The North Carolina Mason

TraveLing The tar heel state News From North CaroliNa's lodges By Ric Carter If your lodge has a newsletter for its members, make sure The North Carolina Mason is on your mailing list. Lodge newsletters are a major source of news for Masons around the state. If you don't have one, think about starting one. Newsletters are a good way to keep your mem- bers active, happy, and informed. March/April 2015 The North Carolina Mason Page 3 see STATE, page 5 Manteo A former student recently established a schol- arship at College of the Albemarle in Elizabeth City. With it she honored four of her instructors at the college, among them Manteo 521 mem- ber Brian Edwards. She said the four "made the difference to help [her] move from merely exist- ing to doing something positive with [her] life." e student graduated with honors from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and is beginning law school. — Faye Edwards Beaufort PGM Leonard Safrit Jr. of Franklin 109 was named the 2014 recipient of the Joseph T. Barwick Civic Award. e award is presented annually by the Board of Trustees of Carteret Community College and "recognizes selfless voluntarism and helping others in the county." Safrit, who owns and operates several build- ing supply companies, has long been active in community activities including Core Sound Waterfowl Museum building chairman, presi- dent of the Chamber of Commerce, chair of the local Airport Authority, helped organize the local Fellowship of Christian Athletes, 20 years as a volunteer fireman, and many offices at Ann Street United Methodist Church, among many other less visible duties. — PGM Gerry T. Smith Fayetteville Phoenix 8 recently presented honors to lodge members. omas Walter Urbanek was named their Mason of the Year. Neil McCloud was given the Trowel Award, and the Pillar Award went to Lee Short. — Phoenix Lodge e 17 th Masonic District held their Sec- ond Annual Remembrance Dinner and Toast in Honor of George Washington's Birthday on February 21. It was a formal evening at Hilltop House. — Ken Wical Statesville ere will be a DeMolay Open House held at the lodge in Statesville May 16. e dinner and presentations will be open to former DeMolays even if they are not Masons. ey will also see if there is interest in restarting a DeMolay chapter in the 30 th Masonic District. Mark Carr, Statesville 27's 2015 master, ad- opted "Relevance" to members, community, and Masonry as his theme for the year. He wants to "balance ritual, fellowship, and charity." He has created a Communications Committee and lodge historian for the lodge this year. Joe Link will lead the Communications Committee, and J. P. Ammons is the historian. e lodge will be hosting a Life Saver Day in the spring. Be A Match will be doing cheek swabs to help identify organ and marrow donors. ey work in cooperation with Community Blood Center of the Carolinas. Statesville Lodge has reinitiated its monthly ritual practice sessions. — Joppa Informer Gastonia King Solomon 704 held a Chili and Cake Off February 7. Entry fees were $20 for chili en- tries and ten dollars for cakes. Admission to the chili supper was ten dollars for consumers. Dana Haney took first place in the chili judging. She even promised to make it again to feed the lodge at their March stated communication. e lodge has made progress on their Wid- ows' Brigade. Seven widows have signed up for the program that will help watch out for the wives of their late brothers. King Solomon Lodge is voting on a couple of bylaws amendments: a lodge dress code and alcohol use by renters. — e Plumb Line Lenoir Members of Hibriten 262 were recently in- formed about a member of their Masonic fam- ily undergoing a difficult health issue. Modern technology was useful in letting Masons help out. e lodge used Facebook and the Internet to notify their members of the situation and gave them directions to the GoFundMe site where money to help with medical care expens- es was being raised. — Hibriten Lodge Highlands Blue Ridge 435 will celebrate their 125 th birthday in 2016. ey are starting to explore ways they will celebrate. — Trestleboard Sanford Local charities have benefitted with recent interest from Sanford 151. ey had their first local charity golf tournaments in 2012. ey raised