Greetings from the West – December 2021

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My dear Brothers,

Growing up believing in Santa, and still believing in him, it has come to my realization he is indeed a Freemason. Like all of us he is worthy & well qualified, charitable, and caring of all mankind. Like me, he is overweight, and filled with
secrecy who meets in a special place with his brethren, his beloved elves. Santa is the reason for Toys for Tots and delivers his share in vast numbers in a limited amount of time while keeping his identity a mystery and avoiding any type of public display. He shows love for all.

On his yearly route I have concluded he starts from the North Pole in an easterly direction, and that is where we embark on our great Journey in Masonry the moment we become Entered Apprentices, the Northeast Corner of the Lodge.

St. Nicholas, on whom Santa is based, was a wealthy fourth century bishop from Turkey. The legend of Santa coming down the chimney began when St. Nicholas climbed upon the roof of a poor family’s home who couldn’t afford a wedding for the three daughters. He threw three gold coins down the chimney which landed in their stocking hanging by the fireplace and thus enabling them to get married. What differentiates this from my personal Santa experiences is the girls received gold, I usually received coal!

This event is why St. Nicholas has become the Patron Saint of Children. Every December 6th Saint Nicholas visits children on a white horse and asks how they have behaved the previous year. All children leave a pair of shoes with a carrot and hay for St. Nicholas’ horse, and the good children are rewarded with candy and small presents.

These traditions were bought to us by the Dutch settlers. About 150 years later, the poem “The Night Before Christmas,” also known as “A Visit from St. Nicholas” by Clement Clarke Moore, was written with all the details in which we believe today, including flying reindeer with names, with the newest reindeer, Rudolph, added by Robert L. May in 1939.

In my most humble opinion, Santa Claus is a Freemason, not just because of what is mentioned above, but because of the joy and hope he brings to all the world, especially to his cherished children. Although Santa is a Christian belief celebrating the greatest gift God has given us, the birth of his Son, Jesus, other important holidays are also celebrated this time of year – Diwali with lights, gifts, and toys; Hanukkah with its lights and gifts celebrating peace; the feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe with singing, dancing and the blessing of roses; Kwanza with art, food and light; and the feast of St. John the Evangelist, one of the two Patron Saints of Freemasonry. We have many traditions in common and what a perfect way to end the year with family and brotherhood, gifts, wonderful food and good cheer.

I especially love the process of choosing the perfect gifts for those I hold dear. Please look at my Facebook page and see the Christmas Village I assisted my daughter in planning, a tradition I love, dedicated to friends & loved ones.

I thank all my Brothers at Jephtha Lodge for a wonderful 2021, and I look forward to a fabulous 2022 together. Enjoy a safe and Happy Holiday Season and a Happy New Year.

Sincerely and Fraternally,
Michael S. Crispino, Jr
Senior Warden

The post Greetings from the West – December 2021 appeared first on Jephtha.com.

December 2021

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Happy belated Diwali, Happy Hanukkah & Merry Christmas!

I sincerely hope you enjoyed Thanksgiving with your family and friends. During the holiday season our brethren embrace charity and display it to the world. Jephtha continues to help our Veterans and our fellow man with our generous donations. In the midst of a pandemic, we were able to make a difference in the world with our Food and Coat Drive by helping the less fortunate. My brothers, this teaches us that even in the darkest night, our Masonic light shines bright. I thank you all for your continuing support and love of our Craft.

December brings even more joyous events as we embark upon year’s end. Our stated communication of December 13, 2021, will not be at the lodge this year. Jephtha will join the Masonic Suffolk District Long Island Past Masters Association in Sayville for a Holiday Gala. There is a cost for attending this event so please contact our secretary if you plan on attending as seats are limited.

Jephtha will end 2021 with a blast as we bring back New Year’s Eve on December 31, 2021, from 8 PM until midnight, at Jephtha Lodge. All lodges, friends & families of Masons are invited. I hope to see many of you there to ring in the New Year! Health and wellness are all I wish for you and your families. May brotherly love prevail!

See you all again in 2022!

Sincerely & Fraternally Yours,
W:. Jeremiah Campbell

The post December 2021 appeared first on Jephtha.com.

