From the East

By Paul Rodriguez-Obrien — Master

My first order of business Is to convey my sincere appreciation for your Worshipful to-be, Brother Brian Ross, who led the lodge as the Worshipful Master for the February Virtual Stated Meeting. I heard tremendous praise for his calm and well-polished leadership as he easily conducted the business of the lodge in my absence. There is no doubt that he is ready and eager to take the Oriental Chair for 2022, which also happens to be the 100 Anniversary of our lodge. I feel most confident that his year will be one that we all will look forward to and remember as the year we ‘Got it all back together’.

I would also like to briefly speak about the “Virtual Sweet-Heart” event we held on February 13th. It was fantastic to see our ‘Sweet-Hearts’ again, and a lot of fun catching up with how they have been keeping themselves busy. The lodge delivered to their homes, a nice bouquet of Easter flowers and gift card as our humble way to let them know that they are an important part of our Lodge and the Brothers.

Lastly, I would like to bring up the Masonic Youth Organizations. Their tenacity to stay active in Masonry during these times and with dealing with Remote Education is a testament to these strong-minded individuals that find very creating new ways to adapt and thrive. I am so very proud of all of them and to their parents and leaders who dedicate so much time in the background to allow these young adults to build their leadership skills to forge their way into this unchartered normalcy.

I bring this up because we as individuals within the lodge can also help them by becoming involved in their activities and fundraisers (both of which are actually planned and run by these same enthusiastic young adults). In addition to having their leaders read our Masonic Youth’s ‘Fundraising fliers’ in our Virtual Lodge night, I would also like to challenge them to add to our monthly Trestleboard a condensed flyer so that the members can have notice of and can engage in their Fund-raising activities.

In wrapping up, I would like to remind you that your Officers are always just a phone call away should you need anything or would like to share something with the Lodge. Our phone numbers and email addresses are easily found within this Trestleboard and the Lodge website.