From The East

Greetings Brethren All,

The summer is almost over and our Masonic year will start with our first Stated Communication meeting on September 19.

Looking ahead for the next few months, we have a busy schedule, starting with the District Deputy Grand Master’s official visit to out Lodge on October 16. We have a Fellow Craft degree scheduled for Nov 6, followed by an Entered Apprentice degree Dec 4. Please contact Bro Senior Warden Andrew Lovato for the FC degree and Bro Junior Warden R.’. W.’. Romy Quasada for the EA degree, if you able to participate in these degrees.

One of our goals for the coming year is to have a well-done ritual for opening/closing the Lodge and the conducting the De- grees. We encourage and like all brothers to participate in the degree work. In support of this goal we have formulated a Drama Team responsible for performing the Third-Degree Drama headed by Bro. Brian Lattore and W.’. Raphael Wong as the ritual director. This is a great activity for all MM involvement.

In support of the Masonic Historical Society and the maintenance and renovation of our lodge building we formed a Building Renovation Planning Committee headed by Bro. Ernie Perez which will be responsible in generating a long-term building renovation plan.
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Collation dinners will continue to be free this year. This makes your RSVP crucial for our planning. We recognize that the collation dinner is a great way to socialize and be in communion with each other and we encourage all to participate. For this year we will adopt the following:

The master is requesting in lieu of a fixed price for collations, that the brothers taking part in the collation, make a $10-15 dollar donation according to the length of their cable tow.

Birthdays will be celebrated at the meeting of the third Wednesday each month, after lodge closing. Make sure you do not miss your own birthday celebration.

The degree work for the ensuing year is enormous as we have 3 persons in the NorthStar Program, 1 person Awaiting the EA degree, and 15 Bros awaiting the degree of Fellow Craft. We have scheduled 2 EA, 2 FC, 1 MM and 1 make-up degree nights through the year. We will limit each class to no more than 5 Bros. Necessary qualifications for being passed to the degree of FC and raised to the MM degree are Degree Proficiency, 50% minimum attendance for the previous 3 months, and volunteer work in the collation hall, setting up and cleaning up.

Looking forward to the coming year.
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S &F
W...Andy Papademetriou
Master, White Plains Lodge No. 473 F & A M