1. Represented at five (5) Spring, Summer and Fall Festivals
2. Even though we were not out to recruit members we talked to several men with interest in membership and their names and phone numbers were passed to the lodges in their area.
3. The reputation of Masonry is excellent, out of the hundreds we spoke with, only one man talked negatively about the fraternity and thankfully he approached me.
4. Shrine Hospitals are well know, however, the Learning Center and the Masonic Home at Oxford do not have such a reputation yet.
5. We met men and women with smiles on their faces as they recalled The Childrens home at Oxford home.
6. Parents are proud of the improvement in students, who have been helped by the Learning Center Teachers. You cant comprehend what goes on in this building until you talk to students, parents, and grandparents and hear how lives have been turned around because of the Learning Center and these talented Teachers.
7. The success this year is due to 6 Masons. Our plan is to be back next year taking advantage of what we learned this year, and the need for others to get involved with us is great. We have ask to come to fish fries and bar-B-ques with our displays and talk about our charities. We have even received 2 calls from Lodges across the state that would be impossible to get to at this time.
8. I have said before we are not on anyones budget or committee, we, through the generosity of several Brothers have paid our expenses.
9. We own our own tent, two 8 foot displays, tables, chairs, pictures, and signs.
10. Our plan was never to attempt to raise money for the charities, our plan was to disseminate information on our charities. People came by and insisted we take their donations, it was never much, but we have an account of every penny and it will be divided with the three charities in December.
11. Is there a way we could become a fund raiser for the Charities? We will be talking about this and other ideas over the winter.
12. May I say again, we plan to do this next year. Come help us, it feels good.
Fraternally, Don Wilson