Newsletter from the Grand Secretary
Hollis G. Dixon, Grand Secretary
November 2006
ANNUAL DUES NOTICE: If your lodge closes its books at the end of the calendar year, you should be trying to ensure that all of your members have paid their dues prior to that happening. If you have members that will be facing suspension for non-payment of dues, then you should try to complete that process prior to the end of the year. By so doing, you will ensure that your lodge does not have to pay the Per Capita Tax for that member. Do, however, make every effort to contact your delinquent members to encourage them to pay their dues and to ascertain if any of them might be having financial difficulty that makes it difficult for them to pay. If that is the case, the lodge could remit the dues or pay it out of the Charity Fund.
If the Bylaws of your Lodge call for each member to pay a certain amount of dues plus the current Per Capita Tax and any Grand Lodge Assessments, then you should be aware that the Per Capita Tax did not increase this year. The Per Capita Tax remains at $ 8.75; the Maine Mason Magazine assessment is $ 3.00 and the Insurance Cost is 50¢ per member. The total amount due to Grand Lodge for each of your members is $ 12.25. That amount would be added to your annual dues.
SECRETARIES SCHOOLS: When a Secretaries School is scheduled, we generally send out a written notice to each Secretary in the District where it is to be held. Additionally, we send notices to the Secretaries in the two adjoining Districts. Lately, we have been asking each secretary to reply by email or telephone call to let us know if they are planning to attend. We do that to try to ascertain if there is enough interest to go ahead with the school. It also enables us to notify them in the event that the school has to be cancelled for some reason. Last month, we cancelled one school because only two Secretaries had signed up. I later learned that other Secretaries were planning to attend. Please read the notices carefully and reply when requested. Thank you.
FIFTY YEAR VETERANS MEDALS: I would like to remind each of our Lodge Secretaries that it is your responsibility to order a Fifty Year Veterans Medal for any member of your lodge that is eligible. Grand Lodge does not track the fifty-year veterans for that purpose. You should keep track of these very special members and order the medal from Grand Lodge prior to the Anniversary date. You should plan to call or write to Grand Lodge at least three weeks in advance of the Anniversary date to place your order. That will give us time to have the medal engraved.
WINTER IS COMING: Winter is definitely fast approaching and we should all be mindful of those members of our lodges that are elderly, that live alone, or that have special needs. We should not sit back and wait to hear that one of our Masonic Widows needs help getting her winter supply of firewood undercover or that she might need help paying for a tank of oil for her furnace.
Fraternally,
Hollis G. Dixon
Grand Secretary
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