Newsletter from the Grand Secretary
Hollis G. Dixon, Grand Secretary
August 2008
High Cost of Fuel Oil: Although it is still summer in Maine, we are all well aware of the high cost of gas and heating fuel and what it may mean during the upcoming winter months. There doesn’t seem to be any doubt that a lot of people will have a serious problem trying to pay for heating oil along with all of their other living expenses. I would urge every Secretary in this Grand Jurisdiction to make a serious and ongoing effort to monitor the situation with all of your elderly Brethren and Masonic widows to try to ensure that they do not have to go without heat during the cold winter months. Likewise, we need to make sure that they are not suffering in other ways because their limited income is all going for heat. I hope you will make the Master of your lodge aware of the seriousness of this situation. This matter should be discussed at your Stated meetings so that the Brethren are aware of it and, hopefully they will help monitor this situation. If you find that you have a member or a widow in need of help, please have your lodge do what they can and, if additional help is needed, submit an application for relief to my office so that the Charitable Foundation can provide assistance as well.
In the past, I have received calls from Lodge Secretaries advising me that they have a Masonic widow who is out of heating oil and the temperatures are down around ten degrees. We have been fortunate in that we have managed to get a delivery of oil to the widow in a matter of hours. Let’s make sure that any situations like that are taken care of before the fuel tanks are empty and the temperatures are that low. We don’t want anyone to be in serious danger, when we have the ability to help. I think this is very important and I would appreciate your assistance with this situation.
Applications for Affiliation: Many of our lodges receive applications for affiliation from Masons that belong to lodges in other Grand Lodge jurisdictions. In those cases, we request a certificate of good standing from that Mason’s lodge. When we receive the certificate, we are always requested to inform that Grand Lodge of the date when the applicant has been elected as a Dual member so that his home lodge can update its records. If your lodge elects an applicant as a Dual member, please remember to notify Grand Lodge so that we can inform the other Grand Lodge and his home lodge. If you enter that information directly onto the Grand Lodge Database, please send the Grand Secretary an e-mail message so that he can verify the election and notify the other jurisdiction.
Secretaries Schools: We are planning to schedule a limited number of Secretaries Schools this fall. We will publish a list of dates, times and locations. We have certified well over half of our Secretaries and we need to train all that are interested in accessing the Grand Lodge Database via the Internet. If you are interested in attending a school, please let me know.
Fraternally submitted,
Hollis G. Dixon
Grand Secretary
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