nearly $5,000 for the Lee County Foster Parents Association. In 2013, they went with just one tournament but focused on making it bigger and better. ey brought in more than $6,000 which was split between Foster Parents and Lee County Back-Pack Pals, a program which helps feed more than 350 kids every weekend. e 2014 tournament was to help Back-Pack Pals and the Bread Basket Program which feeds 150–225 homeless and hungry each day. Additionally, they send about $1,000 each year to the Masonic Home for Children. It is raised from member donations. — Tommy Holder Spencer Spencer 543 celebrated anksgiving No- vember 25 with their Eastern Star Chapter. Af- ter a fine super, they handed out some awards. Larry Poteat got his Diamond Jubilee for 60 years membership, and Ted Miller got his Veter- an's Emblem for his 50 years in the lodge. Emil Sparger and Jack Upton (a 69-year member) were named Life Members of the lodge. e Sharing the Light Award went to Ce- cil Keith, and Sam Krohn was named Spencer Lodge's Mason of the Year. Richard Shields from Waxhaw Lodge recent- ly presented a program on Masonry in times of war. It was based on his most recent book, May Brotherly Love Prevail, Masonry on the Battlefield and in Prison Camps. — On the Square Concord Stokes 32 has a canned food drive ongoing throughout the year. Additionally, they have a collection hat at each meeting. is year's col- lection in first quarter will go to Relay for Life, the American Cancer Society drive. e sec- ond quarter is for Concord Elementary School to help buy supplies, the third Children's Shoebox which buys Christmas gifts for needy children, and the last to buy fruit baskets for lodge widows. — omas A. Van Etten Greensboro e 23 rd Masonic District offered a Deacons Training Class January 17 at the Greensboro Masonic Temple. ey call the deacons the "workhorses of the lodge." e class covers such things as general duties of the offices, examin- ing visitors, balloting, sealing and unsealing the door, managing the lights, and preparing can- didates. — 23 rd Masonic District Gate City 694 masters have been adopting themes for their year in the East. Adam But- ler's for 2015 is "Fellowship." He plans to hold "events outside the lodge for members to get to- gether in a casual setting." Gate City is having a Brunswick Stew Sale March 7. — Trestleboard At their February 19 meeting, P. P. Turner 746 had their Valentine's Dinner for their mem- bers and wives. At the dinner, they also honored 93-year-old Curtis R. Kennedy, the first Mason raised in their lodge. ey are working with WhiteStone to hold a Masonic Easter Egg Hunt March 28. — P. P. Turner Lodge Graham omas M. Holt 493 is holding their Char- ity Golf Tournament May 16. e tournament will be held at Quaker Creek Golf Course in Mebane and will include lunch after the game. Entry fees are $50 per player, Mulligans are ten dollars, and hole sponsorships are $100. Cash prizes were offered. Money raised will go to our Masonic Homes. — Todd Smith Charlotte Prince Hall District Deputy Grand Masters James Harrell and Dondhi Burrell of the Gaston and Mecklenburg Districts recently invited their AF & AM compatriots to a meeting about clan- destine Masonry. ere are a number of unrecognized grand lodges operating in North Carolina. Over the years, they have cost regular lodges members they might have otherwise have gotten. is has had a larger effect on Prince Hall Grand Lodge than our Grand Lodge. e January 31 meeting about irregular Ma- sonry featured Antoine Lilly of A. S. Hunter 825 (PHA) in Durham. He is the director of the Phylaxis Society's Commission on Bogus Masonry. — Benjie Creasman Steele Creek 737 is having their Annual Charity Car Show and Fish Fry on May 16. e fried flounder will be served from 11:00 in the morning until 7:00 that evening. e en- try fee for the cars is $25. ey are awarding door prizes every 30 minutes and plaques for the best 25 cars. Steele Creek Lodge was having their Win- ter Blood Drive January 11. It was their Sixth Annual Pints for Pounds drive. e Community Blood Center of the Carolinas was giving seven pounds of food to the Second Harvest Food Bank for every blood donation in the drive. — Bill Smith West Gate 738 held their Ladies' Night Jan- uary 31 at the Metroliner Shrine Club. Diners enjoyed a