Colas for the Cosmos

Besides having an addiction to astronomy, I also have an addiction to Diet Coke (both with caffeine, and without). Since I drink a lot of Diet Coke I tend to accumulate a lot of Coke Rewards points, and I've decided to use all those points to help kids who have an interest in astronomy by giving them telescopes that I get in exchange for my rewards points.

The telescopes that are currently offered by Coke Rewards are the Celestron PowerSeeker 50 AZ, and while they are only a 50mm refractor, they do make a great beginner telescope for kids with an interest in astronomy.

So far I have given away four telescopes. Two of the telescopes have been given to local kids, another has gone to a sidewalk astronomer who works to involve neighborhood kids in astronomy, and the last one was recently donated to Greenwood Space Travel Supply Co. which is part of 826 Seattle. While the latter is not directly involved with astronomy, it is an organization that is involved with encouraging kids to write, especially about space, so they were a good choice as far as I was concerned.

I am going to try and continue to give away as many telescopes as I can, and right now I have one fourth the number of points I need to get another telescope. At my current rate of cola consumption, I should have enough points to give away another telescope by late January. If you are are like me and you are an astronomer who is also a cola fiend, maybe you could save up enough points to give a new telescope to a deserving child. If you don't have the time to enter the points, I'll be more than happy to use your points to get more telescopes.

Leave a comment or send me an email if you are interested.

Cheers,

Jim Cox
Cloudymidnights
(Use this altered email address)

PS: I"d like to get the word about this project, so feel free to let others know, and list a link to this blog entry if you don't mind.