The North Carolina Mason

November/December 2019 The North Carolina Mason Page 9 CATEGORY 5 AFFILIATED CONNECTIONS ÝÝÝÝ COMPLETE 4 OF 12 ITEMS CATEGORY 4 MASONIC MEMBERSHIP ÝÝÝÝÝ COMPLETE #1 AND FOUR OF REMAINING 10 ITEMS 1. Contact no less than 50% of inactive members, a minimum of once per year, either by phone (voice contact, voice messages do not count) or make a visit to their residence. [An inactive member for this purpose is any member who has not attended a meeting within a 12-month period.] Provide a list of names and dates when contacted. 2. Hold an appreciation dinner for lodge families and widows. 3. Identify and contact widows, by phone or visitation, at least two times prior to June 30, 2020. Provide any assistance they may need and record the nature and outcome of the outreach. **See calling tree sample or contact Lion and Pillar Administrator** 4. Confirm valid email addresses, phone numbers and occupation information in MORI for at least 75 percent of lodge members. 5. Adopt and use the Our Lodge Page function in MORI. Hold a Masonic education program to explain OLP to members. 6. Help plan and participate in a district-wide event such as a fundraiser for Masonic charities, a Masonic education event (not including a School of Instruction, Lecture Service or Grand Master district meeting), a district-wide degree, a district-wide funeral service, a district-wide fellowship dinner with Masonic education speaker, or a district-wide community service project. 7. Engage new brethren at the lodge or district level. Form an Under-5 degree team consisting of Masons with less than five years in the Craft or require new members to deliver papers or Masonic education programs within three months of raising. 8. Plan an observance of the Feast of St. John the Baptist on or near June 24 as a lodge or a district, with a meal and Masonic speaker. Submit your event announce- ment, flyer or other advance event publicity to qualify. 9. Host a member of the Grand Lodge Masonic Renewal Committee for a program at a stated communication. 10. Implement an "innovative" use of technology in the lodge. For purposes of the Lion & Pillar award, "innovative" is defined as utilizing any form of technology that is not presently in use in the lodge. For example, if a lodge does not currently use a laptop and projector for presentations in the lodge, adding and using those items will constitute an "innovative" use of technology, since it will be new to the lodge. 11. Attempt to contact all "unfinished work" from the prior 3 years, determine why they haven't continued and report findings as part of the final application mate- rials for the Lion & Pillar award. 1. Host an appreciation meal for local fire fighters, police officers and/or rescue personnel/EMTs as a district or lodge. 2. Hold a lodge Open House and invite the commu- nity. 3. Contribute a minimum of $5/member to support a charitable cause in your local community. 4. Participate in a Habitat for Humanity Program in your community by providing labor to support one of their projects. Donations only do not count towards this item. 5. Partner with a local public school on literacy. Read to students, contribute to a school library or book drive, or establish a Bikes for Books-type reading reward program as a lodge or district (www.masoniccharitable- foundation.org/programs/Masonic-bikes- books/). 6. Grow the Masonic family by having at least one lodge member join the York Rite, Scottish Rite, Shrine, Order of the Eastern Star or Amaranth, or contribute to the forma- tion of, or support for existing DeMolay or Rainbow Girls organizations in your lodge or district. 7. Utilize the MHCO Print Shop for printing requirements in your lodge or a District event coordinated by your lodge. 8. Sponsor a Blood drive in your community. 9. Sponsor a cooking team for the MHCO Homecoming Festival or the Pig Jig. 10. Sponsor a youth organization (Little League, Soccer, Volleyball, etc.) in your commu- nity. 11. Attend a Masonic and/or Eastern Star function at Camp Gray Rock. 12. Support a School Project, "Stuff the Bus," "Backpack Program for summer food support to the needy" or other similar programs. To apply, submit an official application or write a letter of application listing the items your lodge chose to complete. Provide details about your lodge's perfor- mance on or plans for com- pleting each selected item. Send your letter to Past Grand Master A. Gene Cobb, Jr. at the Grand Lodge office or by email to gcobb@glnc.us. Recipients will be notified by Aug. 1 and will be recognized during the Sept. 25-26 Annual Communication in Winston-Salem. PLATINUM To earn the Platinum award, you must complete one of the four choices below after first qualifying for the standard Lion and Pillar requirements. Items must be done between July 1, 2019, and June 30, 2020. A member or the installed senior deacon gives his first-ever Fellow Craft Degree lecture. This can be accomplished in his own lodge (preferable) or at another lodge within his district if his lodge experiences no such degree work during the qualifying period. OR A member of your lodge conducts his first ever Masonic grave- side or memorial funeral service. This also can be accomplished in his own lodge or at another lodge within his district if his lodge experiences no such requests during the qualifying period. OR Confirm 5% of all current lodge members are signed up for a recurring monthly gift to MHCO (https://my.simplegive.com/ App/Giving/mhco) or MESH LLC (https://www.liveatwhitestone. org/donate/). Note that recurring gifts DO count towards Category 3, Item 1. OR Participate, as a lodge, in a public ceremony, which brings Freemasonry to the public view and attention. Examples include: public cornerstone layings, public building dedications, etc. Past events that would count toward this item include: 2015 rededica- tion of NC capitol building, 2016 Vance Memorial rededication, 2017 rededication of Raleigh Presbyterian Church, Halifax Day, Thomasville Memorial Day celebration.

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