bare with me here for a few minutes. After visiting 4 countries on three continents and traveling over 80% of the Earths circumference in the last 2 months, it has become clear to me that people love science, everywhere. Science is the great uniter and knowledge of our Universe seems to transcend all the other stupid reasons why we separate ourselves from each other around the world. The people in Tunisia, Australia, Canada, and America had almost exactly the same values when it came down to it. They all wanted better for their children then they had, they all wanted to know whats it all about in the sky, and they all went out of their way to make me feel welcomed and appreciated for bringing our great program to their communities. I never felt alienated for being from one country or religion, or for having a certain skin color, not a single person ever felt the need to push any political or religious agenda on me, and I never felt anything but completely safe in any of the places I visited. The things that were the same in every country were; the news programs were all almost totally wrong about what was going on in the other countries, especially the US, everyone wanted to be left alone and allowed to enjoy their lives, everyone was proud of their homeland and very happy to share it with me, and every country except Tunisia was almost devoid of public interest or knowledge of science. The Tunisians were the most educated of all the countries I visited probably because of the completely free education all the way through post graduate levels available to everyone. The Australians were a close second and every other country was WELL ahead of American schools in teaching science. I was so extremely proud to show off our nonprofit education program and bragged about how we all do it together in a grassroots movement supported by the members of this Facebook group without government assistance. We gave away over $80,000 US worth of solar astronomy equipment in the 4 countries we visited, all financed by our donors, and we left a great impression of America on the people we visited. International SUNday was a great event and I was amazed at all the people who share our conviction to science as the great equalizer around the world. Thank you very much to the donors and supporters of this program for allowing us to make a really big impression on the rest of the world. Hopefully we have inspired a few new Copernicuses or Einsteins for the future generation. (no charity funds were used for travel expenses-each local rep paid these expenses) Everyone please remember that November is the ONLY month of the year where the CBSAP asks for donations. If you might consider putting aside your coffee or beer costs for a week to come up with a little bit to support the program, it would be greatly appreciated. With a 3% admin cost over 8 years, we are well below the average for any nonprofit in the US as we are ALL volunteers with NO ONE receiving a salary for anything. We will be giving away an Explore Scientific 127mm Carbon Fiber APO scope this year (my prize for winning the Astro-Oscar this year) with a Lunt 2 inch Solar Wedge all brand new in the box-(over $3000 US) to one lucky winner who donates $100 or more. It is all completely tax deductible as we are an actual, legit federally registered US nonprofit 501c3, unlike a lot of these kickstarter campaigns or other astronomy groups that ask for help but arent legitimate nonprofits. We take the integrity of our program very seriously and operate only in the most legally respectable and completely transparent way to ensure our donors that their money is going directly into the hands of a young astronomer as an in person lesson and hands on observing experience. We really need cash, 2009-2012 MacBooks or iMacs, used PGR firewire cameras and H-Alpha or CaK telescopes this year if you have any lying around for a full retail in-kind donation receipt. All of our tax returns and financial records are open to public inspection on our website.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Jul 2014 13:11:01 +0000
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