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VOLUNTEER UPDATES
December 12, 2008
from Casey Melton


Aquarium Holiday Party

It's the last week to purchase your holiday party tickets. Here are a few last minute details you may need......

1.  Party tickets are $5.00 each and you can bring ONE guest.  That is $10.00 for two people

2.  Party tickets MUST be purchased by Friday at 4:00 pm....We have to give a head count for food to the hotel and if it's not correct, then we don't have enough food!

3.  Dress is normally somewhat fancy however, you can wear whatever you want BUT you must wear clothing!!!! And skip the uniforms.

4.  Cocktail will be hosted starting at 6:30 until 7pm

5.  Dinner begins at 7:00 and food will be out until around 8:30.  (If you get there very fashionably late there might not be food) 

6.  The DJ will play dinner music and then somewhere around 9:00 ish the dancing will begin!

7.  The DJ has been asked not to play music with offensive language.   If you ask and he says no, you can blame Angie 

8.  Beer, Wine, soda, and water will be free.....Alcoholic beverages of other types (rum, vodka, whiskey, scotch, etc) is not free and can be purchased directly from the bartender.  No one under 21 will be drinking as ids will be checked. No ID No Drinky.

9.  The address to the Embassy Suites Hotel is 513 S. Florida Avenue.....

10.  They do offer event valet parking for $12 per car....otherwise, you can park at the aquarium and walk or ride the trolley...or you can park at the convention center parking garage.

Our very own Sharp Shooters staff will be there from 6:45 - 7:45 ish taking pictures in front of the beautiful Christmas tree....Then, on Thursday, those pictures will be available for purchase....  If you want a great holiday picture, they do a fantastic job...

Members Night
We need volunteers to help with the Members Only Night on Monday, December 22, 6-9 pm. We need assistance with touch tanks, BTS, face painting, crafts and more. This is a popular event for our members. If you can help out for this event, please contact Casey Melton (813) 273-4121 email: cmelton@flaquarium.org or there is a signup sheet in the volunteer lounge.

Aqua Eve
Want to bring in the New Year but can't figure out where to go? We are looking for volunteers to help with The Florida Aquarium's New Year Eve Party on Wednesday, December 31, 6:30pm to 2am. Get a full evening of food, drinks, music & fireworks. Complimentary beer and wine, champagne toast at midnight, front row seats for fireworks and ball drop over the channel. If you are interested in helping out and enjoy the celebration, registration forms are in the volunteer lounge next to the touch screen or contact Katie Kearney (813)367-4065 or email kkearney@flaquarium.org and we get you on the list.


Husbandry Openings

Animal Programs volunteers needed on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday 7am to noon. This is an opportunity to assist the Animal Programs team with Animal Shows working behind the scenes, clean holding areas, etc.

Water Quality positions open on Monday, Thursday & Friday mornings 7am to noon. Must be dependable and dedicated to the specific day.  

Wetlands Opener - Volunteers needed to assist in opening the wetlands gallery Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays starting at 7 until 10am.

OC Assistant - Volunteer Positions available in Ocean Commotion. Help is needed to open the New Ocean Commotion gallery Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday from 7am-noon.

Wetlands Volunteer needed to assist staff 7am – 4pm on Fridays.

If you’re interested in these openings, please complete a Husbandry Application in the lounge, and submit it to Volunteer Services. Don’t forget, you must write down the specific title and date of the position you’re applying for. If you are applying for more than one position, please complete an application for each position

Out of Office
Casey Melton will be out of the office the week of December 14 th. If you have any volunteer related issues, please see Bill Eggert in Human Resources.

 

GOT TO TOP


  • In an attempt “walks the talk” on our water conservation mission as well as cut down our water bill we have begun testing waterless urinals.  The 2 test units were installed in the 2 nd floor men’s room.  If these units perform as advertised we will ultimately convert all men’s room urinals in the entire facility to waterless.  (Sorry ladies, no waterless toilets yet!) This conversion has the potential to save nearly 500,000 gallons of water and around $30,000 annually.

As I said this is a test, so feel free to check them out and provide any feedback (positive or negative) to Rita, Don or Jack. 

Ahhhhhhhh! some time for contemplation, along with the business at hand of course.

Firstly…as we start the last month of the year…Happy Holidays, to one and all. Having said that….keep in mind, the time of year is at hand to insure we do all we can to keep our end of the Aquarium as shiny as possible. Remember, Santa's watching so be on your best behavior…in eye contact with your buddy, and always aware of what”s around you as well as your gear set up. NOOOO dragging gauges!! Be sure to log in before you get in the exhibit so we know where you are. Thanks ahead of time for your efforts. A thought, as well, make sure, just before you exit the exhibit your cleaning, that everything looks snug and tidy, corals aren”t laying on their side, or floating off into the cosmos and everything looks like it should from your experience diving on a real reef.

As we move along, remember the not to be missed Aquarium Christmas Party, on Dec. 17th at the Embassy Suites. If you ' ve not gotten your tickets, that can be arranged with either Casey Melton or Angie Bradley at $5 per head, for yourself and a guest. Dress is up to you…but from past experience…folks tend to get shined up for this.

