Maintaining The Brotherly Bonds

There is currently a vibrancy at the lodge that I haven’t seen for some time. I have been fielding emails and calls for weeks wanting more information about different programs, dates of when events are scheduled, offers to assist me with some of the initiatives underway, and some are just interested in meeting and learning more about the fraternity. Many of the brothers at the lodge are either active or looking for some way to increase their contributions. I can’t recall a time like this happening over the past few years but I am glad to be a part of it and fortunate enough to see the desire to contribute displayed by the brethren. And I have found that one of the best ways for those brothers to actively participate is to reach out to other brothers.

It is a given that this time of year will bring about names of those which we haven’t seen at lodge in months or years (NPD time) but that tally keeps getting smaller and smaller every time I check the mail and for every brother I find on that list, there are ten brothers willing to reach out to find out what is going on. And that is a big change from the last couple of years. Now we have brothers wanting to be active and wanting to share this masonic experience with other brothers that may have, for one reason or another, lost their connection with the fraternity.

This is a hugely important endeavor for any lodge as we should make sure that all of our brothers should experience the feeling of inclusion that many of us take away from our monthly and weekly gatherings. Furthermore, the effort should also be put forth in reconnecting with brothers that, for one reason or another, have been suspended in recent years. While there are explanations given at the time of suspension, we should never assume that we know the reasons behind our brother ceasing to be included in the membership rolls.

Lastly, and most importantly, we need to maintain constant contact will each and every member of the lodge. This is an undertaking too large for one brother to manage himself but, as a lodge, it can easy be accomplished. Whether a brother moved out of the jurisdiction or is simply of advanced age, they are still our brothers and members of the lodge, and they should be treated as such. The last thing that I ever want to see happen is a brother showing up to lodge and not know anyone. While I don’t expect them to have the same connection that many of the regular attendees enjoy, they are still our brother and they should be familiar as a member of our fraternal family.

Something A Little Different At The Office

Every once in a while there is something a little different that happens at the office. Well, not at the office necessarily but with our clients. I’m not talking about anything major just a minor change in the routine. This was the case last week when we took a momentary step back from our usual public relations duties and assisted in the creation of a video case study. For me, this was a first, as in all my years of experience there has been an odd gap in this area… plenty of written case studies but nothing that was committed to film.

Unfortunately, due to a previous obligation, I was not on site for the shooting of the interviews or the organization at work but I have been taking part in about every other aspect of the process from coordination to script creation. Come to think of it, it has been some time since I have been involved in writing for the camera as I believe the last time I ventured into that genre was during a screen writing class in grad school the lessons and techniques from which I am still employing today.

Of course, while some may see the filming as the culmination of our work. It is really on the midpoint at best as there has certainly been plenty of work prior and there is still a multitude of objectives that must be met afterward. This includes editing, dissemination, publication, and making sure that everything is ready to go for a trade show in a couple of months. Additionally, this project might lead to similar projects with a few other customers down the road including the possibility of filming at the aforementioned trade show. It just goes to show that most of the time great work leads to more great work.

In the week since the raw footage was captured, it has been a waiting game as we are all eager to see the resulting product. We pretty much know what to expect but nothing is ever certain until you see it for yourself. In the meantime, many of those other projects are slowly unfolding and there has been a plethora of other projects both for this client and others that have occupied my time and my mind. This includes some upcoming travel and a few things that are finally coming to fruition. All of these things took a considerable amount of time and energy to get done but, in the end, our clients are happy which means we are doing our jobs and exceeding expectations.