Why the Argument "Its Too Much Money & Takes Too Much Time" doesn't hold water anymore (or prevent fires)

I posted this on Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter today as a comment, but I thought it deserved its own post. I've expanded upon what I said there below.

The Isanti County Historical Society in Minnesota had their building attacked by arsonists.

They lost everything.

Everything.

The first two comments on the Eastman page said it all to me.

"Shouldn't the arrest and conviction be of those that didn't get the records digitized? Clearly something is broken in the historical society model."

"If it did not require thousands of dollars and thousands of man-hours, I’m sure all societies would “get the records digitized.” When someone makes such a comment, I can’t help but wonder how much money and how many volunteer hours they give to their local historical and genealogical societies in support of digitization projects…"

You know, this is the same argument that's been waging on for a while.

Digitize and back up records?

"No, I can't, its too much money and too many hours"

"But you must, what happens if there's a disaster?"

"That would be horrible. But its too much money and too many hours. We don't have enough help or money to do it."

Here's where I think most people are lacking. It IS possible to do a digitization project without having thousands in the bank and armies of volunteers!

I understand. You're tired. You've been with the same core of volunteers since 1911, and it ain't about to change anytime soon. If it needs to get done, you've got to do it, and that's one MORE thing you have to fit into your schedule.

But...there's a thought. What if you did go out for more volunteers? What if you did start working on a project. What if you could get people energized about history and genealogy? Maybe you wouldn't have to be the ONE volunteer left.

If you're with me, and ready to make that leap, read on. If not, and you're already irritated with what I've said, feel free to comment or move on.

Need volunteers? How about posting on volunteermatch.org? How about reaching out to your local Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts troops? How about reaching out to the local Junior Chamber and your Chamber of Commerce? Have you reached out to your local university or community college? Developing a digitization project could be a great project for some interns! Have you reached out to local bloggers, Google+ users, Twitterers, Facebook users? These people can all be a source for volunteers.

Need money? Run a project - sell a digital cookbook or history book. Or a hard copy one. Or sell Tupperware, run a fundraising night at a local restaurant or bakery, or open a cause on Facebook. Work with a local group to fundraise like the Junior Chamber or Chamber of Commerce or Development Corporations. Do a calendar like Calendar Girls did! Auction off hours of your time for other people. Think like any other organization - wash cars - do whatever it takes to get some seed money together. So many organizations I've seen solely confine how they fundraise to just genealogy type projects - a local history, a history day, selling research time, selling memberships. Those are great, but they aren't the ONLY things you can do!

Or work to partner with a local organization to help with some of the costs - one of my favorite societies partnered with a local library to get ALL of their newspapers scanned. The library hosts the data the society scans for them and OCRs for them.

Another group I've worked with worked with their local phone company to sponsor pages on their member-only website with old phone records. It just depends on where your group's strength lies - sponsorships work great for orgs with members in the business community.

Need knowledge of how to do the process? Reach out to people like Dick Eastman and others that willingly give out tons of good instruction guides and reviews.

All you really need to do is make sure that there are digital copies of your documents out there with your members. You don't have to build some slick website. You don't have to OCR your files (though that is nice...). You don't have to even have them in PDFs (TIF files in a labeled folder work just fine). You need to get those digital copies, and put several discs/hard drives/flash drives out there with your members (you know, in case one of their houses burns down or floods). All the rest can come later.

To end this off - my point is, you CAN do a digitization project. Focus on things unique to your library - there's no point in doing a US Census book, for example - like local history books, local censuses, photos of the area, etc. Start small and work your way up. There's no need to do all of your books and documents RIGHT NOW.

One society that I've belonged to in the past had a goal to do one book a week. By the end of the year, the entire library was digitized, and they discovered a new revenue stream as other people (including myself) could buy copies of books we liked and have them emailed to us.

It IS doable. People just need to make that leap between making the excuse (aka the comfortable way) and doing it (aka going into the unknown).

American Animal Rescue Society Raffle!

You guys all know how much I love animals :-)

Karin (Ravelry: knittypitty) of the blog Shouting Quietly is doing a great raffle for the animals of the Chicagoland area. Seriously - how cute is this?


Just one of the adorable items available!

All of the money helps the AARS pay their veterinarian bills and open a shelter at some point. Its a great cause and I like their philosopy - there's no discrimination against breeds, ages, or disabilities.

So - how do you help?

Go to this blog post.

Drool, oogle, and otherwise envy the awesome stuff for raffle.

See at the bottom the brown box labeled "AARSociety Spring 2010" and "ChipIn!" at the bottom? That's what you have to do - and she's posted the rules of the raffle just under that.

