the trowel march 2016

8/19/2019 The Trowel March 2016

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Waukegan Lodge #78 AF&AM March, 2016

The Master’s Message Brethren,

This month we’ve been busy completing repairs and upgradesto our lodge building. Since the roof had been fixed itbecame time to begin the long awaited repairs and upgradeprojects. So far we have retiled the ladies bathroom floor,installed a new ceiling in the men’s room, installed ceilingtiles as needed throughout the building, fixed and paintedthe men’s room as well as the foyer and reception area. Ourlocker area has been completely redone along with newshelving units. The pantry area has also been transformedwith new shelving units, to reduce clutter. We have alsoredone the entry and foyer lighting, with brighter energyefficient led’s.

We still have some areas to complete, such as redoing the

foyer floor and painting the outside entry area, a mosaicpavement in the lodge room, signage on the Genesee streetside of the building and making a meeting (rec.) area in thebasement as well as other items.

Even as we are under construction I can see the amazingdifference in the building already. I believe that our lodgebuilding is structurally, aesthetically and technologically themost advanced lodge in the district. I hope you come down

www.waukegan78.com 1

THE TROWEL

News | Education | Schedule

Did you know?

THE LONGEST

MEMBERSHIP

Charles McCue,

born on the 14thJune in 1756 in

Northern Ireland,

became a mason

at the age of 18.

He migrated to

Canada in 1837and affiliated to

St Johns Lodge

No 68, Ingersoll,

Ontario. When he

died on 5th May

1870, he had

been a mason for

almost 95 years.

http://www.waukegan78.com/




and take a look at your lodge, I think you will be impressed.

I know a lot of brothers have put a lot of time and effort intothese lodge maintenance and upgrade projects, as we havebeen working nearly 6 days a week. I would like to give aspecial thanks to Richard Perez, Richard Vanderhoef, Alex

Gholson, Brian Wilber, Robert Lang, Scott Koepsel andRichard Ianson who have been spearheading these projectswith a can-do spirit in order to make our lodge a clean andrejuvenated place for us to hold meetings and havefellowship through their hard work and dedication!

Also this past month our principle officers made several visitsaround the 1st northeastern district representing your lodgeat the stated meetings of Rising sun lodge, Libertyville lodgeand Anchor and Ark Lodge. We plan to attend every lodgewithin our district as principle officers this year. We havealso invited the brothers from other lodges to visit us. Ibelieve through reciprocal visitation with these lodges wecan strengthen the bond within our fraternity.

We also had a great turnout for the Lake County School ofinstruction that we hosted on February 29th. I look forward toour lodge supporting Anchor and Ark lodge with ourattendance, when they hold the Lake County School ofinstruction on Wednesday March 30.

Lastly, I want to pledge our support to the Waukegan RAM,they have been with us since 1852 and chartered since 1858.I believe we as a lodge need to do what is necessary tomaintain a strong RAM in Waukegan.

Fraternally,

Erik Solomon

Worshipful Master

Secretaries Note*

With the new email service in e! ect, if you want to stay on the

forefront of what is happening with Waukegan 78, please make

sure you get your email address and phone number to the

Secretary. He can be reached at [email protected]


Freemasonry in the news

GL of CA & DC

suspend recognitionof GL TN & GA

In a debate over allowing

men with alternate

lifestyles, the GL of TN

and GA had declared that

homosexual men could not

join the Fraternity in those

states.

The GL of Washington

DC, California, Wisconsin

and Utah all issued

statements in disagreement

to all lodges.

The GL of DC and CA

have now suspended

recognition of these two

Grand Lodges " GA and

TN # over the issue. As they

believe sexual preference

has no baring on a mans

qualifications to be made a

mason.

The GL of TN responded

in kind and suspended

recognition with CA and

DC.

The Grand Lodge of TN

has their annual

communications coming up

where they may take back

the ruling.

mailto:[email protected]





Member Retention: Keeping Them Coming Instead OfGoing

by Todd E. Creason $ www.midnightfreemasons.org

So lets say I own a business that sells office supplies, and I begin losing customers. I wouldimmediately realize there's a problem. Something changed and I need to figure out whatthat is. If I'm a smart business owner, I'm not going to spend a bunch of money inadvertising to try to attract new customers until I figure out why I can't hang onto my oldcustomers . . . right? It's probably one of two things--I'm doing something wrong, orsomebody else is doing something better than I am.

So why do Masonic Lodges have such a difficult time understanding that?

I was at a meeting a couple weeks ago, and there was a discussion about membershipretention. Some of the comments went as follows: Our old members aren't active. We get

new members, and they come for a few meetings and then we never see them again. TheShrine and the Scottish Rite are poaching our members.

I didn't say it, but it's obvious what the problem is. It's the Lodge! If your old members aren'tcoming, it's because they aren't getting anything out of it--or at least enough to keep themcoming back. Same with your new members. And if appendant bodies are able to get yourmembers involved in their organization, it's because they are getting something there theyaren't getting from the Lodge.

And how do lodges typically counter this problem with retention. In my opinion--in the wrongway. They work to recruit MORE MEMBERS without ever considering why they can't keep

the members they already have--and the cycle repeats.

If you want your Lodge to thrive, there's no reason to add one single new member until youfigure out why you can't keep the ones you have. Doesn't that make sense? Take a break.Talk about it. Talk to a few of those guys that aren't coming anymore. Look at yourmeetings--are they boring? Do your active members look forward to the meetings or do theysuffer through them? Do you have education at your meetings or invite speakers to comeand talk? Do you have social events at your Lodge?

There are all kinds of things you can do to identify the problem your Lodge is having onceyou recognize the fact that maybe it's not your members, or those pesky appendant bodies--

it might just be your Lodge. I think if you take the time to look into the issue, you're going tofind that the problem isn't identifying the problems, it's in finding amongst your membership awillingness to change.

Talk about it. Come up with a plan. Start small. Try a few things. See what works, andwhat doesn't work. And share those successes with other Lodges--as often as this topiccomes up, you're not alone.






Lodge Happenings

Waukegan #78

March 21st -Stated Meeting

March 28th -TBD

April 2nd - Blue Lightening @ A.O. Fay 676

April 4th - TBD

April 11th - TBD

April 18th - Stated

**Many maintenance projects will be taking place on thenights we aren’t doing anything, ignorer to prepare forthe Town Hall Meeting on May 2nd.


*Just a note, the schedule dependent on the return o

catechisms. We will post updto the schedule as needed oour website as well as weekannouncements through ou

call ’em all phone system anFacebook page.

www.waukegan78.comWaukegan Lodge #78

www.1stneil.com - 1st NDistrict Calendar

www.masonicinstruction.blopot.com - Instruction Clu

http://www.1stneil.com/


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the trowel march 2016

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