January 12-15
The VMA held its Mid-Year Conference in Norfolk and it was attended well. We were represented by our Governor and Administrator as well as some other members. The meetings were interesting and the fellowship was good.
January 7
We hald the Blue Ridge Moose Legion 82 Winter celebration at our lodge and everyone seemed to have a greattime. We started the day with breakfast spomnsored by the Lodge Moose Legion Committee consisting of sausage gravy and eggs. Many of the Moose legionaires arrived early and had lunch before the meeting. The Lodge Moose Legionaire of the Year awards were handed out in the meeting. Congratulations to Ed Mullikin of Salem for winning ours. Ed contributes a lot of behind thescenes work in our Lodge and is responsible for crafting most of the items that are made from wood in our lodge, anything from donation boxes, to selving, and our ritual stations. Congratulations also to Jim Puckett of Lynchburg South 1727 for winning the "Dave Mullins Award" for top Moose Legionaire in BR 82, it is well deserved for all of his hard work as VMA webmaster. The evening was topped with a show by the "Mad Iguanas" band.
August 27
We celebrated our 11th anniversary with a Member Appreciation Dinner and Dance. Thank you to all of the volunteers who made this possible. We had a dinner of pulled pork, macaroni salad, potato salad, baked beans, and more followed by an evening of music with the band "Ruckus".
July 28-30
The VMA held its 74th annual Convention in Richmond. Our lodge was well represented and received an award from the Safe Surfin' Foundation for being 7th in the fraternity in fundraising for the foundation. We also received a community service award.
July 9
Congratulations to James A "Butch" Bryant for winning the Governor's Award of Excellence. Butch is one of only three in the sate to win this honor! Also congratulations to Salem Chapter 2232 for winning the Chapter Award of Achievement. Congratulations to Richard E Layman on his receipt of the Fellowship Degree of Honor.
May 27
We unveiled our new Safe Surfin billboards! In attendance were Eric "Ponch" Estrada, national spokesperson for the Safe Surfin' Foundation, Jr Supreme Governor Wes Crowder, US Congressmen Bob Goodlatte & Morgan Griffith, Bedford Sheriff Mike Brown, State Representative Greg Habeeb, Salem City Manager Kevin Bogguss, Salem Police Chief Jeff Dudley, and many other dignitaries from both the Safe Surfin' Foundation and local government. The event was covered by two local TV stations and other members of the press.
This project started with an idea in January 2010 at the mid-year conference in Richmond and took many months to complete. The City of Salem, after negotiations, most graciously granted our request to use the billboards for our public service message. Part of the funding for the project came from our Lodge Moose Legion Committee in the way of an $1100.00 donation. The event brought our Lodge a lot of publicity and good feelings in the community. It was followed by a buffet dinner and dance with music by "Our House" with part of the money raised going to the SSF. For pictures of the event please click HERE
April 30
We had our installation and Governor's Ball. We would like to thank our outgoing officers for a job well done for increasing our membership, increasing our assets and giving of the time and efforts to serve our Lodge, our Order, and our community. We wish the incoming officers the best of luck in the coming year as we continue to grow and prosper.
April 12
Lodge elections were held with the following results:
Governor- Butch Bryant
Jr Gov- Frank Hodges
Prelate- Chris Thomas
1 Yr Trustee- Brian Nimmo
2 Yr Trustee- Roy Dunn
3 Yr Trustee- Gunther Gass
Treasurer- Richard Layman
Anyone wishing to serve on a committee should speak with Butch Bryant or come to the first meeting in May as he announces his Chairmen for the coming year.
April 8
The benefit for the Gerald Rhodes family was a huge success. Thanks for everyone who came out and supported this worth cause!
February 5
We held a benefit for Ron Chewning with the East 24 band
January 22
We had a great time at our Chili Cook off. Congrats to Wendy for getting the most votes and having the #1 Chili! The band that played afterward, "American Brewed" was really good and we had a good crowd. They played a nice variety of country rock and people had a good time.
October 23
The WOTM Chapter 2232 held their annual Halloween party for the kids. They had a lot of fun games and activities for local children.
October 22
We had 13 teams for our "Slicin' for Surfin'" Night Golf Tourney. It was quite an experience playing golf with the lights turned out! Thank God for the beautiful full moon althoug it did get a little chilly near the end. We had plenty of good food, good fun, and good fellowship as we raised mony for the Safe Surfing Foundation.
September 24-26
We had a great weekend beginning with Friday night's steak dinner and karaoke. Saturday's Drawdown was a huge success with a great turnout. The evening was topped off with a "Jailhouse Dance" featuring Rimshot. On Sunday we had a "Movie Day" with movies shown on a huge screen for the kids who brought blankets and sprawled out on the dancefloor while enjoying a feast of popcorn and pizza!
September 11
District 11 held their meeting in our lodge. We had a great turnout with 22 members of our lodge in attendance and around 60 total from all lodges. We got to show off our new tables in the Social Quarters. These tables were donated by our Moose Legion Committee and are just one of many projects our committee has taken on to improve our lodge. If you want to know more about the Higher Degree of the Moose Legion Degree of Service contact Don Ridenhour, Chairman or Kelly Huffman, Secretary and they'll be glad to point you on the path to the next degree of the Order!
August 7
We celebrated our 10th Anniversary as a Lodge with a "special" enrollment that included two of our children as "Junior Moose". Our ritual team was a little rusty but it went very well. This was followed by a hearty pot luck dinner provided by our members and a social hour. We capped off the night with music from Connie Ferrell and "Our House". Everyone had a great time and the crowd was outstanding.
(Special editor's note: To the person who called the General Governor's office concerning our 'enrollment of underage members'. We wanted to make the day special for two children who will be future members of our organization. The children aged 4 and 7 were given 'cards' to make them feel included in our activities. We were not trying to break any rules and for your information the General Governor said, "I'm glad you are getting the children involved". Next time you have a problem with something at our lodge be sure to bring it first to the Board of Officers before going any farther.)
July 1-7
The International Convention was held in Nashvile, TN. Congratulations to Kelly Huffman (Fellowship), Ginny Barbour (College of Regents), and Becky Johnson (Star Recorder) for recieving degrees.
May 16
The Supreme Governor, Liguori Saladin, and his wonderful wife Ann visited our Lodge. We had an open house and orientation for new members to welcome them on the final leg of their tour of Virginia Lodges. The WOTM fed them breakfast and we later helad a pot luck meet and greet luncheon. Eddie Worth, VMA Gimme Five Co-chair gave a video presentaion on the Gimme Five Campaign and VMA Prelate and International Sports Committee member Andy Dooley spoke on the importance of sporting activities in Lodges. Tommy Moose were presented to Salem Police Sgt Weeks and Fire Capt Hite. The SG was presented a check for $500 in his name to the Endowment Fund which helpps pay expenses for our children at Mooseheart and seniors at Moosehaven. Ann was presented a certificate from the WOTM for a donation of Tommy Moose to the Roanoke Battered Women' Shelter and a check for the Endowment fund in the amount of $60. Tommy Moose himself made an appearance to help with the presentations. (See pictures below)