Good luck! That spindle lot is seriously calling my name - I may have to donate for a ticket or two!

Helping Bunnies

Creative Commons Licensed Image by SusanG2 on Flickr.

I saw this in my inbox today and just had to share.

The Animal Rescue Site, that normally just gives bowls of food to needy animals is running a special for Easter. Anything purchased from their store gives help to needy bunnies in addition to the normal food funding. Or you can send a free e-card to help the bunnies.

I'm not normally a bunny lover - the darn things are killers for pretty flowers, get run over all the time, and in general, multiply way too fast. However, I know this time of year people get it in their heads that a bunny would be a fabulous gift for their kids for Easter, and when the kids don't take care of it, thousands of bunnies end up being "set free" or dropped off at the nearest shelter. So the shelters are going to need all the help they can get.

And seriously - you need to check out SusanG2's photostream on Flickr. She has a great eye for photos! Her pictures of the Canadian Geese even made me ooh and aah over the close view and great shots and I have a serious problem with most of those animals - hissing, biting sky rats that they are.

Anyway, I hope you all have a happy Easter, if you're inclined that way, and a good weekend if you're not.

Help BlueAvocado Get 1 Billion Plastic Bags Off the Street!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MbTVC1BWaY



Change the way you shop - for good. Watch this video and make the pledge to use fewer plastic bags. Together we can keep one billion plastic bags from polluting our streets this year.

Monster Mini Golf - the countdown begins!!!

We are inviting you to the 5th Annual Monster Mini-Golf Pub Crawl to benefit Berwyn C.A.R.E.S!

Sign In is from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm at the Windsor Bar
Tee Off is at 12:30 pm
After Party is at 6:00 pm at the "19th Hole" at Windsor Restaurant featuring pizza compliments of Berwyn's own Salernos!

Drink specials will be available at every bar and there are plenty of prizes to be had!

Registration is $50 and is due by April 13, 2009!

Bars include:
Cabin Fever
George's Tavern
Quan's Oasis
Windsor Restaurant & Sports Bar
The James Joyce Irish Pub
Salerno's Pizza
Garv Inn
Cherry Lounge
Olive or Twist
Over the Rainbow

For more details and our registration flyer, visit, our http://www.berwynjaycees.org or our Facebook Group

One Dollar Giving

I regularly read many blogs, and Frugal Dad is one that I subscribe to because many of his insights are very good. (I also like Retire at 40 - he's very inspiring!).

Todays post was about small giving to charity - its been a rough, rough year for many people and charities are suffering for it.

So here's the idea, 31 charities, 31 days, and all they're asking is that you put forth $1 through Network for Good.

I decided to skip my weekly hamburger and throw my buck in for Community Access. I encourage all of you to do the same - and they are looking for etsy sellers to donate $1 from each sale of items on etsy to the various causes.

Support the Illinois Jaycees - No Money Required!

Hello Friends, Family and fellow Jaycees,

The Illiniois Jaycees are participating in the “Make My Non-Profit Run Better” contest for a chance to win an office technology makeover from RK Dixon. The winning organization will receive new office and network equipment valued at $20,000. The second prize is valued at $10,000 and the third prize at $5,000.

This is a great opportunity for us, as you know firsthand the time it takes to raise this amount of money. This makeover would allow us to be more efficient in providing services for those who need it most. And, typically, money raised tends to support our mission, rather than offset business technology costs.

How can you help? For once, not by donating money, but by voting! The organization with the most votes will be selected as a top five finalist. The more votes, the better chance we have to win.

Go to www.rkdixon.com starting on Monday July 28th and vote for the Illinios Jaycees until Aug. 4. Please vote once a day. This is tracked as a 24 hour period so if you vote at 8:00am you will not be able to cast another vote until 8:00am the following day. But, stay tuned … if we are chosen as a finalist we will need your votes again! We need this makeover to help us run better.

Please forward this email to any friends or colleagues who you feel would be willing to vote for us.

Happy voting and thank you for your support!

Tanya Lee
2008 State President
IL Jaycees
"Quest for Success"

Salt Lake City Climb4Life

I am deathly afraid of those kinds of heights, but I encourage everyone else to have a good time in Salt Lake City this September.

Climb4Life

Some of the Ravelers pointed this awesome project out, so I'm sure there's going to be a large contingent of knitters and crocheters there.

Maybe I can talk my husband into climbing. Anyone know if an AMA or MotoGP race is there in September ;-P

Much Less Frilly Moccasins

This pattern can now be found on Ravelry! Check out my latest post on the moccasins for more details.

Purple Flower Power!

