October Finish

Looking back at the calendar and last blog post trying to decide where I left off...

Wednesday, October 16th was the Official Visit of the Deputy of the Grand Master to Westgate Lodge in Everett.  This was my first time being able to visit the newest lodge in District 8 and I had a great time.  What a great group of brothers that have been added to our district.

Took some personal time and attended the wedding of a close family friend on Saturday.

Sunday was a trip out to Sedro Woolley to attend the Official Visit of the Grand Worthy Advisor to the Northwest Washington District of the Rainbow Girls.  We were the official photographers and it was sure good to see all the Rainbow Girls, I sure do miss them.  The NW girls are growing and put on an excellent official visit.  GWA Victoria talked about her year plans and a great time was had by all.

Tuesday, October 22nd was a pretty incredible night.  Sultan-Monroe, Westgate, and Crystal lodges all joined forces to put on a Fellowcraft degree for 6 candidates.  We rarely get a chance to meet with Crystal lodge because we meet on the same nights, and Westgate is brand new to the district, so it was a great experience to get these three lodges together to provide our new brothers with Masonic light and instruction.

The very next night was the Official Visit of the Deputy to Arlington Lodge and Past Masters night.  Got to see a lot of old friends and catch up with them.  During the evening, VWB Cary Cope and his brother Art, were presented with their 35 year service pins.  They are both moving to Hawaii and we will miss them here in Washington.

Friday morning was time to get back on the road and head to the Eastside.  First stop was Malden for the District 26 meeting.  I am amazed at the beauty of this state when you get a chance to travel around.  The drive to Malden was full of rolling hills and a beautiful sunset.  Distrcit 26 provided a nice meal and spoke about what is going on in the district.  I love that there are good masons doing great work in every part of our state.

Quick drive up to Spokane for the night and then the District 27 meeting.  District 27 meeting was held at the new Scottish Rite building in Downtown Spokane and includes a beautiful Lodge room.  we enjoyed a nice catered lunch then headed in to hear about all of the great things going on in Spokane.  The Rainbow Girls of Lilac assembly were there and our good friend Shannon Smoldt was presented with the Grand Masters Youth award recognition.  The Lilac assembly has gone from 3 girls to 18 in one year!  Way to go!

Saturday night was the annual trek up to Newport and the Logger's dinner and meeting.  We had a great time and several of us left part of our attire at the meeting.  If you ever get a chance to go, word of advice, take a tie you don't have any attachment to...

Sunday was a cooking class for Robin and I and the food and company was great.

As I travel around to the districts and have been given a chance to speak, I have talked about the need to "get back to basics" and build a better foundation in our lodges.  I see Lodges with great programs like Bike for Books, and community events, and special meetings, that are failing.  Regardless of how good or programs are out of the lodge, if we don't build a solid base in our lodge and educate and mentor our newer masons, we will continue to struggle.  One thing that was pointed out very distinctly this week was our need to bridge the gap between Generations.  I think the those of us in Generation X (40 and 50 year olds) need to do a better job of bridging that gap between millennials, generation Z, and boomers.  We have been doing a great job with our Radio and TV ads and they have been reaching a lot of people and doing great work, but the millennials and GenZ are not seeing those messages because the don't watch broadcast TV and don't listen to the Radio.  We can do more.  Social media advertising and promotions need to happen as well.  Then you have the other end of the gap and we need to continue to send regular mail to our baby boomers, many of them don't have social media and don't have any desire to learn it, we can't ignore them and leave them behind.  (As I put this in a blog that many of them will never see...)  We can do better, but it is up to us to make those decisions and provide those solutions.

Enough for this episode, until next time.
Masonry is your pocket aces, be all in

Fraternally,
VWB Steve Martin
Grand Lecturer