This is our membership report for the Virginia Moose district 4 meeting for Saturday, October 9, 2021. We had a great turnout for this meeting. President Ben Kern, Franconia 1076 opened the meeting to a packed room. Officers in attendance included Secretary - Wayne Noel of Fredericksburg 1655, Vice President - Charles Burke of Woodbridge 583, Past President - Dennis Rossi of, Warrenton 1695, and Chaplain - Larry Mastin of Fredericksburg 1655.
There was a special election for the seat of the Chaplain between the incumbent Larry Mastin and Skip Skaggs. The first order of business was to hold the election. Larry Mastin was elected. We want to thank Skip Skaggs for his continued support of Moose’s core values.
The next Virginia Moose District 4 meeting will be at the Centreville Moose 2168 on Saturday, January 8, 2022, at 10:00 am for executive officers, and 11:00 am for general membership. Dennis Rossi has volunteered to be the new District 4 membership chairman.
Lodge reports were read from all the lodges in the district below are some of the highlights from the other lodges:
- Centerville: BACONTOBERFEST Saturday, Oct 30 from 2 pm – 6 pm.
- Franconia: Moose Market place on Saturday, Oct 26 from 1 pm – 5 pm
- Herndon: Halloween Family Party on Saturday, Oct 23 from 4 pm – 7 pm
- Manassas: Trunk or Treat on Sunday, Oct 24
- Stafford: Warm Clothing Drive during the month of October
- Vienna: Halloween Parade on Oct 27, Stache for Charity month of Nov
- Warrington: Christmas Popup marketplace on Nov 6
- Woodbridge: Halloween Contest Oct 30, Thanksgiving Dinner on Nov 25
Randy Pierce gave a talk about veterans and the moose. He is a member of the Fredericksburg Moose and works to help Vets get the benefits they deserve. He asked the crowd in attendance if they knew of someone who needed help navigating the Veterans Affairs health system. He helps veterans navigate the paperwork to get the help they so desperately need. He also talked about service dogs “Paws for Vets” and “Paws for people” groups which he supports. He discussed the cost involved in the training of even one dog is huge. He asked for different lodges that want to help in this effort to contact him directly so he can find a way for you to help. Cathy Rossi discussed WOTM membership and how ladies should know that if they do not keep up their new lodge dues they will lose their hard-earned awards in the Moose. Please reach out to the women that you know to let them know to keep their honors and awards they need to keep up their Lodge dues too.
We discussed the up-and-coming Moose International Publications Awards to be held at the next Moose International Convention in Orlando Florida. The entries should be in no later for newsletters and article submission on March 4, 2022, at 4:30 pm. For website submissions, the entries should be sent in by February 24, 2022, at 4:30 pm. For each, the lodge should hold a current publications permit. Please see the Moose International website for more information.