T-Shirts, Horseshoes, and Hamburgers

It was really a matter of happenstance that we even had the time to drive down to King of Prussia a couple of weekends ago. And, somehow, our son’s nap schedule had some flexibility for the day so, after lunch, we all piled in the car with the hope that he would sleep on the way over. While we are having work done on the house in between the work weeks, the scheduled day off corresponded nicely with an event that was a couple of months in the making… the 6^th Masonic District Family Picnic.

To say that it was a hot afternoon would be an understatement. While I have broiled at higher temperatures, the combination of heat and humidity was, to say the least, uncomfortable. So much so that I was wondering what the turnout was going to be like as we weaved our way through the King of Prussia neighborhoods. After a few missed turns and slow coasting down the small streets, we finally made it to the park where I was met with a pleasant sight.

We arrived about an hour after the picnic was scheduled to start and we were greeted by nearly everyone in attendance as we walked through the crowd to the t-shirt table in the back. It was great to see everyone outside of the lodge and especially during the summer when we usually don’t have the opportunity to get together as a district. It was also nice to once again meet the masonic families in attendance and introduce them to my family in the process.

While we looked to sit down and have a bite to eat (our District Deputy makes a fantastic hamburgers), our son couldn’t help but be mesmerized by the horseshoes flipping and spinning through the air landing, mostly, with a loud pink or clang. It actually brought back some great memories from when I was not much older than my son as I watched my uncles trade points in the back yard. Of course, it didn’t take long before his attention was broken by everyone around us trying to catch his attention especially a little girl (of one of our new candidates) who just wanted to play with our shy little boy.

Again, it was hot and we all seemed a little sluggish that afternoon but time didn’t seem to be fazed by the temperature. Before we knew it, we were heading back to the car and turning the air conditioning as high as it could go. It was a great time and I look forward to this new annual gathering. I just hope that it is a little cooler next year and every year after that.

Summer Preparations

Every once in a while there is an event that comes up during an unexpected time. While there are the unfortunately common times when a masonic funeral service must be arranged within a few days, there are also other, much more pleasant, events for which we must prepare. There have been way too many of the former but, thankfully, I have been able to focus on the latter this week as I did my best to assist with a district picnic scheduled for this weekend.

The casual family gathering was announced in June and we started the many conversations about some of the details that needed to be addressed by the announced date in August but it had been at least a month since any formative conversations had been started regarding the planning. That was until this week when I received a reminder about one of the things with which I was hoping to assist. Actually, the more accurate term would be coordinate.

While it was a bit of a rush to get everything ordered and confirmed, the t-shirts are currently in process and will be ready by the end of the week. Usually I am a little hesitant to make such a claim on a rush order but I know that my cousin will get it done, will get it done right, and will give us a tremendous price at the same time. After all, he has never faltered in the past and I have many brothers and clients that can attest to that fact as well.

Of course, trying to coordinate my own schedule is a completely different matter altogether. I continue to look forward to these kinds of events when I can bring my family and enjoy the time we all spend together. At the same time, there is little flexibility in our calendar and there have been numerous changes as of late that have put many commitments into question. I guess it may be time to pull out the gauge and, once again, measure my days.

It will certainly be interesting as the fall descends upon us and the calendar, once again, begins to fill with various commitments whether they be personal, family, work, lodge, or a myriad of other things. But, for now, it is time to continue preparing for what is my busy season but also my time to enjoy the constant rhythm of work flowing from the office to the lodge to home and beyond. It may be a little odd but keeping busy as the weather slowly cools is what relaxes me.

Catching Up On Correspondences

My lodge email has been rather active lately with correspondences not only from brothers from the lodge and the district but from Grand Lodge and potential candidates as well. This is in addition to what has become an abnormally busy beginning to the year more so than the previous two years. While I do my best to keep current with all inbound communications it has gotten to the point that there are moments when I find myself a few days behind and having to sit in front of the computer at night drafting email after email in the hope that I will be caught up by morning. Keep in mind that this is in addition to the calls and texts that I receive. 

However, given the nature of the letters and notes that I have received, I can’t really complain about the work that needs to be done on a regular basis. I wouldn’t be sifting through the digital pages were we not growing and increasing our activity. These are great signs for the future and speaks volumes of the present group of brothers that are active in the fraternity. With that in mind, keep the emails coming.

On the other hand, I know that many of the emails that I receive wouldn’t have even been sent if I were able to make it to the lodge every week so some of the clutter is completely on me. I simply can’t be two places at once and this is what I need to do to keep things going. Actually, come to think of it, I get more frustrated with the lack of communication from some people every now and again. This adds significantly to the work that I need to get done and the emails that need to be sent out as it is no longer a means of replying but reminding, starting, or restarting a conversation.

