I wanted to take this opportunity to thank the Brethren of Acalanes Fellowship Lodge for sending the three principal officers of the lodge to the Master and Wardens retreat in Monterey the 1st weekend in March. This was an excellent opportunity for us to immerse ourselves in numerous breakout sessions with Masters and Wardens of other lodges from all over California.

In these breakout sessions, we discussed best practices in such topics as long-term lodge planning, setting appropriate dues and fees, from leader to mentor, email communications best practices and lodge culture and identity. As in the past, Acalanes Fellowship Lodge was well represented by several Past Masters who are instrumental keynote speakers at these retreats, including our very own Very Worshipful Allan Casalou (Grand Secretary) and Worshipful Gary Charland who is the President and CEO of the Masonic Homes of California.

Once again Acalanes Fellowship Lodge has pledged 100% Officer contributions to the Masonic
charities. In addition, Jason Harding, Entered Apprentice with Acalanes Fellowship Lodge also
played an instrumental role in the successful implementation of this retreat. It was an honor to spend
this weekend with your future lodge Leaders, our Senior Warden Bob Strohmeyer and Junior
Warden Adam Hanin. They are already hard at work preparing for their year as Master and I am
looking forward to seeing them both sitting in the oriental chair.

The month of April will be another busy month for Acalanes Fellowship Lodge. Our monthly Stated
Meeting will take place on Tuesday April 3rd. After dinner we will have guest speaker Kristen
Anderson giving us a presentation on the Raising a Reader program in honor of Public Education
Month. On Thursday, April 26th at 9am there will be the annual Raising a Reader program event at
Bridges Academy which is one of the public schools which has implemented the program. I urge you
all to come and see firsthand the importance of promoting literacy to children and how this program
continues to make a positive difference in the lives of these amazing students. Our Grand Master,
Most Worshipful Bruce Galloway, will be in attendance. On Tuesday, April 24th we will have our
monthly lodge social potluck starting at 6:30pm.

Our next degree will take place on Tuesday May 22nd for our 1st degree candidate Mr. Dale Satre at
6:30pm. All Masons are welcome and encouraged to attend.

I look forward to seeing you all soon!

Acalanes Fellowship Lodge is off to a very busy schedule in 2018. Please join me in welcoming our newest Mason to our lodge Brother Reynold Barzaga Dandan who was initiated into the fraternity on Tuesday January 23rd. The annual Acalanes Fellowship Crab Feed Fundraiser was a huge success. It was highly attended with 165 guests and a profit just shy of $10,000 which we will use to fund our lodge activities and charitable programs.

At our February Stated Meeting, our Junior Warden Adam Hanin put on an excellent presentation about the communication process we are using to advertise all upcoming lodge events and activities and the importance of RSVP’ing using the Eventbrite system we have in place. Our communication committee will continue to send out announcements electronically via Eventbrite notifications. The lodge App is another resource you can use to see what’s going on at our lodge. Finally, the Trestleboard is electronically sent monthly and you can opt in for a paper version should you not be comfortable with the electronic version. If you ever want to know what is on the calendar all you have to do is visit our lodge website at http://www.acalanesfellowshiplodge.com and the latest and greatest calendar can be found. This is also a place you can RSVP for all events. As we are not charging any additional fee to register and pay via credit card for all lodge events, we are encouraging pre-payment but will still collect at the door if you prefer.

On Saturday February 17th we had our annual spring Sweethearts Luncheon at Zio Fraedo’s Restaurant in Pleasant Hill. A great time was had by all and I encourage you all to not miss the opportunity to bring your sweethearts and significant others to these events. We were also joined by several widows of Brothers who have passed on and as always it was great to see them and find out what they have been up to since we last met. The next Sweethearts luncheon will take place shortly after Installation of Officers in December. More information to follow.

On Tuesday February 27th we held our 1st Lodge Potluck/social of the year. This is simply an opportunity for Brethren/friends and family to come together for a great shared meal, games and sometimes a little Masonic Education. All are welcome, and an RSVP helps so we know how many are bringing salads/entrees/sides and desserts.

The weekend of March 2nd through 4th I will be heading to the Master’s & Warden’s retreat in Monterey with our Senior Warden Bob Strohmeyer and Junior Warden Adam Hanin. This is an excellent opportunity for the three principal officers of our lodge to come together with other Lodge Leaders to share best practices and continue to develop a multi-year leadership lodge plan for 2019 and beyond.

At our upcoming Stated Meeting and Dinner on March 6th the program of interest will revolve around Youth Orders and we will welcome our District Inspector Greg Thompson into our Lodge Room at the Stated Meeting for his annual Official Visit.

On Thursday March 22nd the Lodge Officers will head over to Orinda Lodge for dinner and a visitation. Our lodge officers will be conferring a 1st degree on one of their candidates. If you would like to attend this degree or serve on the degree team, please let me know. All Masons are welcome to attend. Finally, on Wednesday March 28th, Acalanes Fellowship Lodge will be the host location for an Open House/Mixer for the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce from 5:30pm to 7:00pm. Light appetizers and beverages will be served, and the event is open to all. More information to follow.

Thank you all for your ongoing support of our lodge, I look forward to seeing you all again soon!