Old Erie Lodge #3
WM Eugene Miligi
Phone: 330-502-6931 (ok to text)
email: e_miligi@yahoo.com

March has come and gone, and April is upon us bringing with it Holy Week. I must apologize for this article being late this month. It is purely my fault.

We brought another friend, Gary, to Light this past month, as he was our candidate for Inspection and the Officers and Brethren did great at Inspection, That isn’t just me tooting my own horn, all that were in attendance had wonderful compliments for all of the participants. My personal special thanks to my Brothers and Sisters in Morning Light Chapter 80, Order of the Eastern Star for the meal, WB Doing for the Apron and Charge, WB Weller for the Lecture, Brother Desenso for filling in as JS, and of course my entire corps of Officers for their great work.

We brought a 3rd friend, Keith, to light at our first Stated Meeting in April. Also, at our Stated Meeting, Gary returned his EA exam and will be the candidate for Past Masters’ conferring of the FC Degree during their annual Past Master’s Night on April 23rd. Remember, fish and oysters at 6:00 ($10.00), degree work at 7:00.

With 3 Brothers going through the degrees, we will be pulling together our Fellowcraft Team for practice and degree work. If you already have a role or want to be involved with the team, contact me for details on practice. We would like to have all of our degree work done before Summer Break so, things are going to move fast from here.

The Grand Master’s One Day Class is just around the corner and we must have all candidate information into the District by May 1 so, there isn’t much time left to get candidates in for it. As it is, we currently have 5 for the May Class and there is 1 that we will be traveling to our neighbors in the 24th District in June to get his degrees.

We had our March Family Dinner at The Saratoga and we enjoyed great service, food and fellowship. Personally, I have learned so much about other Brothers and their Ladies that I didn’t know before.  If you not made it to one, I strongly suggest you come out to Vasillios in Cortland on the 25th of April at 7:00 for an evening of food and fellowship. Again, these are order off of the menu and pay your own way so, there is no expense incurred by the Lodge. In addition to learning about our Brothers and their family, these are also wonderful opportunities to bring non-Masons to meet other Masons and perhaps begin their journey into Freemasonry.

As I stated at the beginning of this article, Holy Week is this month. It is the week of April 14th so, no work can be done that week (except maybe a new boiler for the Temple?). We can hold our 2nd Stated Meeting of April on the 16th for the purpose of conducting regular business, though.

May is coming up quick and The Grand Master’s Reception is on the 11th and is being held in our backyard at Sorrento’s on Parkman Road. The cost is $30.00 per person. It has been many years since the Grand Master’s Reception has been held this close and the cost is much lower than in past years so, I urge all of the Brothers that can, bring your Lady and let’s show the 25th District how Warren receives the Grand Master. The 25th District has requested that all individuals make reservations and payments through their own Lodge and the Lodge make a single payment to the District by May 1st so, don’t delay!

Our 2nd Annual Steak Fry will be held Tuesday June 11th starting at 5:00 PM. The Officers will be selling tickets that will be available starting at the April 16th meeting and sales will close the 20th of May. You must have a Ticket because we will only be buying based on the tickets that are sold.

Some other events that are on the horizon but, need to be mentioned now, the Lodge picnic will be the 30th of June and THIS IS A DATE CHANGE from my Installation Program. The Special Olympics Opening Ceremony is the 28th of June at Ohio State and we are making plans to carpool down for the ceremony. The 25th District has moved the Outdoor Raising from September to June 29th. Cortland Lodge has also made their grounds available to camping for this event.

Remember to keep a watch on our Facebook Page as events and happenings get posted there as information becomes available.