A Letter of Concern to All Lodge Officers

 My Brothers:

            For the last couple of years we have been reviewing hundreds of emails, letters, notes and phone calls from members, indicating their concern over the lack of ‘customer service’ being received at Lodges.  While we agree that we do lose some members because of the Lodge Smoking Policy, or because they are unhappy with one policy or another issued by the House Committee, for the most part it appears that we have failed to deliver the product we sold.

• We said we had a calendar filled with activities for ALL ages
• We said we were the friendliest place in town
• We said we assisted members during times of loss
• We said we visited members in the hospital
• We said members were our most important asset
• We said we existed to serve Mooseheart and Moosehaven
• We said that our operations were centered around the needs and desires of our membership and not those who participated in our programs as guests
• We said that our facilities were clean and bright and safe
• We said that the outside appearance of our Moose Homes were inviting and well-maintained
• We said we existed to make our community a better place to raise our families
• We said we were fraternal – meaning we really care for others in need
• We said we were family oriented
• We said we wanted every qualified resident of our community to become part of our Moose family
• We said we operated on a basis of ‘one for all and all for one’
• We said membership retention was important to our program of maintaining our defending circle
• We said membership was the lifeblood of our Order

If the above statements are true, then why do we not see membership on the rise in every one of our fraternal operations?  The reason appears to be because, in too many instances, we operate for ourselves and not for the general membership.  Keeping our members happy does not seem to be our number one priority.

This being the case, why haven’t you registered your bartender, your wait staff, your Social Quarters Manager to attend the ‘Bringing Home the Bacon’ seminar in Las Vegas this November?  This seminar will focus on providing the necessary customer service – in our case – member service – necessary to retain members and obtain new members at a faster rate.  Your Lodge NEEDS to be represented.

You should consider the cost of attendance to be an investment in the future of your fraternal operation.  Would you spend $1,000.00 if you felt you would double or triple the income from your social quarters operation over the next year; increase membership production; improve membership retention?  If you wouldn’t, perhaps you need to question if you, as an officer, understand your responsibility to the members who elected you to serve.  In addition, what a perk for your employee(s) to have your board feel they should be sent to Las Vegas to attend the seminar because you appreciate the job they are delivering and feel they can bring back methods to improve your overall operation.

Please see that this is read at your next Lodge Officer’s or House Committee Meeting and then select the person you feel will best represent the interest of your Lodge and register them online at www.mooseintl.org.  You will be doing what you were elected to do – serve the best interest of your fraternal operation.

Thanks for your support!

                                                                  Cordially and fraternally,

                                                                  William B. Airey

                                                                  DIRECTOR GENERAL

Congratulations to Warwick Moose Family Center #1711

they finished 15th of 47 teams in Lodge Ritual Competition

at the 2008 International Ritual Competition in Las Vegas

Team Score -- 592.5209

Governor, Stephen O'Connell - Sergent at Arms, Thomas Foster

Orator, Dwight Burlingame - Prelate, Carl Byrd Jr.

Junior Governor, Jeffery Gilliam - Past Governor, Robert Calaway

Congratulations !!

Manchester-Richmond finished with a score of 588.2500

     Your Brothers and Coworkers at Dinwiddie Moose Family Center and Chapter 1296 experienced a major fire on March 8th. They are trying to repair the Lodge. There is a $75,000 shortage between the Insurance settlement and the contractor bids. They need your assistance to rebuild. At present time they are completely shut down and have no income.

     If any of your lodges has been upgraded and you have extra barstools, chairs, coolers or other equipment left over, this can also be donated, a receipt given and counted toward your lodge donations.

     Any assistance from VMA Lodges and chapters would be gratefully appreciated.

     You can contact me 24/7 at 804-943-2147 or email joevancil@msn.com and I can supply addresses and make arrangements for check presentation or pick up if required.
 

Fraternally,
Joe Vancil
District 8 President

Congratulations to the Virginia Lodges

that earned the

2008 Premier Lodge Award

South Norfolk Lodge #464

Covington Lodge #610

Williamsburg Lodge #757

Vinton Lodge #1121

Clifton Forge Lodge #1683

Stephens City Lodge 2483

Woodstock Lodge #575

Front Royal Lodge #829

Franconia Lodge #1076

Fredericksburg Lodge #1655

Stafford Lodge #2215

Salem Lodge #2573

Congratulations to the

2007-2008 Moose International Journalism

AWARD WINNERS !!

UPDATE ON THE
SUFFOLK “TORNADO VICTIMS FUND”

          Time has passed since the Tornado hit the Suffolk area but the NEED is still there!  If your Lodge, MLC or WOTM has not made a donation to this fund – they can use all the help you can give them.