And the work continues to pile up on my virtual desk as there are a few other tasks that need to be completed this spring including various audits the biggest of which, for me, are going to be the membership and records audits ensuring that our numbers are accurate and all our information has been correctly migrated to the new site. This could possibly be the task that I am least looking forward to but I know that it has to be done by the spring. I expect many corrections, correspondences, and long nights to stem from this endeavor as well. But, right now, I am going to focus on projects that need to be taken care of before the meeting next week.

New Year, New Life

It is always interesting spending time at the lodge for the first time in a new year. The turn from one meeting in the previous year to the next is something that can’t really be explained but there seems to be a new life that is breathed into the lodge as the page turns on the calendar. I guess it is something about working for the better part of a year to put a plan together and now that the time has come we are finally able to put it into action. And it is also a time to catch up on some of the things that I have missed over the last couple of months.

Last night in particular, I spent much of the night jumping from conversation to conversation either trying to figure out the next steps on a project already started or looking for some way to get things off the ground. The lodge office, the contents of which was moved last month, is something that we still have to figure out and it is pretty astounding how much stuff was in that space which was now staring me in the face. Needless to say, the pile in the upstairs room was bigger than I expected.

Seeing this mountain of masonic ephemera and memorabilia, I immediately started trying to figure out a way to configure the room. What did we need to keep? What could we possibly get rid of? Was there a way to have the space serve multiple functions? Was there enough room in the closet for storage? These were just some of the questions that initially came to mind which became more detailed as I explored more options and more closely assessed what we had to work with. There is tremendous potential that I am excited to see realized in the coming months.

Toward the end of the evening it was time to try and get another project off the ground… raising dues. Obviously a topic that isn’t really going to be very popular but we have gotten to a point that it is a necessity to have the discussion (and debate if necessary). We are the smallest lodge in our district (by a good margin) and we have, by far, the lowest dues in the district (maybe in the entire commonwealth). That combination is obviously not going to work in the short or the long term. While I don’t know quite yet what this little journey will entail, we have at least gotten things started and the conversation moving in the right direction. We will have to see what happens.

While this past year was trying and draining in about every way possible hopefully this year I can maintain the energy that we all have seemed to found in this new year. There is a lot of work to be done, much more than the few things I have mentioned and alluded to here and there, and the right people in place and participating in the success of the lodge on a weekly basis. There are enough sturdy shoulders to lift this lodge to the next level and I am definitely not the only who has noticed this and we are all excited about where we are heading.

Lodge Via Email

This is actually pretty similar to what the lodge computer looks like. 

The past week has been a bit of a blur with countless emails having passed by my eyes. We may not have our next meeting until September but the work most certainly has continued. It actually might be the most emails that I have received in a single week between the canceled fellowship last Tuesday to my inability to attend this evening. With not being able to make it there tonight, this means that, due to other commitments, I will not walk through the doors of the lodge for at least another two weeks.

No worries, everyone knows that I am accessible at all times. Sometimes there are periods when we can’t make it to the lodge especially those of us that neither live nor work in the area. Things will continue to move forward without my presence because the lodge, as many of you know, can’t be run by a single man. There are numerous brothers that make the lodge work and ensure that things move along smoothly. No one person needs to be there.

With that said, it is nice to be able to catch up and make sure that various projects are being taken care of. We all check with one another and make sure that the tasks that we set out to accomplish are completed. This is why I get so many emails from within the lodge, the district, and from other lodges across the commonwealth. We all check in on one another, offer assistance, and seek advice on various problems and projects. We work together as a single, unified, fraternity.

However, nights like this I do miss driving down to the lodge and meeting with the brethren. The fellowship is something that I continue to look forward to each and every time that I am able to participate. This has only been amplified over the last couple of years with the increased involvement of new and old brothers alike. It is a great time at the lodge and a great time to catch up on life.

But everyone knows, no matter how active you are in the lodge, you have to have a balanced life. I am still working to find that balance between family, work, and the lodge. Modern communication does help in this regard but it is still far from perfect. I don’t think this is going to be taken off of my list of things that I need to work on in the foreseeable future. But, I will continue to measure my days and do my best to balance my hours.

What We Have Done And Have Yet To Do…

There is a certain amount of frenetic stress that enters into the picture as a stated meeting approaches and this month that was magnified by the fact that this was going to be our official district visitation. There was a lot of work that went into the meeting which I previously wrote about. Thankfully, everything was taken care of and by the time I got to the lodge the long list of tasks was completely crossed out (due in large part to the assistance that I got from a variety of brothers from the lodge).

Official visitations are an interesting night. There are a lot of different ceremonies and presentations that take place as well as recognition given to those individuals who have earned the honor to be noted in front of all the lodges from the district for their accomplishment. While in an odd turn of events there weren’t any brothers in attendance to be recognized for their long masonic service (we have a number of 25, 50, 60, and 65 year members this year as well as a 70 year member), many of the newer brethren were present.

