Greetings and welcome to the Holiday Season, What a month October has been. It seems like I was on the road for the entire month. I was able to visit 23 Lodges throughout the month, so if I did not get to your Lodge, expect to see me soon. I also had the privilege of having a new Territory Manager from Central California/Northern Nevada spend a week with me traveling from Lodge to Lodge.

While traveling from Lodge to Lodge I discovered that it appears most of us have one thing in common, lack of membership participation. Whether it’s attending Lodge/Chapter events or attending Lodge/Chapter meetings, there are very few members actually attending. Why is that? I have spoken to a lot of members in our social quarters that have some great ideas, but never attend a meeting to share their ideas.

When I asked why they do not attend meetings, the most common response I received was “they don’t listen anyway”, or that “new ideas are always shot down”. It seems that we have entered a dangerous cycle of “status quo”, or not wanting to move outside of our comfort zone. One of the saddest things I hear time and time again at our meetings is “we tried that once years ago and it did not work”. The Leaders of our Lodges and Chapters should be prepared to listen to new ideas and be willing to accept change.

If we are going to survive as a Fraternity, we must accept change and move forward. Just because something did not work years ago, does not mean that it will not work now. Let our members be heard, let them have input into the planning of our events. Ask those with the ideas to put together a plan and host the event. We all might be surprised of the outcome. If something does not work out, make note of what did work and adjust your plans for the next event. Remember, if Plan “A” does not work, there are 25 more letters in the alphabet.

There are a lot of events coming up over the next couple of months, so mark your calendars. November 3 rd – 9 th is Membership Retention Week, and don’t forget that the 2nd Quarter HOC Report is due by the 15 th of November. November is also Fellowship Recommendation Month, so everyone should have already scheduled the Fellowship Committee meetings. November 3 rd is the FIRST District Meeting for the newly formed District 7. December 7 th is the Wisconsin Tree Lighting and Senior Picture Luncheon at Mooseheart.

Until next month,

Fraternally,

Michael S. Rynearson

Territory Manager / Liaison