Masonic Life Network

Dear Worshipful Sir and Brothers all:

“No great or important undertaking … .”  Prayer undergirds all we do in Masonry. Every meeting opens and closes with an address to the Throne of Grace.

So it will be on June 20^th when Division 8 presents “Operation Raising a Reader,” Grand Master Loui’s project to enhance the reading skills of disadvantaged children.

Your Lodge is invited to write an opening and closing prayer for this important event. All the Lodges in the division are encouraged to participate and two will be selected from the submissions.

If a prayer is chosen from your Lodge, you or a designee will have the honor of giving it at the June 20^th event.

All submissions must be in the hands of the “Raising a Reader” committee by May 15^th.

You may e-mail your entry to Floyd Orr – frorr@aol.com, Jim Ridley –bbcakessr@aol.com, or Greg Covel – gcovel8@gmail.com

You will be notified by June 1^st, if a prayer from your Lodge is to be used.

Thank you for your consideration! Public education is a bulwark of a free society. “Operation Raising a Reader” is testimony that all masons in Division 8 support this fundamental ideal of democracy.

Fraternally and sincerely,

Floyd Orr

Committee Member “Raising a Reader”

After meeting with Joe Blanco, the CEO of American Charities Center.com I realized what a great program this is. Joe Explained that after being in business for several years, he determined what he needed to do to separate his charity service from the others. The result is that he will take ANYTHING as a donated vehicle. He then re-furbishes the vehicle and sells it for top dollar for the charitable purpose. In this case of course it is for our Grand Masters project, Raising-a Reader. Joe utilizes   e-commerce to sell the vehicles thus opening the world up for his marketing strategies. Yes, he sells the vehicles all over the world and can ship them anywhere.

What really surprised me was that he can take vehicles that are in running condition or not. And he will take any vehicle with or without a title. What a    win-win situation for everybody involved with his transactions.

It is really easy to donate a vehicle to American Charities center. All you have to do is make one phone call to Joe Blanco at toll free 888-322-4483. He has operators on duty 24 hrs a day seven days a week to make it easy for you to donate.

You can also donate at AmericaCharityCenter.com  or  RVDonations.org

So if you have a vehicle and want to help Raising-A-Reader please contact us.

Jim Ridley

(951) 329-8854

On Sunday, March 4, 2012 at 12:00 Noon, the Orange County Masonic Officers Association presented their 10^th Annual Orange County Reception for the Grand Master of Masons in California.  This year they combined their reception with a fundraiser for the Grand Master’s project, “Raising A Reader”.   Many of those in attendance traveled their directly from the L.A. Service Bureau’s Breakfast in Los Angeles to the reception at the DeMolay Center in Anaheim.

The reception hall was nicely decorated, in a colorful school theme, using balloons tied to school books on each table.  The program included a silent auction, luncheon and musical entertainment by Clarence Urlich.  Charles Cross gave the acknowledgements with Doug Eichen, AGL of Division X doing the introductions and presenting the Grand Master. The Grand Master was presented with a very unique gavel.  It appears that the gavel floats above a section of the Golden Gate Bridge, which also included small cars crossing the bridge.  The gavel and bridge was designed and crafted by Worshipful Ed Roberts.

For the second time that day, the Jr. Grand Warden was serenaded by the room singing “Happy Birthday”.  All of those in attendance really enjoyed the afternoon.