the grab bag table, set up display cabinets, walk the show floor and perform other tasks.  See Pat Brown.

Calling all cooks.  We need members to cook a dish and bring it to the Annual Dealer's Dinner that we put on for show vendors.  We are told that our dealer dinner is one of the best and we want to keep our vendors well fed.  After all the dealers are fed the volunteers get to eat. If you aren't a cook, come help clean up in the kitchen.  The quality of food and the success of this dinner depends on our members.  See Becky Hunt to sign up for a dish.

Are you a rockhound?  Ask George Libby about assisting him at a field trip. Write an article about your rockhounding experiences for the newsletter (Toby Stewart) and /or the website (Ruth Rainey).

How are your digital photography skills?  CCGMS loves pictures of our members working in the workshop or attending field tips.  Anne Bair can't be everywhere.  She needs some helpers to fill in when she can't be there.

Are you a good writer?  If you are knowledgeable about earth sciences, lapidary arts, rock hounding or would like to report on field trips please share your articles for the website and newsletter.  See Toby Stewart for the newsletter and Ruth Rainey for the website.

Are you well versed in the lapidary arts?  Perhaps you would like to teach a class to fellow members in the workshop.  Our motto is "Each one teach one."  Please help us keep this tradition alive by sharing your skills.  See Ruth Rainey for more details. 

Annual Gem and Mineral Show

Do you like to socialize and eat?  Help stuff grab bags during the annual Grab Bag Party held in October at the home of Carl and Pat Brown.  See Pat Brown for more info.

Do you like to meet new people?  Volunteer to work our annual Gem and Mineral Show the weekend before Thanksgiving. We need people to welcome people, work the grab bag table, help vendors set up, walk the show floor and perform other tasks.  See Pat Brown.

We also need help setting up club exhibit booths.  See Tim Hammond.

Demonstate at the show.  We hold demonstrations in the back room to introduce visitors to the lapidary arts.  If you are experienced at cabbing, faceting, beading, wire-wrapping, etc. please contact Anne Bair to schedule a demo time.

Do you think you might want to be an officer or hold an appointed position?

Our volunteers always need help.  Find a job that you are interested in and volunteer a few hours of your time.  Once you learn what the job is about you might find that you want to continue helping. 

We always need backups for key positions.  In fact, many of our committee people were co-chairs with more experienced members.

Every year we elect new officers: 

• President
• Vice President
• Treasurer
• Recording Secretary
• Corresponding Secretary

We also need members to volunteer to help with:

• Field Trips (George Libby)
  
• Newsletter (Toby Stewart)
• Membership (Al Sorensen)
  
• Annual Show (Mary Ingram)
• Publicity (Carina O'Bara)
  
• Hospitality (Becky Hunt)
  
• Club History (Edna Morris)
  
• Door Prizes and Show Exhibits (Tim Hammond)
  
• Website (Ruth Rainey)
  
• Photography (Anne Bair)
  
• Workshop (Anne Bair and Al Sorensen)
  
• Annual Audit (Frank Decaminada)
  
• Stamp Program (Donna Barrett)
  
• Telephone Tree (Kim Cochran)
  
• Grab Bags (Pat Brown)
  
• Teaching Classes in the Workshop (Ruth Rainey)
  

Submitted by Ruth Rainey

Get Involved - Shows