As a result of Moose International/Supreme Council considering encouragement from the membership, the overwhelming majority recently voted at the Las Vegas Convention to cease smoking in our Moose lodge homes. Theban includes all tobacco products - including smokeless tobacco and vaping and further includes the use of cannabis products.
Our world has changed and that has been shown in the votes taken on a smoking ban, which have shifted in less than a decade from a "no" majority to a "yes" majority. In Las Vegas, that majority easily surpassed the two-thirds majority needed.
The question now is how this vote will be accepted. What we ask is that you respect the decision of the membership at the same level that the previous decision was acknowledged and accepted. I personally feel that if we use the excuse that the lodge is going to close as a result of this, we are looking for an excuse to fail or we are catering to a few in order to keep things the same.
Instead, we should be looking at the positives of this vote. We could consider working on a plan to adapt and overcome vs. giving up. We could go back in our membership records and contact those who dropped because of the smoke and let them know what’s going on. I never want to be controversial but it’s time that we tell it like it is.
OUR PAST CANNOT SUPPORT OUR FUTURE! If you TRULY LOVE the Moose and believe in what we do, I know it's not an issue for you. I ask the lodge leadership to work to accommodate all of our members and be sincere in your considerations. We can make this work! We are part of a bigger plan. It's NOT all about "US"!
Each lodge is preparing for the annual election of lodge officers. This article is an overview of the election process to help your lodge in this important task. The General Laws and the "Election of Lodge Officers Handbook" should be consulted. References to the sections below are from the General Laws.
1. Qualifications:
A. Governor/Jr. Governor/Prelate: Must be member of lodge at least six (6) months preceding the date of election. Treasurer/Trustee: An active member of the lodge. (Section 33.5)
B. Governor: Must have served a full term (12 consecutive months) in another elective office in lodge (not combination of offices). (Section 33.5)
C. Candidates for office must submit their names to the Nominating Committee at least one (1) week prior to the date the committee is required to present its report to the lodge. (Section 31.3)
D. All members submitting their names to the Nominating Committee for an elected office must have had training or will attend a training class within 60 days of being elected.
2. Nominating Committee:
A. Appointment: Governor appoints members and generally is chairman. (Section 33.2)
B. Composition: Eight (8) elective officers of lodge, five (5) past Governors in order of juniority, five (5) members of lodge who are either appointed officers, committee chairman or Past Governors (more, if necessary.) (Section 33.2)
C. Responsibilities: To select at least one (1) member for each elected office to be filled. Must consider any qualified candidate for office who submits his name. Nominations must be based upon the members' qualifications, his desire to run and availability to fulfill the duties of the office. May nominate more than one (1) member for a particular office. (Section 33.3)
3. Petitions:
A. Any eligible member, who submitted his name for a specific office, but not nominated, still desiring to run for that office, shall have his name placed on the ballot by petition. (Section 33.4)
B. The petition must contain signatures of lodge members in good standing (active) of not less than 10% of the first 500 members plus 5% of the members over 500. (Section 33.4)
C. All petitions must be submitted to the Administrator at least one (1) week prior to election. (Section 33.4)
D. Any member nominated who declines the nomination may not then petition for the office declined. (Section 33.4)
4. Election:
A. Only members in good standing and physically present are eligible to vote for the election of officers – no absentee ballots or proxy votes allowed. (Section 33.8)
B. Conducted at the first (regular) meeting in April. The election must follow the report of the Nominating Committee by at least two(2) weeks. (Section 33.3)
C. Governor appoints three (3) good standing members, who are not candidates for elective office, to serve as an Election Committee. (Section 33.6)
D. If a majority of the membership votes at a meeting at least two(2) weeks prior to the election, the Australian ballot maybe used. (Section 33.8)
E. The lodge is NOT required to send out notice of the election to membership or post in lodge.
5. Questions?
Carefully study the portions of the General Laws pertaining to elections, and the Election of Lodge Officers Handbook that can be found on-line at www.mooseintl.org. Inquire by e-mail to
* Please note: All Governors and Administrators are required to attend all state, association, International Conventions and conferences by virtue of the office they hold. Lodges will be held accountable if either of these officers (or the lodge's alternate delegates who may serve as a representative) does not attend unless an excusable reason is given. Penalties can range from lodge social quarters being closed or action against the officer.
Registration and housing for the 2019 International Moose Convention in Las Vegas are now open via the Moose International website. The June 27 – July 1 Convention promises to be exciting for first-time attendees as well as those that have participated in the past. New workshop offerings, more concise general sessions and first-class evening events promise to deliver a memorable week for all involved. Bally’s Las Vegas and Paris Las Vegas will be our host hotels for this event and all meetings will take place within these interconnected properties. For more information, please visit www.moose2019LasVegas.org or the Moose website www.mooseintl.org.
