Potentate’s Notes September 2023

Greetings Nobles,

Welcome back!! Another summer has come and gone. As many of you might be aware, our Shrine dues are increasing $20/year for the per capita increase of Shriners International that was voted on at Imperial Session. With that being said, dues can be paid for 2024 now with the option to make installment payments.

I would like to thank everyone who has taken time out of their summer to help sell Sportsmen’s Extravaganza tickets at the Riboff, tractor pulls and scrap. Another big THANK YOU to those of you who helped drive golf carts at the tractor pulls. Please keep selling tickets, as this event will be here before we know it and is a big fund-raiser for our Temple. I also would like to personally thank Bob Young for organizing the Mud Hens event, as a great time was had by all!.

We will be hosting Cigars Under the Stars on Saturday, September 9. It was a great event last year and we plan to have a bonfire this year. On Sunday, October 15, the Fall Meat Feztival will return with the Fez Burning Ceremony after this event. We also have a Friend­ship Night scheduled for Friday, October 20, allowing you the op­portunity to bring friends who may be interested in our fraternity and seek out more information. We need to bring in members, if we want to stay above 1,000 members and maintain our number of del­egate votes allotted for us at Imperial. If we go below this number we will lose one of our current delegate votes.

We need many of you to help with planning of several of our events, especially the Sportsmen’s Extravaganza. This was a suc­cessful event previously and is now struggling. We are asking for anyone who is interested in any capacity to please reach out to us and help make this event a success again. This event takes the hands of many and we need you.

If there is anyone interested in being a dispatcher to find drivers to take children to the hospitals, please reach out to me directly. This is done remotely by computer and does not involve having to be at the Temple. On average, this requires < 5 hours/week. This is the reason we are Shriners.

Potentate’s Notes Summer 2023

Greetings Nobles,

Are you ready for summer like I am?? As you are reading this, we are probably having the Pote’s Party and if you are not here you have missed a great event. I want to thank those who showed up and made the event a great time. Lady Melissa and I personally want to give a HUGE THANK YOU to the committee for all their hard work. We have the Pote’s Parade coming up on Saturday, June 10, in Whitehouse at the Cherry Festival. We hope you will all come out and watch or participate in the parade, and then join us after the parade at the Progressive Fishing Association on Schadel Road in Whitehouse. I promise you it will be a time full of fun and fellowship with your fellow Shriners. We also will be kicking that weekend off with the Tabloid sales. Please pick them up at the Shrine for your clubs/units to disperse. While there, also pick up your plaques and stickers.

On Saturday, June 17, the Zenobia Clown golf outing will be at Birch Run Golf Club in North Baltimore. Please see the enclosed flyer to register with Steve Horton. On Saturday, June 24, we can enjoy golfing again with Dendarah Court at Hidden Hills Golf Course in Woodville. Please come out to support them as they sup­port our organization. June 30 to July 7, your Divan will be in Char­lotte for Imperial Session. At this session, we will be voting on per capita increase of dues that has failed the last two years, but I expect in the next year or so it will pass, so be aware that dues MAY be in­creasing. On the same note, I cannot express enough the need for membership, as we are bordering on the line of 1,000 members. If our member count is below 1,000 at the beginning of the year, we will lose a voting delegate at Imperial Session. The Divan is working very hard to prevent this, but we also need your help to get new members into our great organization.

In the Calendar Book on July 22 we had a scheduled Family Pic­nic Day, but are replacing it with the Mud Hens game event on Fri­day, July 21. Get your kids, grandkids and come enjoy a baseball game with the Shrine. Please see the enclosed flyer and register at our website for your tickets. Saturday, July 29, is the Potentate’s Youth Picnic, in which all are invited to learn more about the Rain­bow Girls and DeMolay.

In August, we will be having our annual fund-raiser for Shriners Children’s Hospital with the John Hoffman Memorial Golf Outing; please register your team with Robin Hoffman. Let’s make this a great event in memory of John to a great philanthropy. Patrol will also be having their Old Timers Steak Roast at Zenobia; please con­tact Bernie Welniak for more information. The National Tractor Pulls are in August, if you are interested in helping out with this event, please contact Illustrious Sir Tom Binder or Illustrious Sir Ty Stout for details. At the end of the month, we will visit the VFW in Port Clinton and collect pop tabs. We attend this event as they collect two, 55 gallon barrels of tabs to help support our hospitals. If you are interested in coming to this event, please contact Randy Sikorski.

We have plenty of events scheduled over the summer for you to enjoy and will be glad to see all of in our stated meeting in Sep­tember on the first Thursday of the month vs the second Thursday, as GLSA is the second Thursday. In regards to the kiosk sign at 795, we are in the process of getting quotes so we can present more de­tailed information to the Nobility. We have the Divan and some Past Potentates currently working on this project. On a last note, if there is anything that you think needs attention or needs to be done around Zenobia, please bring it to the attention of the trustees or Divan, as this is your Temple, not ours. Hope you and your family have a great summer and enjoy some or our activities that are planned.

Potentate’s Notes May 2023

Greetings Nobles,

Hope you had a wonderful Easter! We FINALLY have our Sports­men’s Extravaganza tickets. Please stop by the office to get yours and/or to sell additional tickets. They are also available for purchase online at shrinesportsmen.com or by calling the office. Please re­member when selling tickets, to not sell to another brother, but to sell to your friends, family, neighbors, co-workers and colleagues. Unfortunately, we will be doing a virtual event this year and if you have any further questions, please reach out to me. This is still a HECK OF A DEAL for 101 prizes costing the individual only $20/ticket.

Our annual John Hoffman Memorial Golf Outing is scheduled for Saturday, August 5. Please get your teams together and registered with Robin Hoffman. Remember, this is a 2 p.m. shotgun start at Hidden Hills Golf Course in Woodville. This is a fund-raiser for our hospitals and we would like to show our support to them.

Mark your calendar for Saturday, June 3, as this will be the Po­tentate’s Party “Disco Ball at Studio 54” and the following weekend on June 10, we will have the Potentate’s Parade. The Potentate’s Parade will be in Whitehouse at the Cherry Festival, with an after­glow party following the parade. More details will be coming out soon regarding this, so keep your ears on alert. Bring your friends and family to these events as both will be a great time. In July, we will be having our Zenobia Mud Hens family event. Look for those details in the Hadji.

Nobles we are still looking for a bookkeeper to manage our fi­nancial books; this person does NOT need to be a Noble. If you know of someone, please contact me ASAP. If this person is a non-Noble, I will then need a Noble member to wear the fez and report the financials given by the bookkeeper at each stated meeting. Again, please contact me if you are interested in this.

I understand there may be some clubs/units looking to disband and not know what to do with their money. Our current sign at 795 is non-repairable and still operates off the very dated DOS system. Due to its outdated features, the only option is to replace it. Illus­trious Sir Tom Binder attempted to address this issue in 2018, but we were unable to do anything at that time. A new sign will cost over $10,000, for which we currently do not have the funds. The sign would be a great opportunity for advertising, membership building and fund-raising. It would be a great spot to use your club and units’ money wisely for the betterment of Zenobia.

Last, but not least, do not forget we have Ceremonial on Saturday, May 20. If you know of anyone interested, bring them to our events and let them get a feel for our great organization. Without member­ship, we will not exist and I believe Shriners is one of the greatest philanthropies.

Thank you for all that you do for Zenobia and until next month.