Now, that said, congratulations are in order for the Lodge as we managed to get awarded the Premier Lodge Award despite not having a home.  This indicates that we stayed on top of our obligations set forth in the charter and with Moose International despite huge obstacles at every turn.    I can't possibly express how proud I am of those who made the effort to assist with that and maintained membership and community services in light of all that we've gone through.  This is the first time in many years that we qualified for this award and is all the more impressive for not having a Lodge home.  I've received so many phone calls and in-person comments congratulating us for the accomplishment.

Next up, the End-of-Year conference is the end of this month in Scottsdale.  I know many of the officers are intending to show up on Saturday the 27th.  I would love to see as many members as possible show up to make a statement to our Association about our dedication and perseverance as we look for all the support we can get moving on to the next phase of building and planning.  The East Mesa Lodge has already pledged to do a fundraiser for us, and I have little doubt that making our presence known would push for even greater interest and support from the other Lodges and Chapters in our Association.  Future fundraisers and donations are going to be critical as we prepare to take on the final costs.  While we've already had some commitments to upcoming costs, we will still have some rather substantial costs and the smaller the loan we will need, the more likely we are to be successful and solvent in our rebuilding.  I have also applied for the Moose International 25k grant that has been made available and hoping to hear back with a positive response on that.

Our membership has dropped recently and, although I expect a big boom once we are open, I want to take a moment to reiterate the importance of maintaining that membership.  First, thanks to all of those who've continued on in good faith.  Second, please bear in mind that those memberships help us meet certain criteria in not only getting the Premier Lodge award, but in making us an obvious choice to help in that we are a solid and consistent Lodge.  Of the 40 dollars in dues, only 4 dollars of that comes back to the Lodge.  The remainder helps us meet our goals with Moose International through Mooseheart and Moosehaven.  If you've been under the impression that your dues were just being blindly thrown at the Lodge, I hope this clears that up.  No Lodge depends on its members' dues as a source of income.  And, if you think about it, that 40 dollars equates to less than 3.50 a month.  That's cheaper than a Starbucks coffee....or even a large McDonald's coffee at this point.  We were intitially 50 dollars a month, but chose to lower it to meet in the middle with the fact that it increased the dues for women who needed to now become Lodge members.  You might be surprised to know that we have had new members join now and then even without the Lodge being operational.  I hope to see more renewals in the future as we stick together to prepare to be better than ever.  If you know someone who has let their membership expire, please share this with them and let's bring them back.