First, there was an error on last month’s article, unfortunately my December 2019 article was printed, and that is why you see references to 2020. So I will now post my December 2020 article followed by my January 2021 article. Sorry for the confusion.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your immediate family. This has been a difficult year to say the least, with all the counties in California going in the wrong direction we need to now more than ever, take care of ourselves and listen to our elected officials to beat this pandemic. We may not agree with some of their policies or politics but we have to work together to beat this!!

It was nice to see some lodges able to meet socially distancing themselves. I was excited to see some lodges with their drive thru dinners, even though we are not meeting or gathering it is nice to see some faces even though

First and foremost Andy, please get well, I miss your reminder email that my article is almost late. Take it slow and easy. I know Debbie will do a great job in your absence.

Please keep Andy in our thoughts and prayers as he recuperates!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and family. Turkey sandwiches for all for the next week. November has flown by, now it is time to hear all the Christmas carols as we walk into the various stores thinking about what to buy for that perfect gift. As I mentioned in my last article,

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!!!