This group included two brothers who have met the requirements for the Master Builder Award. Having received this honor myself, I know the great sense of accomplishment that comes with this recognition. It continues to be a great mark of achievement for the lodge that we, as the smallest lodge in the district by membership, have nearly twice as many Master Builder Award recipients than the rest of the district combined. This is a distinction that we continue to pursue thanks to the dedication of our new brothers.

However, the greatest honor of the evening was not one presented to an individual. Toward the end of the meeting, the District Deputy Grand Master addressed the lodge with plaque in hand. The efforts of this lodge were being recognized with the Grand Master’s Award. We are the first lodge in the district to receive this award and, again, it is because of the efforts of the lodge as a whole that this was even a possibility. We may be small but we are active, we are growing, and we are motivated to better ourselves, our lodge, and our fraternity.

With all the honors bestowed throughout the night it would be easy to sit back and enjoy what has been accomplished. However, we are already half way through the year and there is still a lot that needs to be done. We have accomplished a lot but, speaking for myself, I know we can do a lot better and I personally can do a lot more. The foundation is here and now is the time when we have to build. 

Going To School…

Ironically, I am writing this post as all the schools in the area are closed due to the heavy snow smothering the area. Thankfully, the flakes held off just long enough so that I was able to make it to school and back home last night without any problems. No, I am not pursuing another graduate degree. I was at the lodge last night and so were many other brothers interested in learning more of the details regarding the first degree as the Sixth Masonic District School of Instruction held their class in Ardmore.

Previously, the school would meet at a set location with the traveling aspect having just been implemented this year to both increase attendance and make things a little more convenient for some of the brothers in the district. It is because of these reasons that I have been unable to attend a meeting of the school until last night. With that said, I was able to participate at the Regional School last April reviewing business of the lodge and that was a whole different experience all together. I am comfortable in my own lodge at my own desk but I can’t say as much about occupying the same chair in one of the meeting rooms at Grand Lodge.

It was an interesting night with the lodge full of brothers that I only see occasionally at Masonic events throughout the year. More importantly, it was a great experience for many of our newly raised brethren who were able to receive instruction on many of the nuances of the ritual work. Many of these details can be overlooked no matter how long someone has been a mason or how many degrees in which they have participated. We all welcomed the instruction and observed intently the timing and exact movements that were corrected throughout the night.

It was fascinating to watch from the vantage point of the Secretary’s desk as I have a limited role in the degrees so I was able to take everything in without having to think about motions or movements. It was important because I have filled in at various times in some of those chairs and it would be nice if I knew what I was doing. With that said, there is no way that I will retain much of the minutia that was reviewed so I guess I will have to continue attending class whenever time permits. Your guess is as good as mine as to where I will find that time!

Pulling The Cable Tow Into The 21st Century

I was out of the apartment and on the road by 6:00 am yesterday on my way to spend the day in Elizabethtown. You know it’s early when it is still a dark August morning when you start the car. It has been oddly cool this summer so the mist on the windshield stubbornly held on for about a half hour not completely streaking off until I hit the 70 MPH zone on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. All told, including a 20 minute delay due to a nasty car fire just outside of Lancaster, it took about an hour forty five minutes to get to the Masonic Conference Center. Just in time for the day long IT training to begin.

Surrounded by what are now familiar faces, it was an interesting delve into a completely overhauled online membership ad banking system that the Grand Lodge will be rolling out in due time. While we were definitely experimenting with an early version of the site, there are a number of things that, in the end, will be a huge upgrade to a currently antiquated system. Of course, with that said, there are countless holes and many things that will need to be adopted by lodges before the new tools and be fully leveraged.

It was a nearly ten hour day fully of demonstrations and explanations of how the completely unique system and overall way that things are done in a lodge is now being integrated in what is normally a one size fits all Salesforce model. While adjustments have been made, many of us familiar with the company can see where things didn’t quite fit and take note of how various programs and allowances were changed. Needless to say, it will be interesting playing the role of IT support specialist for the district once this is rolled out to all the Masonic lodges in Pennsylvania.

It was also interesting to watch a young group of presenters get up in front of the room and do their best to explain all the systems, capabilities, and programs that they normally pitch to a large company. This was not a crowd they were used to (but handled pretty well) and many of the questions and concerns were pushed back or handed off to Grand Lodge officers. Again, we are a unique fraternity with a system that goes back hundreds of years trying to pull the rest of our brothers into the 21^st century. It is going to be a task and a half.

In the end, this is going to be much more than an IT support specialist role that we all play. We are going to basically have to sell this to our fellow brothers. We have to show them, no matter how long they have been a member of this fraternity, the benefits that this new system will bring to freemasonry in the state, the lodge, and especially to them. It is going to be a long haul with a lot of extra work, especially for Secretaries, importing, collecting, checking, and verifying all the data needed to ensure that we all get the greatest benefit possible from this new system. I guess it will just be a matter of time , most likely years, before this actually makes my job easier.