          A clarification to donations to this fund is that the checks need to be made out to the “Suffolk Foundation” which is a qualified 501 C 3 non-profit charity, this covers checks that are from Bingo funds, a pull tab account or general fund – and the check should to be sent to:

Suffolk Lodge # 141
675 Turlington Road
Suffolk, VA 23434.

          They are registering each donation so we can have accountability for the total donations.

Fraternally, Charlie Curtis,
VMA Community Service Chairman

Congratulations to

Sharon Overstreet

Virginia Moose Association's

2007-2008 International

Co-Worker Of The Year

Member of Bedford Chapter #1005

Congratulations to

Donald Johnson

Virginia Moose Association's

2007-2008 Moose Of The Year

Member of Strasburg Lodge #403

Congratulations to

Larry Stocks

Virginia Moose Association's

07-08 Moose Legionnaire of the Year

Member of Bull Run Moose Legion 185

Congratulations to

Manchester

Moose Family Center #699

2008 State Ritual Champions

Manchester finished with

a winning score of 592.6565

Click Here to view Photos of all the Ritual Teams

Standing (L-R) Jorge Rodriquez, Orator; Richard Seeds, Jr. Past Governor; Guy Barker, Governor

Seated (L-R) Charlie Curtis, Prelate; Mike Thompson, Chairman & Sgt. at Arms; Steve Goff, Jr. Governor

The Warwick Moose Family Center #1711 finished in Second place with a score of 591.1564

The Fredericksburg Moose Family Center #1655 finished in Third place with a score of 590.9688

Congratulations to all Six Teams that competed this year at the 2008 Mid-Year Conference

 including first time competitors from the Stephen City Moose Family Center #2483

Congratulations to Guy Barker from the Manchester Moose Family Center #699

  --  TOP INDIVIDUAL GRAND CHAMPION  --

winning score of 99.0938

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Department of Risk Management issues

New Guidelines for Renting Moose Property

Moose International is pleased to announce that Special Events Insurance Coverage is available for our Fraternal Units in the United States through AON effective August 1st, 2008

Click Here for details on the Web Based procedure to obtain coverage for your event

New Special-Events Insurance Requirements When Renting Your Moose Facility

FAQs on Fraternal-Property Rentals

Moose Journalism Entries

Submit Your Publication and / or Your Websites

After the 2007 International Convention, Director General Airey and his staff conducted a thorough review of the Shining Star program, concluding that the number of categories awarded should be substantially reduced -- given the fact that there are existing departmental awards programs for the bulk of the original Shining Star categories. Shining Stars will continue to be awarded for the eight categories requiring members to submit the name of a nominee.

• Moose of the Year
• Co-Worker of the Year
• Rookie of the Year
• Novice Co-Worker of the Year
• Lodge of the Year
• Chapter of the Year
• Moose Legionnaire of the Year
• Administrator of the Year

The Department of Fraternal Programs and Director General Airey will continue to review this program in an ongoing effort to make it as easy as possible to understand -- and very satisfying to earn. Nothing is more meaningful in our fraternity than proper recognition of individual or collective efforts, and so we are committed to making sure that our award programs do just that.

Message from Director General Airey
and Grand Chancellor Fregulia
On Per-Capita Assessment Increase

Coming September 30 View and Print Assessment vs. Inflation Chart  Print this page in Adobe PDF

Recently, the Supreme Council of Moose International and the Grand Council of the Women of the Moose rendered a decision regarding increases in the annual per-capita assessment of the Women of the Moose, and the annual per-capita assessment of the Loyal Order of Moose (formerly known as the ABCD amount) – amounts paid as a portion (NOT the entirety) of each member’s dues. Decisions were reached based upon the following facts:

• As reported during the Orlando convention, the operating costs of Mooseheart Child City & School and the Moosehaven retirement community are running at approximately $32 million per year.
  
   
• Increased expenses of the two campuses have resulted in the fraternity needing to borrow funds from the Moose Foundation – which includes Endowment Fund donations.
  
   
• The fraternity has fallen far short of keeping pace with inflation in the per-capita assessment amounts. The ABCD amount was initially set at $4.00 in 1929 ($1.00 per quarter – therefore the reference to “A Big Charity Dollar” or ABCD.) And, according the U.S. Consumer Price Index, what could be purchased for $4.00 in 1929 cost $48.50 in 2007.

The per-capita assessment of the Loyal Order of Moose has been raised just six times since 1929; the Women of the Moose per-capita has also been raised just six times since its inception in 1923 – in none of those cases fully keeping pace with inflation. From the 1960s through 1980s, when total Moose membership increased 25 out of 30 years, the per-capita assessment generated by the growing number of members was sufficient to fund operations. But, from 1991 to 2007, the total number of dues-paying members increased only 3 times in 16 years, and the drop in available per-capita funds has meant that the inflation shortfall could not be made up to sufficiently f