With an impressive array of dignitaries present, Moosehaven on Oct. 19 formally dedicated the Moosehaven Centennial Building, the largest celebration to-date as the three-year project continues.
The Centennial Project also includes conversion of Vivian Borom Hall to the Vivian Borom Activity Center as well as a new parking area for bicycles and tricycles. The Centennial Building is the centerpiece of the $10 million project, and its estimated cost is $9.7 million. The entire project is set to be completed in 2019.
Construction on the Centennial Building continues. Move-in of residents will begin following completion. Among improvements to Moosehaven residents’ living experiences in the new building are:
I was recently sitting alone contemplating my journey in life and questioning my contribution to society. We all have moments when we wonder whether or not we’re making a difference or whether or not anyone is paying attention.
From my phone came a familiar tone, indicating a new text message on Messenger. It was a Moose brother that I had never met, encouraging me and pledging his support. He had no way of knowing that I had “one of those days” and just how much I appreciated the message. What does this have to do with membership, you ask? EVERYTHING!
Sometimes we forget that we are a part of something bigger and we all need to work together and encourage each other. I do what I do to give back to something that has given me purpose. Sometimes, we all need a little encouragement. We’re all different but we’re all the same.
We inherently want to do good things and we want to see the fruits of our labors. We have the same purpose but (sometimes) different ideas. We understand that we can’t help everyone, but we can certainly help someone. We need to reach out to others within our lodge, chapter, Moose Legion, Moose Riders or Valued Veterans. We need to recognize the quiet member sitting in the corner or someone we haven’t seen at the lodge in a while. We may be surprised to find that they are just waiting to see if someone even cares enough to send them a message or pick up the phone and call to check on them.
The “sign and forget” process should be a thing of the past. I’m going through the list of all the members that I have signed and encouraging them; will you do the same? Our membership production is great but our membership retention is horrible! Maybe it’s time we personalize our efforts. I’m willing, are you? Let’s make it our personal mission. We are MOOSE and WE are definitely ON A MISSION!
Straight and level is a pilot’s term. +1 AGL is a must for a pilot in the clouds with no sight of the ground underneath. Straight and level +1 is also a goal that we have had for the past few years as far as our membership. The past few years we have not quite made our goals and with that our membership has slipped a little.
Some of it seems to be that the new members after a year or two, don’t feel that the Moose Legion membership is worth it. Really? When the new members were asked to join and step up did they get a proper ML Orientation? Do they know where their dues actually go? The average ML membership is $1.50 /month. The application has dues breakdown information printed on the part the members are actually supposed to keep in their possession. Many of us have lost more change in the dryer than our ML dues each month don’t know it that one rings true.
The other problem we hear is that the members don’t feel wanted or appreciated and drop their dues. If a person was asked to join and accepted where is their sponsor when the activities committee (LMLC) is setting up and having events? If the new members haven’t been to activities maybe the lodge committees should call those that they haven’t seen at their meeting/fun nights and personally invite those that will probably not renew from inactivity.
Have member retention committees been making contact with expired members to try to bring them current? As the Moose Legionaries and their spouses are invited to ML events the retention committee should be helping with the Lodge and Chapter arrears list too. We have to see if they have forgotten to renew their commitment to the children and seniors or if there are issues that need to be looked at that will help prevent others from not feeling welcome. April 30 is around the corner and +1 is still the goal, this year let’s do it!
This year we have been looking at previous conflicts during our sessions at the International Convention and have changed things by having all of our business meetings the morning and early afternoon on Thursday prior to the joint opening. This will give us all more opportunities to attend the other worthwhile breakouts and also give time to tour the historic area of New Orleans. Don’t forget to get your registration in For New Orleans.
This year is the first of many that the Moose Legion will have their own Celebration in OKC. Information has been emailed to each jurisdiction along with a hardcopy registration. The online preregistration form for shirts, meals, etc. is here!.
OKC will be an International Celebration for the Moose Legion in conjunction with the ML Ritual Competition, some very short Informational sessions, lots of sights, veteran’s recognition, awards and a conferral. If you haven’t been to a true Celebration for a while, now is the time to mark your calendar and block out the weekend before Veterans Day for an event you won’t soon forget. See ya there!
Have fun and safe travels.
