Hello again, glass friends.<div>Usually the increased volume of the nightly cricket orchestra and cooling temperatures cue me to write this late summer call for pumpkin volunteers. Okay, so it's still hot like it's the middle of the summer and the crickets have not overtaken the highway noise yet, but some internal clock is still working, so..... here's the letter!</div>
<div>(Oh, and yes, we are still making pumpkins year-round in the MIT Glass Lab, and yes, we still depend entirely on the revenue from this event to fund our operations.)</div><div>The weekend of September 28-29 is the date of the 13th annual MIT Great Glass Pumpkin Patch, and we hope that you will be able to join us, either as a first-time volunteer or as a returning member of the fold.</div>
<div>As usual, the preview opening will be on Friday (9/28) from 5 to 8PM, and the sale will be on Saturday (2/29) from 10AM to 3PM. We can use many volunteers on Friday from 7AM on to transport and set up pumpkins in the tent, and many, many volunteers to help run the sale on Saturday from 6AM through cleanup at 3PM. Jobs consist of receipt writing (with a calculator assist), wrapping, order-to-customer coordination, mailing list maintenance, and other very wonderful tasks. You will be in good company. The esprit de corps cannot be beat. This experience builds character at least as much as the Boy/Girl Scouts. Plus, volunteers get to shop early.</div>
<div>Kidding aside, we depend on you to make this event a success and keep this unique program running from year to year, and we are grateful for all the generous help we've had in the past. Please let me know if you'll be able to make it this year. I have a feeling we'll have sun this time.</div>
<div>I hope you're enjoying these last days of summer, and look forward to seeing you soon,</div><div>Peter<br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br>Peter Houk<br>Director, Glass Lab<br>Department of Materials Science and Engineering<br>
Massachusetts Institute of Technology<br>
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