The North Carolina Mason

NORTH CAROLINA The Mason Official Publication of The Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of North Carolina Volume 138 Number 1 Oxford, North Carolina January/February 2013 Why the new look? They ride on for kids By Helen Lentz department provides an escort for the riders from China Grove to Raleigh where the North Carolina Highway Patrol and Wake County Sheriff ���s Department continue the escort on into Oxford. The Ride has encouraged some state troopers participating in the ride to join the fraternity. Many businesses and individuals have donated money, contributed door prizes, or made monetary donations to aid the cause. Many of the sponsors and donors who started with the fund-raiser are still involved. After having plain T-shirts donated, a local printer, Phil Rogers of Omega Graphics, designs and prints the shirts each year. He became a Mason because of the good work he saw being done. After the riders have been on the road a couple of hours, they all come together to meet at a shopping center on Creedmoor Road in Raleigh for the door-prize presentation and awards ceremony. Certificates given are for Most Participation from a Masonic Lodge, Most Participation from Non-Masons, Farthest Rider from a Masonic Lodge, and Farthest Rider from NonMasons. Then it���s back on the road for the rest of the ride to the Children���s Home and the presentation of the check to the Home. There is always a cookout to feed all the participants and kids before time to start the trip back home. In the years since the motorcycle ride was created, Jerry Ed- see RIDE, page 4 Ric Car ter photos CHINA GROVE ��� In 1998, after much research and planning, Jerry Edward and Frank Parnell (members of the Eureka 283) decided a motorcycle ride to visit the kids and benefit the Masonic Home for Children was something they would enjoy. They ran with it. The first year they raised $1,800; the second year $4,600. The amounts raised each year have grown and in 2012 $23,000 was raised for the children. This brings the total to well over $190,000 given over the course of 15 years. The ride begins at the Eureka Lodge on the second Saturday in September each year. The police OXFORD ��� You have very likely noticed that this issue of The North Carolina Mason looks and feels different from the paper to which you are accustomed. It���s a couple of inches shorter and is printed on lower quality paper. This change is not of our choosing. The United States Postal Service has changed bulk mailing specifications. The changes you see are dictated by postal regulations. After investigating alternative solutions, the paper you hold was projected to be the best answer for quality of product and cost of delivery. We are guardedly optimistic. We continually evaluate The NC Mason with a view toward changes which may provide a better experience for our readers. We will continue to do so. Your comments are always welcome. Nearly 100 installed in Greensboro By Ric Carter GREENSBORO ��� People arched an eyebrow at 23 District Deputy Grand Master Tom Dolinger when he started talking about holding an officer installation for all the lodges in the district. But, as work progressed on fixing up the Greensboro Masonic Temple, they started getting excited. On December 19, nine of the lodges in Guilford County participated in a joint installation presided over by Grand Master Dewey Preslar, likely the greatest number of lodge officers ever installed in one ceremony. They shared the occasion with the community by offering tours of the Market Street temple for its grand reopening. Nearly 100 officers were installed as more than 150 friends and family members looked on. Luckily, Preslar had studied the situation beforehand and had streamlined the ceremony to make it tolerable. Grand Master Dewey R. Preslar Jr. was the evening���s rd Designs installing officer. Past Grand Master Bill Simpson was the installing marshal, Past Grand Master Dan C. Rice was the installing chaplain, and Grand Secretary Walt Clapp was installing secretary. The lodges installing officers were Greensboro 76, Tabasco 271, Numa F. Reid 344, Stokesdale 428, Corinthian 542, Guilford 656, Acacia 674, P. P. Turner 746, and Wilkerson College 760. The Greensboro Masonic Temple was built on the verge of the Great Depression. It is one of Greensboro���s architectural treasures, built at the site of O. Henry���s birthplace. Over the years, it, as all structures, has suffered deterioration. As things fell behind, there was fear that the building might be lost to the fraternity as naysayers sought to flee to an industrial park. A younger generation though recognized the landmark they owned. They began see INSTALL, page 5 upon our trestle board Own and deliver your Masonry By Dewey R. Preslar Jr. Grand Master I hope that the holiday season was a joyous one for you, your family, and friends. As I write this article, we are preparing to celebrate a new year. With a new year, we have an opportunity to start afresh with a new beginning. During this time, I was able to come full circle with my Masonry as related to our charities and community work. I began celebrating the holiday season by attending a dinner with our children at Oxford. The joy and love that you feel whenever you are on the campus is beyond expression. To watch our children celebrate and open presents is certainly a gift which touches the heart, allowing you to understand the true meaning of giving. There is a feeling of family, not only with the children, but with the staff as well. Though I didn���t grow up there, I always feel as if I have come home again when I pass through the gates. It is definitely hallowed ground, a place where you feel the presence of something greater than yourself when you step on the property. While attending the Shrine Bowl, I again experienced the expression of giving, where Masons unselfishly shared their time, tal- ents, and gifts to help others in need. Truly, the Shriners live their motto, ���No man stands so tall, as when he stoops to help a child.��� Following that, I spent part of an evening at WhiteStone renewing friendships and making new acquaintances while having a delicious holiday dinner. I am still amazed at the transformation which has occurred at our Home in Greensboro in such a short period of time. On December 23, my lodge served breakfast to over fifty people at the local homeless shelter. This is a community project that was started in 2012 which we help with once a month. On this particular morning, three children were at the shelter, and the joy in their eyes when presented three stockings was priceless. As you can see, quite a bit has occurred in a short period of time in December. I presented my first Montfort Medal to Floyd M. Burton, who has truly been a shining example of all that is good, kind, and charitable during his 63 years of Masonry. By the first week of January, I will have installed almost 20 lodges. In one case, nine lodges were installed at the same time in Greensboro. It was truly something to behold. In the previous article, we talked about increasing our fundraising efforts in the New Year to benefit our charities. I suggested that if we do it for the fellowship, we will cause a different outcome in our Masonry. Thus, we begin by drawing designs upon our trestle boards in order to develop our plans so that we can implement, execute, and be accountable for causing a different outcome. Now I am, on New Year���s Day, thinking about resolutions and obligations and how the two are connected in our work. When we make a resolution, we resolve to do something ��� probably something that we haven���t done before. When I think of resolutions, I am reminded of our obligations that we all took at the altar in our lodges. So, my Brethren, what outcome are you planning in 2013? What is your resolution for 2013 concerning your Masonry and our charities? The district meetings are scheduled, and I understand that they are starting earlier than ever before. This was done purposefully because we have work to do and need to get started. My hope is that when we meet, our plans are drawn and our fundraising projects have been scheduled. Finally, my Brethren, please join me in my resolution to own and deliver our Masonry. Let���s resolve to regularly attend our lodges, enroll others in our cause, and inspire passion for our beloved fraternity. Together we will cause an outcome that will benefit everyone. Our passion will create something in our Masonry that may not exist today. Let���s all be of one mind in 2013 and cause something extraordinary to occur.

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