ER's October Message
I hope that you enjoyed September more than I did. For those of you that have not heard, I was taken the to hospital on the 18th with all of the classic symptoms of a heart attack. As it turns out, it was not my heart, but rather a nasty gall bladder and on the 24th, I underwent surgery to remove it and I am now in recovery and hope to be back in action very soon. As my recovery progresses, I have had time to reflect on the importance of good friends and everything that they are willing to do for you to make your worries disappear. I would like to give thanks to all of the officers that have stepped up by working FND's, answering questions and rescheduling events that require my attendance. The very night that I had surgery, the District Deputy Grand Exalted Ruler was to visit the Lodge, review our operations and witness a meeting and initiation. Thank you to Svend, who quickly got the visitation rescheduled to October 8th. In the beginning of my term, I made the promise that we would hold initiations at every opportunity rather than have new candidates wait to join our Order and miss opportunities of membership. So while I was in surgery, the officers did not miss a beat and with the Charlie Adams stepping in as Exalted Ruler, we initiated two more members into our order. The Lodge Picnic and Golf Tournament was a great success due to the efforts of Tracy Dooley and Dan Weed. The weather was great and all that attended had a great time. One of the Dooley boys, also "celebrated" his birthday and his passing into the more mature ranks of our membership. The golfers joined us for the picnic and Dan reports that we served about 90 people. Great job and it was fun to be there. We also hosted our annual Hoop Shoot on the 26th and after all of the work to publicize it including radio ads this year, the turnout was very disappointing. My thanks to Sue who worked very hard to pull this event off and after her success last year, we had high hopes for this year. It proves once again, that the youth of our world can be very hard to reach and I am sure that next year's officers will examine how to improve the attendance or find an alternate even to support our youth. A reminder that the Most Valuable Student applications are due November 2 and they may be mailed to me, or delivered to the Lodge to be given to me. Be sure to remind any outstanding Seniors that you might know about this important scholarship. If anyone has any questions, please let me know. October brings Halloween and we are still in the planning stages of the event as I write this message. If you have ideas, or would like to help, contact Sue Dodson or myself and we will certainly put you to work. We will be having a special initiation on the 8th of October for the District Deputy visit and I would like to encourage members to attend. Additionally, at this meeting final decisions will be made for the Halloween party. I am looking for volunteers who are interested in a new committee to focus on setting up a new charity fund within the Lodge that will support the needs of our valley and community. If you are interested let me know.
Fraternally yours, Robert J. Byers
Posted by: Mission Valley, MT #1695 (11/07/2009)