Brethren, let me start out by wishing all a Happy Holiday season. Raytown Lodge #391 has continued to shine and others are taking notice and interest. After over a decade, our lodge has again been awarded the best attendance for our Regional Lodge of Instruction School. The lodge has achieved the Bronze award. It is my hope that the lodge will continue its extraordinary efforts as we continue on our trek for another gold award. Brothers, pay attention to our texts and emails as I am hoping that we will be prepared by January to go for the Silver! We successfully completed the lodge’s first (and technically second) MOCHIP event for this year. While the turnout was lower than in past years, we still made enough of an impression that the Holly fest has officially invited us back for next year. In addition, our 2 newest members received their fellow craft degrees on November 17th.

Please keep WB Andy and his family in your prayers. After a long battle, Megan is finally getting her kidney transplant! This surgery has been years in the making and has taken a severe toll on Andy and his family. Give him a call, I know he’d love the support and it never hurts to remind a fellow brother that we are there for them should they need us.

The lodge continues to have events through the holiday season. The next event (after Thanksgiving of course) is the Chili with Santa dinner. This is scheduled for December 17, 2016 with a social hour at 4 and dinner starting at 5. I have it from a good source that the man in red will be attending and “may” have additional surprises. Please bring your children, your spouses and anyone else who may enjoy some good food and great camaraderie. Lodge members are also welcome to bring goodies for after dinner treats. Should anyone want to bake some corn bread, that is always welcome. Please reach out to Tom B. if you have any suggestions or plan to bring additional food/chili.

Our “little” BBQ competition may be growing. For those that did not attend our last communication, The Raytown Mainstreet Association has expressed interest in “partnering” with us to make the competition bigger. We will be having a meeting to discuss their interests. This does not mean that we are turning the reins over to them. However we definitely want to see what they have to offer. The meeting is tentatively scheduled for December 11th with the location and time to be announced. All brothers who wish to attend are most welcome. I know that WB Steven and I will be there to protect the lodge’s interests.

As the leaves change and the weather becomes colder let us not forget the less fortunate as we enjoy our upcoming holidays. This is not only the season for celebrating, but for assisting others. There will be no shortage of food/clothing requests as we approach December. Therefore, I would love to see the lodge come together for a food/clothing donation to a worthwhile charitable organization. I’ve been hearing about a coat drive this past week but am definitely open to ideas. Please reach out to me, Tony or Tom with suggestions. Again, Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Fraternally,
WB Bryan

Brethren, I am very pleased to write this Trestleboard as the current Worshipful Master of Raytown Lodge #391. On behalf of myself and the current officer line, I would like to say a hearty thank you to all who came out on October 8, 2016 for the officer installation and to all the past masters who joined us for a hearty meal and some much enjoyed camaraderie. I look forward to seeing all of you throughout the year.

The lodge has been doing an exemplary job of attendance at the current series of LOIs. We are coming to the end this week so I hope that all lodge members will make an earnest attempt to attend the final session. Not only are the DDGM and DDGL taking time out of their personal lives to provide us excellent instruction, but they are helping to keep the fellowship of Masonry alive and well. The next LOI will take place at McDonald Lodge #324 in Independence on November 2, 2016 and I’d love to see all the members there!

There are a lot of items on the calendar in the next 30 days. Our lodge has always been a social lodge and this year should be no exception. One of my goals is to ensure that each month, we have some type of an event for the family and of course, the children. This leads me to the month of November. In addition to Thanksgiving where we spend cherished time with our loved ones, we have scheduled several events. On November 4, 2016, we have the first of what I expect to be a regular event at Frontier Justice. 30 members and family members will enjoy the perforation of paper targets, or possibly save the world from a zombie apocalypse. This should be a good time for all. On November 12th and 13th, Raytown will be hosting a MOCHIP event at the Lee’s Summit Hollyfest. This event is widely advertised and we often provide packets for over 200 children. In my vocation, I cannot begin to tell you how important those packets are. I hope that none of us ever has the occasion to need them. But, in a time of crisis, being able to grab that envelope and hand it to a law enforcement officer with all the requirements needed to start an Amber Alert in less than 30 minutes could make the difference between whether or not that child is found. I implore all of you to come out and help make this event a success as we need all the manpower we can muster. Bring your ladies and older children; they can help too!

As most of you are aware, WB Steven Holbrook led this lodge down the ritual path to obtain our Gold award. The entire lodge put in a tremendous amount of effort. But through hard work and perseverance, our lodge met that goal. I would love to see that happen again. To begin our path, the lodge will be going for the Bronze award on November 3, 2016 which is our first meeting in November. Officers, please continue to practice your ritual and speaking role so that we can get this award under our belts and start working towards the Silver. I know our study club and ritual committee members are as anxious to assist as we are to receive. Let’s have an educational and entertaining year.

Fraternally,
WB Bryan