As we near the end of this campaign year, we are within reach of showing a gain for the first time in seven years. While we are down some 1600 Moose Legionnaires (at mid-March), there is still time to contact those who have not renewed and make a concerted effort to get them to renew. While we continue to receive good news on recruitment of new members, it is also important to preserve those we already have as members. The reason I mention this is because I’ve noticed a decline in the number of new members attending activity events within our Lodges.
Working with our respective Moose Legion Secretaries, Jr. Past Presidents, his Retention Committee and the Council of Higher Degrees we can and must make the effort to contact those expired and former members and return them to the rolls. I often hear of the frustrations over having to deal with the same problems each year; that of membership retention. Some of you have been in the leadership roles within your jurisdictions for many years and understand this is an ongoing problem. Some may be new to the membership process and by now probably understand the challenges of retention. Retention is something we should be doing each day if we are to increase our membership.
The International Moose Legion Council is actively pursuing ways to increase membership and retention and being something we all need to do each day by interacting with our membership through constant communication. This reaches from getting new members involved, to following up on those we haven’t seen at our Lodge Moose Legion Committee meetings. We need to pull out all stops to interact with our membership. These things do not magically happen, they take time and effort. Have you and your Directors reached out to all or at least most members? Have you tried something new to reach out to them and get them back and involved?
It takes a team to do this right. It is not just the Jr. Past President, his committee and the Council of Higher Degrees. It is a coordinated and sustained effort that will allow us the opportunity to succeed. At the end of the day, you can at least say that every effort was made to retain our fellow Moose Legionnaires.
With the right personal effort, you can help assure that our members remain active and involved within their Moose Legions, Lodges and even help our Chapters. Together we can make a difference and keep more Brothers in the Moose Legion. As we end this Honoring Community Heroes Campaign year will you at least make the effort with a final push?
Reposted from Moose International
Are you ready for spring? It really is just around the corner. I would like to suggest it is time for some spring cleaning. That sounds like a lot of fun, right? However, clearing out the trash and scrubbing down this or that is not quite what I am proposing.
My proposal is that we might truly work together to clean up our respective fraternal unit’s expired member list. We are winding down the final months and weeks of the 2017-2018 fiscal year. The time to build our positive numbers – or reach them, to begin with – is right now.
Some fraternal units did very little, while many chapters, lodges and Moose Legions made really good strides during November’s retention week program. They reached out and contacted members, many of whom only needed a friendly nudge to be retained. But what have we done since? Remember that retention week was promoted as a “one-week focus” – but a “year-long commitment.”
As we wind down the year, we have a chance to show again. Continued effort to recruit new members is part of the solution. Reaching out with friendly contacts to retain the members we already have is vital and important. Let us each pick up the phone or go visit a member who has not renewed and remind them of the many positive attributes of Moose membership.
Each of us can make a difference – each member saved makes an impact! Just like sponsoring new applicants, we have to extend a fraternal hand and invite members to retain those benefits of membership they originally bought into. Remind them of the value of membership to both themselves and to those in our care who depend on all of us.
If each chairman and officer acted as true leaders of the fraternal units they represent, a great spring cleaning could be accomplished. Won’t you please at least give it a try? The person you save might be thankful and attend or even help with an upcoming function.
Eventually, with the right mentoring, they might even become a positive leader of our fraternal unit. But first, we have to reach out and retain them as members and encourage their renewal. Yep, time for a little spring cleaning it seems. I’m going to try – will you?
Reposted from Moose International
We often hear the question – “why are there so many rules?” – and understand the frustration.
It used to be different. We just did what we thought was best and learned from our mistakes. Rules are usually formulated when someone makes a mistake. If you look at many personnel manuals, most rules are as a result of an incident that caused issues so we put rules in place to protect others from suffering the same pitfalls.
For example, did you know that our fraternal units are “corporations” and as such are required to have meetings? Did you know that we are required to pay sales tax? Many of “our” rules come directly from the IRS in order to protect our tax-exempt status and are a direct result of our Mission Statement.
The question is often asked, why other fraternities don’t have the same rules. The answer to that is that all companies don’t have the same rule and their structures are different.
Think about it: What other fraternal organizations do you know of that takes care of over 200 children on an ongoing basis, and serves its members like we do at Moosehaven? We have an obligation to protect our interest and are required to abide by certain rules and regulations in order to maintain our status.
When I grew up, we would ride in the car, lay on the back dash, jump around and do whatever we liked. Our seat belt was our parents’ arm and it didn’t always work. Once our highways became more dangerous, safety regulations were put in place to protect us. Now, we have child seats and seat belts. Those are the rules.
So the next time you become frustrated about the rules, think about what they protect; our most precious assets – the children at Mooseheart and our seniors at Moosehaven who depend on us every day.
Reposted from Moose International
