April 2012, four
years ago, a professor of mine approached me with an opportunity:
would I be interested in running the Orlando location of the national
Planetary Exploration Car Wash and Bake Sale being organized by Alan
Stern (of Pluto/New Horizons fame)? I laughed so hard at the concept,
I had to say yes. Sounded like a blast!
In January, the
presidential administration issued its FY2013 budget request which
projected a significant decrease in NASA’s planetary science
funding over the course of five years starting in FY2013. The
planetary science community was up in arms to organize and combat
these cuts in Congress.
It was understood that
the car wash and bake sale was a publicity stunt. In no way could
anyone make up the cut NASA funds in local community fundraising. The
idea was to use the event as a platform to increase attention to the
issue and to gather large groups of people to write letters to
Congress in support of planetary science.
I coordinated with
other locations running similar car washes and bake sales via regular
teleconferences. I had met Alan before, but I had never worked
directly with him until this point. I remember being very impressed
with his organization and leadership style. Most meetings are run
inefficiently, but Alan made the planning of the event easy and fun.
Not so easy on my
end was bringing in more people to help me. I recruited a fellow
student to assist with public relations. A few professors and other
students were on board to help with the set-up and staffing of the
event. But I carried the torch and it was heavier than I anticipated.
It was even difficult to secure a location! Once I realized that
local participation was going to be low, I axed the idea of running a
car wash powered by volunteers and shifted to hosting a bake sale at
a car wash location.
A day before the
event, publicity exploded. News organizations from all over were
asking for quotes. I got a call from CNN’s sister network Headline
News (HLN) to be interviewed. A bakery in New Jersey wanted to
donate and overnight us baked goods. My public relations helper was overwhelmed.
We were able to get a few articles published with quotes, but it was
such a whirlwind I can’t tell you how many or where.
I managed to get in touch Alan to let him know about the HLN interview. He was able to
call in audio-only while I went into the studio in Orlando for the
interview. I have a recording of the interview on CD but I haven’t
watched it since it happened and couldn’t tell you what they asked.
My standard line was, “We’re not asking for more of the pie;
we’re asking for less of a bite out of the pie.”
 |
| HLN interview - June 8, 2012 |
The Orlando
Planetary Exploration Bake Sale occurred on June 9 in conjunction
with other such events around the nation. We arranged the baked goods
on the tables and gave them themed names. Thanks to NASA KSC’s
public affairs office, we had NASA meatball stickers, exploration
posters, and pretty images of the planets all over. We had form letters for people to sign that we would send to Congress. Our humble event
looked great!
 |
| Admiring our display - June 9, 2012 |
In the end, we
collected just enough money in donations to cover the cost of the
purchased baked goods and postage. We sent approximately 275 letters
to key members of Congress. A couple news camera came to cover the event. Our little publicity stunt was a success!
 |
| Can I offer you a cookie? - June 9, 2012 |
NASA’s planetary
science budget has been in great shape ever since. The United States
has the most successful planetary exploration track record in the
world. With the success of missions such as New Horizons, hopefully
our nation will continue to invest in our planetary exploration
missions.
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