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Blue Hill 3
Thu Dec 16, 2004
Listen in RealAudio 
Hi, I’m Bryan Yeaton for The Weather Notebook. Running a not-for-profit weather
observatory is not always glorious, braving hurricane-force winds and all. As Charles
Orloff, executive director of our older sister observatory at Blue Hill, Mass. tells us, it’s
just like many other small businesses.
CO: We receive no state funding at all. The only federal money we receive is salary for
the observers. Basically, my job is to bring in the money and the revenue that will keep
the observatory going. But on top of that I also wash floors, I do all the things that the
observers do up at … I sometimes will do the observing myself. We have a very small
staff: we only have five employees, basically.
Of course, Orloff still has to keep the big picture in mind.
CO: We have two major responsibilities there. One of them, of course, is climate
record. So, I have to make sure if there ‘s anything wrong with any of the
instrumentation, that that gets corrected right away. But the other one, and the new part
of this, is what you’re doing at Mount Washington, and that’s atmospheric education.
And that takes a lot of personal work: calling people, contacting, getting support from
newspapers, trying to make sure we’re constantly on the radar screen of southern New
England people.
Orloff says that keeping memberships up is difficult—for all non-profits.
CO: There are many, many opportunities for people to donate their time and their
money.
Corporate sponsors can help pick up the slack, but that, too, takes a lot of work. Still,
says Orloff, this is where he wants to be.
CO: That’s why I left my job as a middle school principal, to do something I really would
enjoy.
Thanks to Charles Orloff and all the folks at Blue Hill. The Weather Notebook thanks
our corporate sponsor, Subaru of America.
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