On Saturday, January 22, 2022, a new Moose Lodge was instituted in the State of Wisconsin. The Capital City Moose Service Center Institution Ceremonies were held at the Madison Eagles Club. A wonderful ham lunch was served with a delicious dessert buffet. Following the luncheon the Institution Ceremony installed the first all-female Lodge Board with Carol Meier as President, Vickie Drager as Vice President, and Bernice Norton as Secretary/Treasurer. The following Committee Chairs were also installed Membership Committee Chair- Lynn Laufenberg, Community Service Chair- Janice Kilby, Family Activities and Sport Committee Chair- Teri Jo Goelke, and Auditing Committee Chair- Linda Wren. There were 45 charter members in attendance. Many dignitaries were also on hand to help celebrate this most auspicious event including: Sandy DeSotel, Moose International Board of Directors – served as Installing Officer & Enrolling Officer, Harry Johnston, Past Supreme Governor – served as Acting President, and Gordon Dailey, Moose International Director of Business Operations– served as Installing Sergeant-at-Arms. Congratulations on this huge accomplishment. This new lodge would not have been possible had it not been for the dedicated members of the Madison Woman of the Moose Chapter 291, your vision has been realized through your hard work.

During the first weekend of November I was down in Orlando, Florida but I wasn’t there with my wife and kids to visit the various Disney parks like we have done in the past. Rather, I was in Orlando with almost 700 fellow Moose members for the historic One Moose Town Hall, where we met to discuss the idea of establishing a single membership model that will provide enhanced opportunities for all members of the Fraternity. The Stand As One Committee has spent the past two years developing a proposed “One Moose” framework to unify our organization and the purpose of the Town Hall meeting was to receive feedback from Moose members throughout the fraternity.

The Wisconsin Moose Association was well represented at the Town Hall meeting, but all Moose members now have access to the information presented at the Town Hall and the opportunity to provide feedback and participate in a non-binding online vote. The One Moose Town Hall PowerPoint presentation, as well as answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), have been uploaded to the Moose International website (https://www.mooseintl.org/one-moose-vote/ ) and selected videos have been uploaded to the Moose YouTube channel 

After reviewing the available information, I encourage every Moose member to vote on the proposed concept at www.onemoose.org. The online voting portal also allows you to submit comments/feedback to the Stand As One Committee. There will likely be a One Moose workshop at the March 2020 WMA Mid-Year Conference where additional information will be shared and discussed.

I hope to see many WMA members at Mooseheart on December 7th to attend the Wisconsin Tree Lighting Program. This is the longest running annual program at Mooseheart and is a unique opportunity for our members to share a day with the children of  Mooseheart. We especially want to encourage those members who have never  visited Mooseheart before to make the trip. One trip to Mooseheart will ensure that a member never drops their Moose membership.

On behalf of  my family, I would like to wish you and your families a wonderful holiday season and hope that 2020 is a great year for all. As always, thank you all so much for being part of our Moose family. God Bless.