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 From the East
Brethren,
Wow, what a ride! August was quite the month.
Let me begin by saying that it was a real treat and continued from July. At the end of July there was a field trip for the girls of both Rainbow Girls and the Job’s Daughters. We all went up to Bird’s Landing, a sleepy little town outside of Fairfield, that time has forgotten and enjoyed some clay target shooting. I had arranged with the owners of Bird’s Landing Sporting Clays to provide our youth groups with an experience that I doubt any of them will ever forget. Bird’s Landing has a foundation that provides shooting instruction to all youths from age 6 to 18 for free. The groups were provided with eye and ear protection, shotgun safety orientation, shotguns for the day, shells and Instructors that went with each group of kids as well as a BBQ hot dog lunch. Let me tell you there were smiles from ear to ear and I had a number of kids asking if we can make this a regular event. Unfortunately, the DeMolay Boys were not able to join us due to their NorCal Conclave occurring the same weekend; however, with a little better planning, I don’t see why we couldn’t arrange more of these trips for all the kids. I know the kids enjoyed it, I had a whale of a time just watching all the shooters and I know that Birds Landing enjoyed having the kids take part in their program and would love to have them back.
August was definitely busy. On August 3 we celebrated Scholarship night. We presented four scholarships this year to very deserving ladies, Jaime Eichner, Sharon Elberfeld, Rebecca Galloway and Logan Wiebush. Due to summer vacations and job schedules we were only able to enjoy the company of Logan Wiebush at dinner that evening. I had the privilege to present her with a check for $1,000.00 on behalf of Bay Cities Lodge. The other recipients will receive their checks by mail.
August 10 saw our officers at Acalanes Fellowship Lodge for a District School of Instruction that was well attended. The officers of Acalanes Fellowship demonstrated the First Degree Conferral for our instruction. As a reminder, if you are planning to move into an officer’s chair for the upcoming year you are encouraged to attend the schools to get an idea of what is to be expected in the future.
August 17 saw our officers’ corps in action with an excellent double second degree conferral upon Brothers
David Hossfeld and Bill Warner. Please join me in congratulating both Brothers on their passing to the Degree of Fellowcraft.
Brethren I encourage all of you to come out to our degree ceremonies and watch our officers perform the ritual work. The degrees have been very good and are worthy of your support. The night of the double second degrees was sparsely attended, there were only 16 sideliners present. Brethren, I urge you to make every effort to come out and support the officers as well as the candidates as they receive their degrees.
August 24 was our celebration of the Hiram Award. This year’s recipient was Worshipful Tim McKinney, PM. We enjoyed a nice dinner and Worshipful Ken Hefley, PM, last year’s recipient, was this year’s Master of Ceremonies and provided us with a wonderful program. The event was well attended and congratulations again to Worshipful Tim.
We closed out the month with a First Degree conferral upon Brother Nickolas Wachowiak. Nick is the son of Brother Jerry Wachowiak and is currently serving in the US Army. Join me in Congratulating Brother Nick on his becoming an Entered Apprentice Mason and also join me is saying Thank You for your Service. We look forward to seeing you again for your Fellowcraft Degree.
We also listened to very good First Degree proficiency from Brother Jason Banks and look forward to conferring upon him his Second Degree of Masonry very soon.
As I said August was quite the month and I see no let up in the foreseeable future.
Fraternally, Your Eternal and Humble Servant
Greg Thompson, Master
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