We're continuing our coordination with the Ocean Conservancy to provide volunteer divers to assist with underwater clean-ups at various fishing piers around Pinellas County next year, with the work to hopefully be conducted from Feb thru June, scheduling to be worked out between OC and Dive ops. So far, we're contemplating the fishing pier out on Ft. Desoto , the shore end of the St. Pete Pier, and the catwalks along the west end of the Gandy Bridge. As we get closer to knowing more….we'll keep you posted for those who want to do a little something different in the underwater world around us.

Watch for the up-dates as to when we offer courses to bring you up to speed towards joining us in the off-site programs we conduct and don”t be afraid to look around the Aquarium for other ways to be of assistance, the more you know about us, the more we know about you.

Lastly, for those of you not up to speed on the newest member of dive world; Syvonne and Mike T are now the proud parents of a bouncing baby boy. Nicholas Michael was born on Sunday, Nov. 30th at 8 lbs. Mother and baby are doing fine and should be home as you read this. Sooooooooooo, congratulations to the Terrells.

Actually, that wan”t lastly….you still have your paper work to do. :=) Happy Holidays gang….and I”d be remiss if I didn”t insert some Green Team stuff……..think about wrapping your Christmas gifts using the Sunday funnies. It recycles the paper and gives the recipient something to laugh at, in case you bought them a cheap gift!! Be safe and remember , re-use, reduce or recycle.

To schedule a dive email Diveschedule@flaquarium.org or call (813) 367-4019. See you in the water!

    		•
    WHAT's NEW
    from Education's Public Programs
    GO TO TOP

    • There are now two, 2, dumpsters in the parking lot in area D. The smaller one, closer to the gate, with the Florida Aquarium logo on it is to be used for YARD WASTE ONLY!!!!!!! Do not put anything else in it please as you’ll render our efforts to better recycle useless. The yard waste trailer will be transporting plant material to a composting company. The rear dumpster is to be used for construction materials so please watch this as you reduce, re-use and re-cycle. Thanks everyone and GO GREEN.
    • We have been finding the loading dock door with a block in the latch to keep it from closing rather frequently lately.  While this may possibly be ok when the Receiving Office is manned (remember security LIKES locked doors) it is absolutely not ok when there is no one back in the area.  First, a gentle reminder that the Loading Dock is not a primary transit route; only people with business in the Loading Dock should be using the doors in the area.

    Unfortunately we have been finding the door blocked open with no one in the Loading Dock area period.  Considering the value of items that are stored at the loading dock it is not acceptable to let anyone walk in off the street because someone blocked the door open.  Therefore, Jack Christensen is establishing the policy that the ONLY person who may block the personnel door by the Receiving Office open is Ken Ness.  Whenever Ken is going to be out the area he is responsible for making sure that the door is properly secured and door blocking items are not accessible to anyone else (The roll-up door chain will not be used to block the door at anytime); on weekends when Ken is not working this door should remain locked at all times.   People who need to go out to dump trash, recycling, etc. and then return to the building will open the roll-up door, accomplish their task then close the roll-up door after returning to the building.  The preceding applies only to people not departing the loading dock area.  People who are leaving the loading dock area will allow the door to lock behind them and will need to use the Team Members entrance door to get back in.

    There is a new Blacknose shark in the beach! If she comes around during feeding time, please take your hands out of the water and wait until she swims away. Please please please do not hand feed her!!! This is really important. April will be target feeding her in another location other than where we feed the rest of the rays. Please pass this on to everyone who does a feeding, so they’re aware too.

    • Starting Monday, December 1, guests can't come back in the red doors after the Eco-Tour so please take them back in using the Black Gates with the code box. The codes are 4077# and 6969#. If these do not work for you I would recommend guests go back through the front doors, they should have no problem getting in with their receipt.
    • When feeding the horseshoe crab (yes we are down to one) in the beach, do not lift it anymore. Now all we have to do is simply bend down and slip it a piece of food. We can wait to feel if it grabs hold. If a stingray steals it then try to get him another one. If it is unsuccessful remember they can go a whole year without eating!
    • The great egret in 3.14 (mangrove right) and one cormorant in 3.17d are temporarily off exhibit.
    • Behind the beach we came across some old, very smelly containers we use to put the a.m. and p.m. beach feedings in… left there from some previous feedings… did we mention they were gross and smelly? Please remember to take the container down after feedings to wash it, so other team members don’t have to endure the grossness again!

    Fun Stuff!

     

    • It takes 287 milk bottles to make one of the benches in the coral reef gallery and shark bay.  With the 66 benches we have, that accounts for 18,942 milk bottles!
    • Metropolitan Ministries will be delivering donation barrels on Tuesday, November 25 th. These will be used to put the gifts in as people bring them. I believe in previous years the barrels were put right by the ticket taker stand.

    Metropolitan Ministries has scheduled two pickup dates for us – December 16 and December 23.

    • Santa will be here for pictures from 10:30-1:30 on December 6, 13 and 20 th! Elves will be diving in the dive shows on those days too!
    • The lovely red ball in the far right corner of the Pan Window is a mooring ball. We can use it to point out to guests and teach them about mooring balls and how anchors can really damage the coral reefs!
    • The Florida Aquarium is a nominee for the People’s Choice Award. I hope you all vote for us and forward to your friends and family and ask them to do the same. Thank you all and keep up the excellent work! We’re being noticed.

    www.WEDU.org/BeMore/POLL.htm
    Weekly updating by Michael Knudsen, a volunteer at the Florida Aquarium since 2002 and are provided and maintained as a free service to the outstanding volunteer community & staff of The Florida Aquarium..