After a bit of a hiatus the Friends of Explorit Updates Newsletter reappears with the news that Ethel Sassenrath has moved from Davis to Rocklin to be closer to her family. We expect that she will resume responsibility for the newsletter when she is established in her new home and has conquered the peculiarities of her new computer. Ethel plans to return several times a week to Davis to help with the Explorit Store orders and re-shelving, to participate in the mailing parties, and to have lunch with friends.

Meanwhile the work of Friends continues. The Schools Program Flyer was bundled by the Mailing Team a couple of weeks ago and more recently they worked on the mailing of the flyers for the Summer Vacation Program of science classes.

The summer classes run from June 13 – August 19 and there are always some families that need partial scholarships so that each child can attend at least one weeklong class. the Sassenrath Scholarship Fund has become somewhat depleted by requests from underserved and under funded schools for fee reductions for school classes visiting Explorit and for Explorit traveling programs to their school sites. Contributions would be very welcome. (Contact Explorit or print the page page that is for Friends membership and contributions.)

The collection of books called the Explorit Library is undergoing another face-lift. Old and unused books are again being culled from the collection and staff has asked if Friends can help rebuild the library with more up-to-date, relevant books that will be more useful in the development and augmentation of programs
When the culling is complete Friends will be needed to re-shelve the books, write out catalog cards, and enter the information from the cards into the FileMaker pro database.
Someone has already offered to do the data entry but ‘shelvers’ and ‘card-scribes’ will be needed in a week or two. Please let Anne know if you might be able to help with this project.

As you almost certainly are aware, Explorit is in the process of planning an additional facility for its programs. The building is to be located on Second Street at the north end of the bicycle overcrossing from South Davis, There will be about twice as much space in the new building for the Explorit Store and the whole two-storey building will expand public space for hands-on activities by several thousand square feet.

Planning for furnishings for the new store is already underway. There will be low cupboards around the room to provide storage space for stock, and slat-wall on each wall to provide a wide range of display options. If you would be interested in being involved with the planning please email Anne at rahance@dcn.org.

Friends has encountered a lack of people able to volunteer time to help in the store on weekday afternoons and weekends. Consequently this responsibility has had to be assumed by Explorit staff. When the store opens in the new building in Fall 2006 Friends will need to organize a roster of volunteers who can spend a few hours each week helping visitors make purchases. This will be an important service that will relieve staff for other duties.

At the end of February the Store’s fund balance was $7,400. A couple of very busy weeks had severely depleted the store stock and so about $1,500 of new items was ordered.
Although Friends helps support the Scholarship Fund out of store profits, we are also trying to build up the store fund balance so that it will be possible to open the larger, new store in Fall 2006 with shelves stocked with attractive and educational items.
The Friends members’ balance at the end of February (separate from the Store balance) was $1,090. This fund needs to be augmented so it can be used to buy the books requested by staff.