Newsletter from the Grand Secretary
Hollis G. Dixon, Grand Secretary
Reimbursement for Veterans Dues: The Trustees of the Masonic Charitable Founda-tion have expressed concern that some lodges are submitting the names of all of their fifty-year members for reimbursement of their Per Capita Tax regardless of their financial situation. The process by which a lodge may be reimbursed for the Per Capita Tax and an assessment of a Brother who is a Veteran is as follows:
First of all, it is necessary for the lodge to certify that the Veteran is in need of financial assistance. Secondly, there are three separate categories of Veterans that will be eligible for such relief:
- Armed Forces (Member that is currently serving in the Armed Forces)
- Armed Forces – Veteran of the Armed Forces (Standing Regulation 53) and
- A 50-Year Member. (Does not have to be a Military Veteran)
If the member is known to be in need of financial assistance in order to meet his dues obligation, then the lodge should remit the dues of the member and then submit the appropriate certificate. The certificate will serve as verification that there is a financial need and a request for reimbursement of the per capita tax and any Grand Lodge assessments. This process is necessary in order that we may keep in conformity with I.R.S. Regulations. The forms that you will need to submit for reimbursement are available on the Grand Lodge Web Page. You must use a separate application for each member that needs relief. On the Web Page, click on Resources and then click on Secretary’s Forms.
Secretaries Schools: Two more Secretaries Schools were held this summer; one in Damariscotta and one in Springvale. Attendance was lighter at these schools; however, we had a good number of new Secretaries and a lot of interest and appreciation for the new program. We are planning to schedule our first fall school late in September so as to provide more advance notice. Tom Heath and his father, Alan, have contributed a great deal of their own time and expense traveling around the state putting on these new training programs and we need to increase our attendance in order to minimize the demands on their time. We have certified almost half of our Secretaries and we need to train all that are interested in accessing the Grand Lodge Database via the Internet.
Dispensations: As I have previously announced, the Grand Master has directed that all requests for dispensations must be approved in advance by the District Deputy Grand Master. Therefore, we have designed a new, “Application for Dispensation,” form for that purpose. Included with this Newsletter is a sample of that application form. Please use it whenever you need to submit a request for a dispensation. Feel free to duplicate the form as needed. We will request that this application form be added to the Grand Lodge Web Page under the Resources Tab.
Fraternally,
Hollis G. Dixon
Grand Secretary
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