choice of ribeye steak or grilled chick- en and a five-piece country band after supper. About 75 attended. At the dinner, Kenny Davis was named 2014 Mason of the Year. West Gate was planning their Famous Fish Fry for March 20 — all you can eat, ten dollars. — News From the West Excelsior 261 is adopting a practical new technology hoping to save the lodge money. ey will be using WiFi controlled thermostats to make sure the heating and air conditioning settings are reasonable. Do you always remem- ber to fix the settings on your thermostats when leaving the lodge? ey don't either. Excelsior is excited that they have four mem- bers learning lectures right now. — Trestle Board Pimping a cooker for a Brother ROBBINSVILLE — Bill Bailey has many times loaned Robbinsville 672 his smoker over the years. The lodge decided to thank him by sprucing up the cooker. Jarrod Sellers and Austin White donated their time and artificer skills to convert it to look like a pig. Erwin "Buster" Brooms do- nated the black paint. The original plan called for painting it pink, but heat resistance in pink paint proved a deal breaker. And, yes, they asked him before making the alterations. — Jim Hyde Grimesland ere's nothing like fixing up to get other things going well also. After refurbishing their historic lodge building, Grimesland 475 had an unprecedented year for charity, bringing in $3,100 this past year. ey plan to repeat their pancake supper this year. e lodge held their annual ladies' night at the Pig Palace in December. — e Grimesland Gavel Wilmington St. John's 1 is holding a Master Mason De- gree onboard the USS North Carolina May 2. — Terry Kuhn Orient 395 was hosting the local Rainbow Girls ird Annual Chili Cookoff on March 1. — Orient Lodge High Point Numa F. Reid 344 is collecting food for the Salvation Army Food Pantry. ey keep a box outside the preparation room to hold canned goods members bring to each stated meeting. Several members of the lodge have received their service awards. James Benjamin Skinner got his Diamond Jubilee for 60 years as a Mason. Receiving their Veteran's Emblems for 50 years were eodore "Buck" Carlton, James Everett Jones, James Milton Small, Gary Dale Snipes, and Ronald Wallace Stevens. — e Word Dallas Gaston 263 will serve you breakfast on the second Saturday of every month. eir scram- bled eggs, bacon, sausage, and liver mush will help fill your tummy and scholarships for college bound kids. — Benjie Creasman Atkinson Lots of cultures celebrate anadromous fish as a seasonal tradition. Atkinson 612 held a shad fry at their March 23 stated communication. — Newsletter Hookerton Jerusalem 95 sent $1,500 to the Home for Children and $500 to the MESH Foundation last year. — e Jerusalem Journal Southern Pines First Fridays in Southern Pines bring a crowd downtown. Several members of the lodge became part of the Blue Team that set up an information tent there and collected donations for our chari- ties. ey brought in about $400 during each outing. Craig Zimmerman, Lannie Harper, Guy Woodard, Trent Carter, Frank Wanko, Billy Ray- bourn, and Jim Kennedy will revive the team May 3 when First Friday kicks off the 2015 season. ey call Inge Wanko the Champion of Ox- ford because she sells her own baked goods at the event to raise money for the Home in Ox- ford. She also distributes the Masonic Home for Children piggy banks. Southern Pines Lodge recently dissolved an old, and superfluous, temple association. After it was rained out August 9, the R. C. Yoder Scholarship Fund Golf Tournament was played September 6. Sixty people played in the 14 th tournament at Pinewild Country Club in Pinehurst. e tournament is one of the fundrais- ers they hold to finance scholarships each year. — e Trestle Board Winston-Salem Old Town 751's Bikes for Books program continues with the delivery of eight bicycles to local elementary schools on January 18. West Bend Lodge in Lewisville has started a similar program this year. Six of the ten lodges in the 26 th Masonic Dis- trict participated in the Chicken Stew Cook Off last year. ey will be repeating the contest in the coming year. Old Town Lodge plans to help the Triad Masonic Youth with their May 2 golf tourna- ment. — On the Level at Old Town Lodge

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