Masonic Life Network

 The International Order of the Rainbow for Girls is a non-profit service organization for girls between the ages of 11 and 20. Rev. W. Mark Sexson founded our order in McAlester, Oklahoma in April of 1922. He sought to develop an organization where young women could build self confidence and leadership skills, all while serving their community. The organization promotes community service, as well as love and service to their schools, their homes and to each other.

Our order prepares the girls of today to be the leaders of tomorrow. The International Order of the Rainbow for Girls, called Rainbow for short, teaches leadership skills and public speaking. It builds self-respect, confidence, poise, patriotism, fidelity, integrity and character, all while providing a fun and safe environment for girls to meet other girls their age and to build friendships that will last a lifetime.

Rainbow also teaches girls to be a part of a team, to successfully communicate with each other and to trust members. We want our girls to have positive role models and mentors, so that younger girls can continue to influence the new members of the assembly, as they grow older.

The International Order of the Rainbow for Girls has an active membership across the world. Our organization has 275,000 members in 45 states and in 9 foreign countries: Queensland and New South Wales, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Aruba, Japan, the Philippines, Canada and Germany. Since our order began in 1922, more than one million girls have been initiated into our order and we have more than one million majority members (girls over the age of 20 who are no longer considered active members) have gone through our order and still participate as adults.

Former members of the order include: Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Former Miss California and Actress Lee Merriweather, Actress Lily Tomlin and Actress Dawn Wells. Maine’s Senator Olympia Snow had this to say about the order:

“I am proud to be a Rainbow Girl. This group instilled in me the values of service, honesty, and leadership, among others. I have carried these ideals with me throughout the years. Being a member of the International Order of Rainbow for Girls reflects well on a young women's character and integrity and will benefit today's Rainbow Girls throughout their lifetime”

Members from Fellowship Lodge  #668, High 12, Order of  Eastern Star, DeMolay, International Order of the  Rainbow for Girls and Golden Slipper, honored DeeDee Kelly with a potluck dinner and presented her a plaque of appreciation for 10-years of service as chef and facility caretaker. DeeDee is also a member of OES and her son is a member of the DeMolay Chapter.

Dave Hall

Inspector 818th Masonic District

Celebrating our countries birthday started early in the day, with breakfast at Temescal Palms Lodge #314, in Corona. Many families enjoyed the large breakfast that included scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, biscuits, gravy and pancakes, which was cooked by many of the younger members of the Lodge.

The Jr. Warden, Mike Padilla, provided his truck to pull this year’s float for the Corona parade. The Master, Robert Burger and the Corona Job’s Daughters Bethel, were among those that braved the morning sun to ride in the parade down Ontario Avenue. The Bethel also helped the Lodge man their child I.D. booth at the park, after the parade. They had a great turn out, which even included a Majority Jobs Daughter and Rainbow Girl, who was visiting from New Mexico.

Yucaipa Fellowship Lodge #668 with the help of the San Gorgonio  and Yucaipa High Twelve Clubs tried their hand for the first time at  conducting a child id booth at the Yucaipa Iris Festival on May 18-20.   The clubs and the lodge mustered enough volunteer help to cover the 22 hours  over the three days.  In addition to the Masons, the Rainbow Girls,  DeMolay, and the Eastern Star also participated.  Less than 200 children  were id’ed, but that did not dampen the enthusiasm of everyone involved and  their hope to do it again.

Submitted by,

Bob Snyder – Senior Warden