Annual Lenten Fish Fries at Schenevus Valley Lodge will commence this Friday, March 3rd. We will be serving from 4:30 to 7:00 p.m. (or until sold). This will continue every Friday through Good Friday.
A complete meal with side dishes will cost $10.00.
Please come enjoy a great meal, share some fellowship, and support our Lodge as well.
Fraternal Thanks,
Steve Ratner
Good morning Brothers and friends. Happy Monday!
This past Saturday we held our 1st annual District Charity Gala at Justine's in Cobleskill. I'm pleased to share that our event hosted 30 people and was a success! The food was spectacular, drinks were flowing, great music and we all enjoyed fellowship and time with our guests. Most importantly, we were able to raise $220 to donate to Victim's of Traumatic Brain Injuries. Brother Steve Garreau and I are already planning next year's event, and will finalize details to share with you all in the fall.
We had such a great time, we have already booked our district summer party at Justine's for the last weekend in August. This will be a clam bake, and all are invited. We will share more details in the spring, but I am hoping we have a large turnout!
Keep your eyes on the district calendar for upcoming degree work and events around our district. It seems as more Lodge's are utilizing the district email system to keep everyone informed with their communications and events, and this is great. KEEP IT COMING!
The District Association (formerly Masters and Wardens Association) and Charities Corporation will be holding a combined meeting in late February / early March. We need to discuss changes to the 2 groups, and finalize details for the Murder Mystery Dinner as well as get going on the golf tournament. I will confirm a date and time with our officers this week and will keep everyone informed. It is important that each Lodge be represented at this meeting.
Saturday 2/25 is our District Ritual Competition. Our AGL, VW Adam Sokolowski has provided details to each Lodge, and I'm sure will put out reminders soon. This year's work will be from the EA Degree, so all masons can participate.
Hope you all have a great week!
Brother Jeff Shellenberger
Talks to be given on Masonic concordant bodies
Tuesday January 3rd, 2017 at 7:30 P.M.; Dinner at 6:30 P.M.
Located at Queensbury Lodge, 156 Burke Drive, Queensbury, NY
The Masters & Wardens Association is pleased to invite you to the Inaugural DDGM Black Tie Charity Ball & Gala (flyer)
Saturday January 28, at Justines, 399 W. Main St, Cobleskill, NY 6pm social hour and appetizers. Sit down dinner will be served about 7 pm. Dancing until 9 pm.
Cost: $30/person, $50/couple. All Masons and their friends and family are invited.
All Lodge’s are cordially asked to contribute any Masonic Collectibles or antiques for a raffle. All proceeds to benefit Victim’s of Traumatic Brain Injuries.
RSVP to
Brother Jeffrey Shellenberger
518-588-5239
Jshell216 at gmail.com
Good morning everyone, happy Cyber Monday! I trust everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and was able to spend some time with your loved ones.
Just an update for our district events and degrees-
Tonight, Schenevus Valley Lodge #592 is hosting a 2nd Degree, Lodge opening at 7:30PM. I am sure they could use help filing the sides, possible conductors, and making the Temple full for a good showing for their new FC's. Please contact their Secreyary Steve Ratner to confirm your attendance.
Next week-
Monday, Cobleskill Lodge will be hosting a rehearsal for their 1st Degree, which is scheduled for Tuesday evening. Please contact W. Kris Kinnear if you are able to make it.
Friday, 12/9 is our Masters and Wardens Association Meeting. Dinner is being served by Schenevus Valley Lodge, please contact RW Rick Scheiner asap to RSVP dinner. Meeting will be at 6PM, in Schenevus. On the agenda- finalizing details for our Charity Ball in January, working for the murder mystery dinner in April, and laying the ground work for the golf tournament. Also, our DDGM mentioned during his visits that our district will be going through changes soon. We need to start to prepare ourselves for these changes. Remember, ALL MASONS are invited, but voting power is reserved for sitting Masters and Wardens.
If you would like an event added, simply email Brother Bruce Van Buren with the details, and he is always quick to make changes. Also, you also receive my crazy Lodge email updates, and Brother Bruce always posts these online for all to read. Keep your message out there, get him info and we can spread the word.
I look forward to seeing everyone next week at the M&W Meeting. Be there and be square!
Brother Jeff Shellenberger
Last Nov class Nov 30th at 7pm.
The December classes are: 12/7 and 12/14.
In January classes switch to Thursdays.
January: 5th, 12th and 19th.
February: 2nd, 9th and 16th.
March: 2nd, 9th,16th and 30th.
All classes begin at 7 pm.
You may notice that I skip the 4th Thursday of the month.
Our church serves dinner at the Lords table every 4th Thursday.
I am the dish washer for our church.
R.W. Rick Scheiner GDOC
607-437-2465 Cell
r_scheiner at Hotmail.com
See OSMD
And the winner of the DDGM Grail Quest Geocache Challenge is...
Brother Jeff Shellenberger of Schoharie Valley Lodge #491 with a total of 21 coins! Congratulations Brother Jeff!!
Nov 15 was the last official DDGM Visit, Ted's homecoming to Cobleskill Lodge. It was a special event, with an amazing dinner to boot. Thank you to Worshipful Kris Canary for cooking for everyone, and hosting us all.
With his visits now completed for the year, RW Ted has opened up 'The Game' on our district website www.osdmasons.org. If you've collected a coin so far, you can now enter the code online and follow the instructions to find the treasures. Good luck to all, especially Team Adam Bilby.
Brethren,
The Masters and Wardens Association will be holding our quarterly meeting Friday December 9th, at 6:30PM in Schenevus Valley Lodge. Dinner will be served prior, as they are hosting a pulled pork event. Please contact RW Rick Scheiner to RSVP for dinner. In the event of inclement weather, the back-up meeting date will be Friday December 16th, also in Schenevus, also at 6:30.
All brothers are cordially invited to attend and share their thoughts and ideas. Voting is reserved for all active and installed Masters and Wardens. We will be discussing our upcoming Charity Event in January, our golf tournament and our murder mystery dinner. We also need to review the upcoming changes to our district with our RW DDGM Ted Volkert.
Brother Jeff Shellenberger
Our Grand Lecturer announced a new requirement that every lodge in New York begin conducting an open lodge suitable proficiency on each Brother before advancing to the next degree that follows this format:
The Brother is brought into the lodge room west of the altar and salutes the WM with the due-guard and sign. The WM asks him the first few questions up to but not including the one about how we may know him to be a mason or FC. He is then conducted to the JW who continues with the questions concerning the signs, and then to the SW for the questions about the token.
That is all. This constitutes the minimum standard, for now, of what defines suitable proficiency. This will help to new Brother in his communication skills, speaking in public, and in ensuring that he will be able to work his way into another lodge someday.
We have become slack in what we call suitable proficiency. In the old days all Brothers were required to do the entire series of questions and answers from memory in open lodge before being allowed to pass. It is now time to turn around and head back to that. This is the first step.