Making Masonic Memories

 

Tonight, for the first time, I felt comfortable at the Secretary’s desk during our stated meeting. So much so that I feel as though it is my desk at this point. Are there still rough patches during the meeting? Of course there are but I have gotten a lot better at quickly smoothing them out and moving on to the next item. And all of this couldn’t have happened at a better time as the District Deputy Grand Master was in attendance. This was an unofficial official visit that was rescheduled from last month.

In addition to the usual reading and approving of the minutes and the bills, we also had a lot of petition work to be done as we, thankfully, had three petitions that needed to be voted on. Getting though everything efficiently and in the proper way was a gratifying experience especially when I caught the approving glances from some of the long standing Brothers in attendance. Knowing that, in their eyes, I am doing at least a good job keeping things running smoothly really means a lot when you consider the fact that they have seen Masons come and go over the past 40+ years. After all, I am only just the most recent person to be elected into this office and with it comes the responsibility to uphold the values of masonry and the legacy of the lodge (along many other things to which I swore when I took the oath of office).

One of the responsibilities bestowed upon all officers in any lodge is to provide a positive example to all members of the lodge especially those newly made masons. The one time during the evening when I was caught off guard was when the District Deputy Grand Master asked myself and another brother to stand at the front of the lodge and face the brethren. It was at that time when I received my Master Builder Award from the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania.

This award is earned by newly made masons when they meet certain educational requirements and demonstrate their continued involvement in their lodge, their district, and freemasonry in general. There is a two page check list which must be completed and approved in order to earn the honor. It was a great experience to receive the award and one that I will never forget, especially when I could see many heads nodding in agreement when I gave my very brief acceptance speech.

This award should be the goal of every new mason. If you have given the proper thought and consideration in your decision to become a mason and you are committed to embracing freemasonry, the requirements set forth should even be a challenge. It is the standard to which we should hold ourselves as we start our masonic journey and the example we should set for others who have decided to join our fraternity.

So tonight was an excellent experience and another moment that I will never forget. I am looking forward to the next moment and I am looking forward to guiding new brothers through the process in order to obtain this honor and know the sense of pride that it brings to your masonic life. For now, I am going to enjoy the moment and appreciate all that I have experienced in Masonry throughout my first year.

PR CPR

Get your club back into rhythm.

Just a few thoughts stemming from a district meeting I had last night in King of Prussia....

Public relations and communications are an important part of any successful company or organization and Rotary is no different. Too often, this is something that is overlooked both at the club and on the district level but that perspective is slowly changing and those of us in District 7450 are doing our part by encouraging our fellow Rotarians to make that mental transition. However, this is a transition that is going to take a lot of time and a lot of energy.

The mentality that exists within most clubs, particularly smaller ones, is that the focus needs to be entirely on the service side of things. Those items or tasks that are necessary to promote the club itself are secondary. This is why many of us struggle with both membership and fundraising.

Unfortunately, there is also the generational and technological disconnect that exists in the membership which hinders the adoption both of methods and strategies essential for growth. Obviously, things need to change and they need to do so in a big way. The question is how do we implement such change into a system and a population that is hesitant to embrace a new way of holistic service to the community, club, district, and one another?

Change needs to be a step by step process not a mandate. A perfect example is social media. Many members are uninterested in having a Facebook profile and don’t see the need for one. The task then becomes to create the need. Show them why it would be a good thing to have in their lives both personally and regarding their Rotary involvement.

Maybe they want to see all the pictures of their grandkids, maybe they want to meet new people, maybe they want to get more involved in their service but are unable to make a regular time commitment. Demonstrate the value it can have in their own lives and they will better understand the need for the club to have a presence as well. It is not a guarantee but you will, most likely, reach at least a few members with this approach.

Traditional media is also something that needs to be high on the priority list and while it may take greater effort it can also carry with it a greater impact on your club’s exposure. Most clubs, large and small, promote large events and service projects to the local main stream media but that is only part of the story. Clubs need to write about and disseminate information regarding the weekly guest speakers as well as the induction of new members at the very least. Remember, if your club’s name is seen one time it’s a good thing but when people see your club regularly then you are entering into the realm of PR. This is when you are seen as an integral part of the community.

There are numerous other topics and details that can be discussed around the subject of PR and communications and many of them I have either already covered (here and here) or will be covering in the future. But, for now, I will leave you with the above topics for consideration and I encourage you to get involved by finding new ways to promote your club and to promote Rotary. There is no question that we do great work as Rotarians but sometimes they can go by the wayside if no one knows about them so let your voice and your club’s voice be heard.