Happy Thanksgiving from the Sr. Warden in the West

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To all my Potunk Brethren-

I  hope you all have a great holiday. Gobble till ya wobble! Remember you can work off those extra helpings on Saturday at the lodge for clean up. Bro. Jimmy and I should be there by 845 am.
Stay safe and be well.
S& F 
Bro. Jeff

JEFFREY S. LANZET
WOLK, NEUMAN, MAZIARZ & LANZET
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
15 Frowein Road- Building A3
Center Moriches, NY 11934
(631) 878-1935 
126 Carleton Avenue
Islip Terrace, NY 11752
(631) 878-1935
112 Madison Avenue-6th Floor
New York, NY 10016
(212) 741-0312


THIS COMMUNICATION IS AN ATTORNEY/CLIENT PRIVILEGED COMMUNICATION AND IS INTENDED SOLELY FOR THE INDIVIDUAL OR ENTITY TO WHOM IT HAS BEEN SENT. IF RECEIVED IN ERROR DO NOT COPY OR OTHERWISE DISSEMINATE TO ANY INDIVIDUAL OR ENTITY. IMMEDIATELY TELEPHONE THE SENDER AND DELETE THE TRANSMISSION.

Introducing Suffolk Masonic Events & Tickets Powered by lipma

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The internet is a wonderful thing sometimes. Growing up in the 70s through 90s if we needed information we went to the library or looked it up in your home encyclopedia, etc. Nowadays we hold the sum of human knowledge in the palm of our hands.

I remember getting tickets to see Van Halen 1984 at Madison Square Garden and I still remember getting the paper ticket in my hands. Luckily my cousin was an executive assistant to one of the owners of the Garden at that time, so the tickets were relatively easy to get. Convincing my parents I was old enough to join my cousins and older brother at the concert, not so much.

Over the past year or so the executive board has been discussing how to give back to the district and not just host a once a year summer soirée. (Hint we may make the Holiday Gala a yearly event as well).

As the plans for the Holiday Gala were being finalized we decided that the tickets would be sold online and we’d give the ability to pay for them with Credit/Debit Card, Venmo or PayPal. The point was we wanted the members of the LIPMA who run the event to actually be able to enjoy themselves at the event and not spend half the event collecting tickets, checking in guests and counting money or checks. So we opted for a 100% prepaid ticket model. So far it’s exceeded expectations.

With the results of that effort working exceptionally well for the event and LIPMA, we saw and opportunity to offer this same tech and convenience to the Lodges, members and appendant bodies in an around the Suffolk Masonic District.

So we expanded the use of the Events calendar and tickets you saw in action with the LIPMA Holiday Gala to the Suffolkmasons.com website and set it so any registered member can add events and create tickets for their event, whether is be a Lodge fundraiser or a District wide event.

So what do you need to do this? Simple you must register with the website and be approved. Once you create a login on the suffolkmasons.com website you will be able to create events with all the details you will need, who, what, where and when. To create a paid ticket you or your Lodge or organization will need a PayPal registered email address. If you have a PayPal email you would know. The Community events & Tickets will employ some interesting technology. It will include split payments and PayPal payouts. This is why you will need a PayPal related email to collect fund via PayPal, Venmo or Credit/Debit Card. So if you have an PayPal account already your all set. If not it’s a 2 minute setup with PayPal. No merchant (Credit Card Processor) account needed. LIPMA will complete the payments on the ‘day of’ your event, all the funds collected, minus the ticket fee, are then paid to the supplied PayPal email/account. Sorry at this point only PayPal is support by the software.

So what are a few of the pros and cons to this method of selling tickets with Suffolk Masonic Events & Tickets?

Pros

  • Get Paid in advance for events
  • Get better RSVPs/headcounts
  • no need to distribute paper tickets
  • generate online reports for sales and attendees
  • leverage social media and other avenues to promote and sell tickets
  • Check in guests with a smartphone (iPhone/Android) with a app.

Cons

  • Slight added cost to tickets and your event
  • There may be more but I can’t find any.

