Okay, what month is this? They keep running together, I am being very optimistic that we will once again, shortly, be able to meet in person. As we enter into the winter months, please everyone stay well and safe. Get you flu shots, and wear that mask. It’s almost second nature for all of us to have that mask when we leave the house, and have extras in the car now. Who would have thought…

We were able to conduct a Grand Council meeting on October 10th virtually. Thank you to all the officers and members who participated. I am still planning on meeting in person for the March Grand Council meeting, fingers and toes crossed.

As lodges begin to elect officers for the new term ahead please review the letter that sent out from our Judiciary Committee. Please send any questions or comments to myself or Al.

Some lodges in various counties have been getting together, practicing social distancing and keeping the quantity of people to a minimum. I have heard some lodges are doing takeout meals for their members and communities. Some are meeting outdoors with everyone bringing their own food & drink. And there are the lodges doing the Zoom meetings / dinners.

As we enter into the fall months we are still under the mandate of our local government officials. I am writing this on the day I normally would be having a grand council meeting. This has truly been a learning experience for all of us. Who said we could not learn new tricks i.e. “zoom”, conference calls. Many lodges have been using zoom to stay in touch with their members. I have participated on a zoom call every 1st Wednesday of the month with the other State Presidents along with our National President Nancy. We also just completed a Zoom virtual National Plenary meeting in September. This has become a valuable tool for lodges, besides the phone calls, email and text messages.

I will be setting up a conference call for Grand Council in October and like in March, info will be sent to the each filial lodge President’s to participate. I am hoping that by March 2021 we can meet in person for Grand Council. Information has been sent to your Lodge Presidents and Recording Secretaries on how you can have election of officers for the 2020-2022 year, thank you Al and the Judiciary committee for helping review this. If you have not received this information and or have questions please contact either myself or Judge Al.

Being October, unfortunately many Columbus Day

Going on six months now, I think it’s time to hurry and get to New Year’s Eve and welcome 2021 in. 2020 has been a very difficult year to say the least. The year started out well, then the pandemic, shelter in place, cancellations of many events, Conference call for March Grand Council (a first), things looking better, than a upswing on cases, no Convention and now we are fighting the heat and fires in the south, central, north and in Reno. Enough already. Maybe it’s a bad dream. This we will overcome and hopefully come out stronger on the other side. Let’s pray real hard for our firefighters, first responders and continued prayers for our hospital workers. Better days are ahead!

Many of you have heard that we have a new Office Manager, Rodelle Palce. She is a dynamic young lady, who has picked up the day to day items very quickly. I want to thank Head State Trustee Ray Bini and State Recording Secretary Lori Rossi for helping me go thru numerous resumes. Also an extra thank you to Lori for helping out keeping the office going until Rodelle came on board. Welcome Rodelle!!!

Normally I would be packing my car and heading to our State Convention on the day I am writing this. This will be the first time in 17 years I will not be attending Convention (except one year for my daughter’s wedding). Many of you also, would be checking in to our Hotel for the week to share some laughs, and fraternity. This will be a different year. I hope everyone continues to be safe, and hope for that day when we can break bread, share a conversation, and share an adult beverage will come soon!!

By now you have probably received the Western Foundation donation forms for 2020. Even though we are not meeting at convention you are still able to donate to our scholarship funds, Medical charities and our civic projects. If you have not received the forms please email the Grand Lodge office and we will get them to you.

Another month has passed and we are continuing to live a different world than what we are use to. I hope everyone is doing well and abiding by the rules set up by our elected State officials.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the De Santis family for the loss of Past State and National President Frank. I will always remember the first time I met Frank at the 2003 convention. He will be missed by all of us for his knowledge and his kind smile. He will now look over all of us in The Grand lodge above!

We will be sending out the Western Foundation donation forms you would normally receive at convention and be able to donate to our charities. Even though a lot of lodges have had to cancel