From The Secretary
..............................................................
Carl Rosso, Jr, PM
Secretary
Life Membership
Life Membership {sometimes referred to as Perpetual Membership} is a great benefit to you {the lodge member} to the lodge and to the fraternity.
I know when you first looks at the amount of the “Life Membership “dues [fee] it looks like a large amount {and in away it is}, However, in the long run it is not that much.
First, as a life member, you do not have to worry if you have paid your annual dues (or not), and you will not have that extra bill (annual dues) to pay come December {along with all the other debits accrued over the holiday season} as you will NEVER have to pay dues again. This is also a great benefit to our military brothers, who may be deployed or over seas.
NEXT this not only benefits you, the member, but the lodge as well. The “Life Membership” funds are placed into a special account, the principal is NEVER spent ONLY the interest and/or dividends are used to support the lodge and continues to generate income for the lodge “until time is no more”.
What a great felling it is to know that you do not EVER to pay dues again, and that you are helping your lodge forever. And that you will secure in knowing “that in future” should you fall upon hard times, your membership will continue. And, as most members know each year the Grand Lodge increases the per capita tax which also means that the members TOTAL dues increases. However, as a life member you do not have to pay any additional fees or dues increase.
“Life Membership” fees are a SUM of money equal to the “total” annual dues of the lodge multiplied by the “X” FACTOR {which is determined by the members age}
THUS: I.A.W. Art.27020 C.M.C.
Under age 49, 21 times annual dues
50 to 54, 19 times annual dues
55 to 59, 17 times annual dues
60 to 64, 14 times annual dues
65 and over, 11 times annual dues
Hence my brother, the younger you are when you acquire a life membership the greater the benefits you reap.
Fraternally; Chuck
The life members of our lodge
C Ray Barnes, PM 11/01/1998 Carl L. Rosso Jr., PM 11/02/1989 Robert E. Volle 04/28/1992
*Gerald E. Bailey 12/07/1992 Gerald J. Newall 12/08/1992 Dalton C. Cooper 01/04/1993
Charles J Andrade, PM 06/08/1993 *John D. Gammon Jr., PM 12/07/1993 Phillip A. Johnson, PM 12/30/1993
Beryl F. Harris, PM 09/28/1995 *Leroy B. Maxwell, PM 11/04/1995 *Charles W. LeRoy, PM 12/01/1995
Verlyn C. McMahan, PM 12/01/1995 Jack P. Gage 01/08/1996 *Joel C. Murphy 02/15/1996
*Robert B. Fisher, PM 12/01/1999 George B. Barber, PM 11/10/2002 Harold N. Carter 09/13/2004
David N. Freymiller 12/21/2004 Richard Chavez, PM 11/22/2006 Howard T. Ferguson Jr., PM 12/09/2006
Ricardo E. Unadia 02/08/2007 Heath A. Thomas 08/23/2007 John R. Gregory, PM 11/20/2007
Robert H. Silk 11/20/2007 * Deceased
Other things we need to consider is the fee we charge for Applicants for Degrees and Dues. During the time I have been Secretary and before that I have noticed that our due have not covered the expenditures of the lodge, Last year John made his budget because we hade two CD’s mature, this year we have one. Our over run will be approximately $6,000.00. In the in the past our over runs were approximately $3,000.00. It’s time we consider an increase of around $20.00 in the lodge portion of the dues.
Secondly we need to look at what we charge for applications fees. At the present time it’s only $224.00 this includes the Grand Lodge fees and what the Lodge gets. At the present time it costs the Lodge 296.62 to bring a candidate in and raise him to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason this does not include the administrative fee and the cost of the diploma if he does his third degree proficiency. This is a loss to the lodge of approximately $72.67 for each candidate we raise, which is not good!
I would like to hear what you the members feel and what we can do to increase our revenue to support our lodge’s finances. I do all I can by purchasing supplies online, with coupon , sales and now printing of the news letter in house but this is just a small part of our expenditures.
Please contact me at the lodge or home (home 619-582-5899, 3731 Aragon Dr., San Diego 52115) (lodge 619-466-6234, P.O. Box 68, Lemon Grove, 91946). Carl
*497th Masonic District-LG Lodge no.736 Meets Thursdays
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From the Secretary