As you can see there is a definite benefit to selling your event tickets online. So what’s the downside? Well the software that runs the system is not ‘inexpensive’. So we have implemented a ticket fee which we believe was fair to all. So when you create tickets, the fee is subtracted from the total. It will most likely be $1.00 per ticket. Plus the merchant (credit Debit Card) processing fee, which is currently 3.7% + 0.49 per transaction. This must be taken into account when creating tickets for your event. So if you expect to collect $25/per person for your event, you would need to create tickets for about $28.00 to recoup ~$25.00 after fees are collected.

A Zoom or in person instruction will be announced to walk anyone interested in learning how to navigate and add events & tickets and get paid for the tickets. We sincerely hope that the members of the District will use and take advantage of the system and actually enjoy the events that they plan. Or those who have the online knowledge, jump right it and start creating events and tickets.

On the day of your event one or a few members with smartphones scan QR codes at the door to check in your guests and verify attendance and generate reports.

Payouts: Well due to several factors, one being refunds or reversals, LIPMA will hold all funds collected until the day of the event. On the day of the event the orders will be ‘Completed” and the funds processed. within 24 hours PayPal will send payouts to the supplied PayPal email for the event organizer (the person who and set the tickets and supplied the PayPal Email) minus the $1.00/ ticket fee and merchant fees. Since we are adding these fees at checkout the consumer is paying these fees as part of the ticket price. So the event organizer will get their price per ticket and LIPMA generates the funds to make the system self sustaining. Everybody wins.

A detailed step-by-step guide will be posted in the File Manager which is also added to the suffolkmasons.com under “Your Account” which cannot be accessed until after you register and login.

One of the most useful added features of Suffolk Masons Event Tickets is the ability to check-in attendees to your events via QR code. These scannable codes are generated automatically for all ticket purchases or reservations, and each code references a unique URL that can be used to quickly check-in guests without needing to manually access your attendees list.

Event Tickets Plus App

Our Event Tickets Plus App is the easiest and fastest way to check-in your attendees directly from your Android or iOS device without the need to log in to your site. Simply install and connect to your site using an API key and start scanning your tickets.

Download the app from:

Once you have registered, created an event, created a ticket with a PayPal associated email and the event is approved, your off to the races. Each person that purchases a ticket or RSVP’s to your event, you will receive and email notification (the organizer)). You can go onto the system anytime and check attendees and sales, export, print or email your reports.

The day of your event, there is nothing for your to do really but enjoy. The orders will be processed to complete and the batch payout will run and send the payment to the supplied email. Its that simple.

Where in the District is the Traveling gavel?

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It seems the Traveling Gavel is bouncing around the East end of the District these days. As of last night, Nov 18th, 2021 the Suffolk District Traveling Gavel was resting comfortably in it’s home at Potunk Lodge #1071 in Westhampton, when 7 ruffians from Riverhead Lodge #645 appeared, ate some collation meal and then proceeded to abscond with the Traveling Gavel.

The Riverhead Ruffians photographed at the scene of the crime, caught red handed!

W:. Terry Maccarrone, the Master of Riverhead Lodge #645, who is well known for “talking smack”, then proceeded to issue a challenge.

So, I’ve been REQUESTED to throw down the Challenge to those “Nassau Lodges” in western Suffolk to come out and get the Gavel…. We, in the land of the Sunrise, hear A LOT of “talk”, but don’t see much “theft”. Do these western Lodges exist?? Or, are they merely rumors and tales to tell DeMolay & Rainbow at bedtime…? Maybe Jephtha, the ‘Loch Ness of Huntington’ can venture out..? Or, maybe Smithtown can prove that Whisper the Bull is really a mascot and not something they are full of…. 😲

The Brothers of Peconic Lodge don’t really think you guys exist…

1st & 3rd Tuesdays

W:. Terry Maccarrone, Master, Riverhead Lodge No. 645

Well the gauntlet has been thrown and anyone willing to pick it up can do so at Riverhead Lodge’s next Stated Communication, which will be Tuesday, December 7th, 2021. Which coincidently happens to the the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, a date that will live in infamy.

Once again you can check on the Gavel’s location and the rules and the leaderboard, as well as some history about it on the District Traveling Gavel Page.

