Dear Aquarist,
Our May meeting is traditionally one of BAS’s largest events. This year we had to take the Giant Auction off site to Saint Mark’s school auditorium, East 18th Street and Ave. Z, because of a temporary problem at Education Hall. I want to personally thank Messrs. George Donnelly and William Bunch and also Rafino for working with us to make this event a huge success. Because there were costs involved with this relocation for our event, new member Shane Klein, owner of Classic Home Sales, stepped up and became our sponsor. We offer a huge Brooklyn Aquarium Society thank you to this very generous individual. Shane also obtained many marine corals and fish at our auction. As a special treat for our audience, we had ProSalt one pound frozen flats of bloodworms at the ridiculous price of $6.00 a pack and we will have some to offer at our next meeting. We had many rare and interesting species at this meeting; one in particular stood out – a freshwater African pipe fish! Over 200 items were up for auction and our raffle bags had many interesting and valuable prizes in store for the lucky winners.
June will have Lou Ekus of Tropic Marine USA as our guest speaker. Lou’s topic for the night will be “Basics of Reef Chemistry.” This will be the final month for the BAS Forum Question & Answer section. Our last quarter winners (Jan. – March) were for Questions – Abduraffi U. Abangon from Daveo City, Philippines; for Answers, our own Dr. Robert Price. The election of our officers and Board members are in June. There are expected to be many changes this year. I am stepping down as President after 8 years to pursue my new writing career. Our 1st Vice President Steve Matassa said that he will try to fill the role as President and I know that all of our BAS members will support him, as I do, as he seeks election for this very important position. Also Membership will be open since Tina Cingari must give up the office for personal reasons. Two Board positions will become vacant with John Fox and Dr. Robert Price stepping down for health concerns. With all these changes happening, we will need you, our BAS members, to step up to help out. We cannot do it alone. As of this year, we are no longer accepting NYC and Neighborhood Watch grants since it is a financial nightmare and it is physically wearing on the seniors who have installed aquariums in the past.
As always, the meetings will be at the NY Aquarium Education Hall. Doors open at 7:30 PM, and there is Free Parking and Free Refreshments.
Please visit our website where you can read the Bulletin and enjoy a full color Aquatica. The interactive forums and sponsor sections are truly remarkable. Provided you have given us your email address, you will be getting notifications of club events via email.
I am asking again for your help and support. If you want to see different speakers or try different things, please let us know. The elected officials of the Brooklyn Aquarium Society are here to serve YOU! Please tell us what you want and why. It would be helpful for everyone.
It is important that you visit and patronize our sponsors. It goes full circle: by helping them, they are also helping you as hobbyists and everyone is helping the Brooklyn Aquarium Society, so help us, help you!
For more info, please call our BAS Hotline at (718) 837-4455, or visit our modern website at WWW.BROOKLYNAQUARIUMSOCIETY.ORG.
On a more personal note – Any member who desires to attend a Board meeting, which are held at Education Hall of the New York Aquarium on the 1st Friday of the month, September through June, please notify me at (718) 238-1792 by the Tuesday previous to the meeting.
Joe Graffagnino
President