Everyone here at Kids Need to Read knows how important our sponsors are. One of our sponsors, Suze Bolduc, recently attended OSFest (Omaha Science Fiction Education Society) and hosted a table for Kids Need to Read. She raised $180.00 and procured some GREAT auction items for us! Here is her recap of the convention:
Working the KNTR table at OSFest was a joy, and I look forward to doing it again at future OSFests and other Science Fiction and Gaming conventions around the Midwest. The folks from Omaha Science Fiction Education Society (www.OSFES.org), the sponsor organization, gave us the table for free and have invited us back for next year. People absolutely LOVE the idea of what we are doing and were eager to help. Buttons and information packages such as the mission statement and suggested reading list for kids almost flew off the table. I was using the story from the website about PJ Haarsma seeing teachers pay for books out of their own pockets and kids following him back to the car to beg for copies, which was very well received. A couple of the teachers I met commented that they had also done that more than once, and they were grateful that someone was willing to reach out and help them. I received a very positive response from all, many offers of help, and inquiries into what they could do. People owning book and comic stores asked for postcards to put out near their cash registers.
One of the funniest moments of the con came when a guy came up to the table and pointed to the picture I had displayed of PJ Haarsma and Nathan Fillion. He pointed to Nathan and said,
“Hey, I know that guy! But from where? Hmmmmm?”
“Captain Mal from Firefly and Serenity?” I suggested — after all we were at a Science Fiction convention.
“Nope,” he replied.
“Slither, perhaps?”
“Mmm, I don’t think so.”
“Waitress? Desperate Housewives? White Noise 2?”
“Oh, I know,” he said, “He’s the dude that married Kate on Lost.”
My table was next to the one where Denise Crosby was doing autographs. As I was working up my nerve to ask her to give us a donation she turned to me and said, “Hey, I’ve been hearing what you’re telling people, and I want to know more about this! What can I do?” So I told her that donations of auction items would be greatly appreciated and that donations from other Star Trek stars have gone very well on our auction site. She said, “No problem,” and promptly gave me the Mortuary autographed DVD and signed a Tasha Yar publicity photo for us. The Guests of Honor authors were just as quick to volunteer autographed items, as was one of the Filk guests. It was a privilege to have the opportunity to help out! Thanks so much for your support [KNTR]!!
No, thank you, Suze. You did an amazing job and everyone here at Kids Need to Read is grateful for all of your enthusiasm and hard work! Well done!