A New Director General of Masonic War Veterans of NY Elected

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Congratulations are in order. W:. Vincent Scandole of Riverhead Lodge #645, elected Director General of the Masonic War Veterans of the State of NY.

During the weekend of Nov 12-14 the Masonic War Veterans of NY held their Grand Post Communication and W:. Scandole found himself on the Canadian border in NY and somehow got himself elected as one of the State Directors General of the Masonic War Veterans of the State of New York.

It’s always a good day when a Brother of the Suffolk Masonic District is elected to State office. We wish him all the luck and support he needs in this new endeavor. Congratulations again W:. Scandole!

From the Commander of Suffolk Post 23, MWV

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It seems that with the COVID situation some basic elements of “what do I need to do for….” scenarios has gotten lost in the shuffle. I have been asked by more then one WBro. what they need to do to request the Suffolk Post 23 to come to a ‘event’, like a DDGM visit and present he colors?

There is a very simple answer to this. ASK.

All a Lodge Secretary or Master need do is make a request. Typically the request should be sent to the Commander (=Master) or the Post Adjutant (=Secretary).

There are several ways to do this. You can go to the Post website -> Post 23 Website or send and email to the Commander or Adjutant. The name and email or phone can be located on the Post website above or look at the DDGM tresleboard with the name and contact info of a lot of Brothers in the Suffolk District, the Suffolk Post 23 Commander would be among these as well.

Finally a phone call or even a text would be acceptable. In years past, and I am traditionalist to some degree, it would only be acceptable to write a letter to the Post Commander. I personally, will accept a letter, and email, a phone call, smoke signals, etc. All I ask is that you request the Post.

In most instances like DDGM visits, the Post schedules to be at all DDGM visits as it’s a courtesy to the DDGM more then the Lodge and we know know how much a WM has to accomplish leading up to an event like this. So rather than add to the burden we will just assume you will make the request. But it is nice to be asked.

Should you need to make such a request, please see my profile in 10 different places, here on suffolkmasons.com, BAND, mwvp23.org just to name a few.

P.S. for all veterans who are Master Masons, please check out the website above and consider joining the Post here in Suffolk. Dues are very low and we are one of the most active Posts in the Jurisdiction.

As a plug to recruitment – fill out a petition here – > Join Suffolk Post 23 Click the “Join Now” button!

Fraternally,

V:.W:. Bill Arnold

Commander

Suffolk Post 23, MWV

GLSO sets dates for RTE – MCD and Masters Chair

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Brothers,

The Suffolk Grand Lodge Staff officer, R:.W;. Bob Licata, has set the dates for the RTE (Road to the East), the MCD (Masonic Development Course) and the Master’s Chair.

The RTE Course is required for Officers who are expected to be elected and Installed in the East in the coming year or two. However any Master Mason may sit for the course. The RTE is a course designed to educate upcoming officers on how a Lodge should operate, Masonic Law and several other topics.

The MDC (Masonic Development Course) is a class that any Master Mason may take. It is designed for newer Master Masson to learn more of the history and basics of our Craft.

The Master’s Chair of course is a required 1 day session for all newly elected and not yet invested or installed Worshipful Masters of individual Lodges. So all Brothers sitting as SW in a Lodge this year (2021-2022) if you are expected to be elected to preside in the East for 2022-2023 or beyond, you should lock this date into your calendar and make sure you are there. Those that may have taken this course in the past as you have already been in the East, you should take it again.

All dates are on the BAND Calendar as well as the website calendar. Set your reminders and RSVP to the GLSO, R:.W:. Robert Licata at [email protected] for any of the courses listed.

Connecting the District together

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In the past 24 months or so we saw some interesting things like virtual Lodge meetings and alike. Times sure do change in the blink of an eye. I suppose this also could be a consequence of the storied “NY Minute”. Either way we have managed to stay together and come out, what looks like it may be the light at the end of the tunnel, stronger than when we went in.

Lodges and member of the District put on their thinking caps and came up with, what I might say are ingenuous and unique ways to communicate with members of their Lodges.