You guys will probably see a flurry of posts from me in the next couple days as I try to make stuff to sell at the Relay for Life.

I know, I know, I got talked into another charitable thing. Again. With a tight deadline. Did I mention I know?

Anyway, this was an idea for something quick and fun and I think they should be a big hit with the kids!

Feel free to use them for your Relay for Life projects!

This project has two parts, the flower and the "chain". Here's what to do:

Creating the "Chain"

1. Slip knot (leave a nice bit of yarn free) and Chain 120.
2. Single crochet into the 2nd chain from the beginning, and each chain thereafter (118 sc)
3. Chain one, then turn, and Single Crochet into each Chain. (118 sc)
4. Slip stitch into each single crochet (118 slip stitches)
5. Fasten off, and make sure to leave a nice bit of tail.

Creating the "Flower"

1. Chain 6. (6)
2. Do 12 double crochets into the space (like doing a granny) (12)
3. Chain 3, and do 2 double crochets into each double crochet from row 2. (24)
4. Chain 4, and do four treble crochets into the first double crochet from row 3.
5. Single crochet into the next stitch, then chain 3 (so essentially you will have a single crochet with three chains on top of it).
6. Repeat rows 4 and 5 through the entire circle.
7. When you reach the last set of treble crochets, you should be back at the beginning with no space for a single crochet. This is okay! Do the single crochet in the stitch where you had started the treble crochets (they should scoot over just fine).
8. Then join the first treble crochet and the last single crochet with a slip stitch. Fasten off, and weave in your ends. Your flower is complete!

Creating The Necklace:
1. Take your "chain" and fold it in half. Make sure it lies flat against itself! Take the pesky beginning yarn tail (from the beg. chain) and thread it through a yarn needle.
2. Weave this through the back of the flower, preferably into the first set of double crochets nearest the center ring. DON'T CUT THE YARN!!!!!
3. Once that's completed, do the same for the tail from the other side of the "chain".
4. Now, while I mentioned "don't cut the yarn", I really mean "don't cut the yarn!" here, also!
5. Now, take the remaining tails and thread them through the other side of the yarn, and weave them in. NOW, you can cut the yarn, LOL! If you're much more adept with a sewing needle, you could use some new yarn, but I'd just as same use the same thread from before.

And there you have it, a cute little flower necklace, modeled here by my bear Groovy!

Relay Scarf

My newest pattern, created just for the Relay for Life of Berwyn Cicero.

I could REALLY use your help...if you can possibly donate your time or your dollars, here's where to go:

Concetta's Relay For Life Page

Anyway, to get the pattern, head over here:

Relay Scarf

The end of the week?

Nope, not for me. I'm a bit crocheted out - thank god my bag for the HSKS4 is knitted!

I think I should be able to get far with it, but it may depend on the ability of the Elgin interview to get finished quickly. I don't know. With DB, who knows?

I'm a bit tired out of crochet for the week. I literally, spent the entire week doing nothing but blankets, booties and a little jacket, and buying baby clothes. My dance studio is donating everything to charity, and there was a nice little contest about it.

I figure I have everyone beat - I made some stuff, bought some stuff, and my mom even sent a baby picture for the "do you recognize me?" contest!

Fun stuff!

I also joined LinkedIn this week. Yup, I finally joined the adults and plan on using it for networking. I deliberated inviting my boss to my network, but decided against it and only invited the boss I like.

Talk to y'all later!

Roundup in Hogwarts Land...or Happy Leap Year!

This week has been absolutely fascinating.

-Monday, I worked on my HSKS4 bag some. Got really frustrated and decided to put it down for a little while. (stupid yarnovers...)

-Tuesday, I fell asleep on the couch at like, 7 pm. WAY too many nights of going to bed late, I think!

-Wednesday, I went to dance class and worked on merengue, salsa, bachata (sp?), and waltz. So fun! I also found out about the next dance party is going to be "Ballroom Baby" where they're going to collect things for the local "abandoned/chronically ill/abused" baby shelter.

-Thursday I spent in bed due to a strained calf muscle - yech!

-Friday (aka today), is Happy Leap Year! I've basically found out they don't need me for the addendum, so I've been looking up baby patterns based on the suggestions of the people from Ravelry for Quick yet useful items. I don't want to give them a bunch of headbands, for example, and find out the shelter can't use them!

Normally I would go to the dance party at the studio tonight, but I'm not going to bother since it would be a bummer just sitting along the sidelines with an injury.

So this weekend I plan to make baby items and intersperse that with rows on the HSKS4 bag. I'm on row 33 of 63 for the first side - I've got to pick it up a bit!