Dear Odd Fellows and Pledges,
I want to thank the Davis Lodge for giving me the opportunity to serve for the last 18 months as your Noble Grand. This will be my 82nd and final Noble Grand Report, as my term ends on January 9 at the Installation and Awards Dinner. One of the things I tried to do as your Noble Grand was to increase the level of communication to members. I think that the Noble Grand Reports, and Stewart Savage’s excellent website and Facebook page, have done that. I’m also proud of the fact that we continued and expanded our Lodge’s amazing committee structure which have brought us such things as the New Year’s Eve Party, the Odd Needleworkers, Odd Bowling, Odd Golfing, Adopt-a-Highway Committee and lots more. We are getting close to 50 committees – a really unique thing in Odd Fellowship. The most important thing, however, is that Lodge members continue to have fun and continue to do good work in the community.
1. First Lodge Meeting of the New Year. We have our first Lodge meeting of 2016 this coming Saturday, January 9. It is our Second Saturday Breakfast meeting. Breakfast will be served at 8:45 a.m. and the meeting begins at 9:30 a.m. We haven’t met for awhile, so, please try to attend this important 2016 kick-off meeting. We will have sign-up lists available so that you can volunteer to help with Breakfast with the Bunny, a Taste of Davis, the Picnic Day Pancake Breakfast, the Picnic Day Float Committee,and the Davis Chocolate Festival. We also have lots of fun committee reports from our active committees. We will also have an update from Neighbors for Nepal and what we are doing to help re-build a school in that country.
2. RSVP Deadline Tuesday for Our Installation & Awards Dinner. Our annual dinner is coming up net Saturday evening, January 9, 2016, but the RSVP deadline is this Tuesday, January 5. RSVP now to Dave at daverose@jps.net – you can pay at the door. The dinner is open to members, pledges and guests. As of this morning, we have 76 RSVP’s – a great turnout. At the dinner, we will install our 2016 Lodge officers, announce the names of appointed officers for the year, and present awards to some Lodge members who made major contributions in 2015. This is really a fun evening. And come by to support new officers: Noble Grand Jean-Paul Montreuil, Vice Grand Stewart Savage, Secretary Jim Smith, Treasurer Janis Rosenberg, and Financial Secretary Duff Devine.
3. New Year’s Eve Party a Great Success. Wow! Our Lodge’s 2nd Annual New Year’s Party with Mumbo Gumbo was a great success. All tickets were sold out (for the second year in a row) days before the event. Special thanks to Juelie Roggli, the over-all coordinator and Mary Superak, who was the volunteer coordinator. Also, thanks to Debbie Friend who was in charge of decorations. Special thanks to Jeff Oblinger, Kurt Roggli, Brian Pakpour, Robin Dewey and the many Odd Fellows who helped at the event and at clean up. The NYE Party has become one of our Lodge’s signature events! We will do it again on December 31, 2016.
4. Our 10 New Three-Degree Members. I inadvertently left out the name of one the ten Odd Fellows who recently received their First, Second and Third Degrees at the Lodge last week. Let me list all ten names at this time: Congratulations to Scott Culver, Kevin Sitz, Roberta Savage, John Knotts, Dianne Knotts, Jeff Oblinger, Elizabeth Lasensky, Heather Barnes, Timothy Wilkinson, and Ed Lewis – our new Third Degree Members.
5. Club Night at the Lodge This Thursday. Don’t forget, Club Night at the Lodge is back after the holidays – every Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Lodge, Lower Hall. Just a great social time for members, pledges and guests. And dinner will be available for $7 for those who wish to have dinner at the Lodge. Net Club Night is this Thursday, January 7, 2016.
6. Odd Fellows Classic Film Committee Continues. The Odd Fellows Classic Film Committee has scheduled the next series of classic films, at screenings open to the public. Movie reviewer and critic Derrick Bang will give you the back-story for each film. The next series will screen classic Hollywood screwball comedies, featuring Cary Grant: Topper, Bringing Up Baby, and His Girl Friday. Reserve the dates, all Sunday evenings: January 24 (Topper), January 31 (Bringing Up Baby), and February 7 (His Girl Friday).
7. Movie Matinee Committee Launches in January. Diane Steele is organizing a “4th Tuesday Matinee Committee” for members and pledges and friends interested in catching a matinee at a Davis movie theater. After the show, participants may gather at a local coffee house, or the new club room at the Lodge, to chat about the film. This new committee launches on Tuesday, January 26, 2016. Contact Diane for details and logistics at steeledome@gmail.com.
8. Odd Bowling Rolls Again on February 6. Bob Dovi, Chair of the Odd Bowling Committee, has set up the net bowling excursion. It will be Saturday, February 6, from 11 to 2 at the Capital Lanes in West Sacramento. Last bowling excursion attracted a lot of Odd Fellows, Pledges and guests. We have one bowler (Tony Pruitt) who bowled a 299! But we have plenty of bowlers who operate at a much lower level – in the 110 to 150 range. Contact Bob if you are interested at bdovi02@yahoo.com.
9, Golfers, Please Note. The Lodge has a Odd Golfing Committee, and it’s looking to set up some foursomes in the near future. For more information, or to sign up as part of the Odd Golfing Committee, contact Charles Filmer at clrfilmer@sbcglobal.net.
10. New Team Heads up Lodge Operations. I leave my post as Noble Grand of the Davis Lodge this week, but I assume a new post as President of the Hall Board Association. The Hall Board is very pleased to announce the new Operations Team for the Lodge Hall, effective January 1. The new Operations Manager is Allison Vickrey and the New Assistant Operations Manager is Jeff Oblinger (Chef Jeff to many of you). Daniela Gutierrez is also helping out in the office as an assistant. One of the new innovations that Allison suggested, adopted by the Hall Board, is that the Conference Room will become a room dedicated to use by our Lodge committees. This should facilitate the needs of our committees.
11. 2016 Lodge Dues are Now Due. Annual dues to be an Odd Fellow are a reasonable $55. 2016 dues are now due to the Financial Secretary Duff Devine. Checks should be payable to “Davis Odd Fellows”. You mail drop your check in Duff’s Lodge mailbox (near the back door) or mail to Financial Secretary Duff Devine, Davis Odd Fellows Lodge, 415 2nd Street, Davis CA 95616. And thank you! In 2015 we were 100% paid up. Let’s do it again in 2016.
Lea Rosenberg
Noble Grand