After speaking with members from different Lodges and getting more ideas it still seems to me that one that is chosen is still most promising. There are currently 150+ member of the Suffolk District on BAND. Don’t know what BAND is or never heard of it? Well you can go here to learn more -> BAND

This platform like any other is not perfect but it’s not rife with hundreds o thousands or millions of “other” users. It possesses most the features of a FB or other social media but definitely better customization and fewer ads and alike. But more on that later.

The key is that I can connect the District Website Calendar and the BAND events calendar to keep them in sync so any event put on the Suffolk District BAND Calendar will within 24 hours be on the District Website calendar. Good news for the staff that maintains them both….yours truly. Beyond the time savings it also allow for public and private chats, Posting items of interest, Looking up other members that you may need to get in touch with, Sending alerts to some or all members, Adding items like to-dos, events, signups, attendance, etc. to posts. Plus a myriad of other features we hardly use but could prove useful. Even live streaming and video conferencing are included.

Not to hype this too much but it would be fantastic if more Brothers from the District would sign themselves onto the BAND (link above). Lodges can even create BANDs for their Lodge and see them all in one place and post to multiple bands at once.

With the announcement of the “New” suffolkmasons.com website there have been a few Brothers that have registered there as well. If they poke around they will notice a few things like a file repository where common files for Masons can be found. Great if your in a pinch and need a document or application, etc. it’s at your fingertips on a PC, smartphone, etc.

Something new being bandied about is adding a feature set to the https://suffolkmasons.com/events page. We currently use the “Events Calendar” by Modern Tribe to handle the events around the district. There are more options available and it would be great to see if we can’t take advantage of these. Namely Community Events. What Community Events addition would give us is the ability to allow members of Lodges to add their own events and sell tickets online using options like PayPal or alike to collect funds. Since this is a additional cost and the LIPMA is discussing powering this system there would be a site fee to create and sell tickets on the suffolkmasons.com website, maybe $1.00/ticket for example. There is also a component that allows for fee splitting. This is the key feature. It will split the payment between the event host and site host. So as each online payment is made, the exampled $1.00 would go to LIPMA and the rest of the payment to the event host. This fee could be added at checkout and combined with Credit/Debit transaction fees or just taken from the total. Either way the system is self sustaining and available to all. If anyone has used a paid system called Eventbrite, you will already know how this works.

This could be a good thing for the Lodges of the District for fundraising and assuring you are getting paid for the tickets you sell instead of mailing tickets all over never knowing if and when they will come back.

If anyone would like to discuss the potential pros/cons of this it would be a pleasure to discuss. There will be a public chat opened of the Suffolk District Band for this topic and I hope to get feedback and input on this and bring it to fruition for the Lodges of the Suffolk Masonic District.

Back Home for the Suffolk District Traveling Gavel Nov 2nd 2021

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This is better than watching Wimbledon..

At last night’s stated Communication of Riverhead Lodge #645 , where Riverhead, Peconic and Potunk were busy passing 4 EAs to the Fellowcraft degree, brothers from as far as San Antonio, TX and some others more local were in attendance.
The Master of Riverhead Lodge, W:. Terry Maccarrone and all the brothers who participated in the degree did and awesome job.
A hearty congratulations to our newest Fellowcrafts in Riverhead, Peconic and Potunk.

 

 

 

Also in attendance was the freshly minted DDGM, R:.W:. Jeff Santorello and R:.W:. Charles Catapano, past DGM, recognized and given Grand Honors by the Lodge.

Of course most of the Brothers were not only were there to support Riverhead, Peconic and Potunk Lodges with their 2nd degree, but also to try and claim the Suffolk District Traveling Gavel.
As one of the last orders of business, W:. Maccarrone took a head count and although other Lodges came out and gave it a best shot, Potunk Lodge #1071 came out with 7 (8 but one had to leave early) Brothers to claim the #SuffolkDistrictTravelingGavel once again.
For other Lodges the next time the gavel will be up for grabs is Thursday, Nov. 4th 2021 at Potunk Lodge.
Again you can see the stats and location of the Suffolk District Traveling Gavel on the Suffolk District Website – https://suffolkmasons.com/traveling-gavel/

Travel well my Brothers!