Noedel Reuse

BIGS is looking for more volunteers to help with all aspects of the organization. Benefits of volunteering include learning new skills from other members, sharing your genealogy experiences with others genuinely interested in what you have learned, and knowing that you have helped vitalize our organization.

Volunteer Information

We have a great variety of jobs available for volunteers. What you might do for BIGS all depends on your skills and experiences, how deeply you’d be willing to become involved, and exactly what kinds of things interest you. You can pick and chose from many options, such as these examples:

If you are interested in exploring how you might help, please drop a note to our president, Andrea Hoskins, with your contact information. After a conversation with her about your interests and our needs, you can decide just how you’d like to help.

Writers' Workshop

Thursday, January 26 @ 10AM

Zoom Virtual Event

Hiatus through the Fall Holiday season. Resuming in January 2023. The January meeting will be a great opportunity for members to join our group and help map out our focus for the coming year. Watch for details in early January.

BIGS Buys Books!

Thanks to a donation from BIGS, the Bainbridge Island Public Library is now the proud owner of four new books on genealogy DNA.

Your DNA Guide – the Book, Southard
Advanced Genetic Genealogy: Techniques/Case Studies, Wayne
Research Like a Pro with DNA, Elder
DNA and Genealogy Research Simplified, Szabados

In addition, the Bainbridge Island genealogy section is about to benefit from seven new titles obtained by the Kitsap Regional Library, who operates the Bainbridge Public Library in addition to eight other public libraries in this area. Those new titles have been ordered and are expected on the shelves in the next several weeks.

This happened because of our continuing efforts to partner with the Bainbridge Island Public Library, where we have met for many years. The particular books selected were the result of recommendations made by several of our members. Special thanks to Mary Ferm, Joleen Aitchison, Claire Smith, and Holly Ardinger.

Hopefully, members will find topics of interest and value to their research in this new collection. Please recognize that while these titles will be homed at the Bainbridge Library, they are available to KRL library card holders system-wide. You can easily access them by going online to KRL.org, searching in the catalog, and then putting a hold on the title of your choice. You will be informed when the book is available and you can pick it up quickly at your convenience at the Bainbridge Library.

And, please consider writing a brief review of any of these books that you read, so we can post it on Members’ Corner right here on bigenealogy.org.

Great Britain

Friday, April 7 @ 10AM

Venue to be determined

The meeting will be held at the Marge Williams Center, 221 Winslow Way West. We will open with a discussion of RootsTech 2023 items which will be of particular interest to GB researchers. For more details see email sent to all members via bigs@googlegroups.

As always, all BIGs members interested in Welsh, Scottish, English research/ancestors please join for sharing and conversation. (We often stray into all kinds of other topics, so feel free to check it out!) The Zoom link will be emailed to all BIGS members.

The Outreach Committee Needs Your Help!

Here’s your chance to “give back to BIGS.” We are in the process of developing a presentation aimed at the general public to answer the question, “Why Genealogy?” We need some members willing to tell an audience what genealogy has meant to them, in 10 minutes or less. This has nothing to do with genealogy expertise. It just involves telling the story of what you’ve gotten out of your experience with genealogy.

Outreach Presentation

We need to tell people why they should consider getting involved with genealogy. The future of our organization and others like it depends on it. And, nobody could do that job better than YOU!

Think about it. You’ve gotten something valuable out of the time and effort you have put into genealogy. We’re just asking you to tell other folks what that something is. Why didn’t you stop long ago? Why did you go to all those meetings? Why do you continue to support the organization? That’s your story and only you can tell it. Maybe you got involved to find the answer to one specific question. Maybe you found solving the genealogical puzzles irresistible. Maybe you found friendships and community among others involved with genealogy. We do know that something made it worth your while.

So, exactly what are we asking you to do? Two things:

Work with the Outreach Committee to develop a 10 minute “presentation” of your story. The form is up to you. It could employ photos, or PowerPoint slides, or just you telling your story. We’ll help you put your talk together if you want help.
Then, perhaps 2 or 3 times a year, we’ll ask you to tell your story, alongside 3 other members, to a meeting of library patrons, service organizations, or other such groups.

At this early stage in developing this program, we are simply asking you to indicate your interest in participating. If we have 6-8 interested members, we’ll get together and work out a plan to proceed to the next steps. At this point we are targeting sometime in April for our first presentation.

If you are willing to consider helping BIGS with this project, just drop me an email here.

Thank you!

Larry Noedel, Outreach