Newsletters

Brethren,

Our first Nelson's Port-a-Pit chicken fundraiser was a huge success!

The weather was perfect, it was a beautiful sunny day and in between selling chicken, we had great fellowship. We had some laughs and lots of good conversation.

We want to personally thank all the brothers that came out to help sell chicken.

At 7:30 a.m. WM John Dickason was on-site to show the driver where to set up and to tell him where to plug in his cooker.

By the time I arrived at 9:00 a.m. Shaun Imbody already had the canopy and tables set up and Doug Harris, Allen Penrod, Tim Stottlar, and Neal Pitts were already there making sure everything was in place.

I dropped off some tables and chairs and went down to the lodge to get the banners that Brother Elzey had made and donated to the lodge. I found Larry Tschannen at the lodge doing the final accounting of ticket sales so we would know exactly how many chickens to sell to drive up customers.

At 9:50 a.m. the first batch of chickens came out of the cooker just in time for our 10:00 start time. Everyone there knew their parts and we just waited for our first customer.

Tim Stottler, Neal Pitts, Doug Harris, and Scott Elzey took turns as 'runners'. They met the approaching cars and took their orders. As they came back to the table, they told Larry and myself how many chickens were needed and if it was a cash sale or if tickets were being redeemed. Larry kept track of the tickets and I ran the till and made change.

We then informed the chicken packers how many chickens to pack. My wife Rose was on styrofoam container detail. She opened the containers and passed them to the chicken packers. Doug Harris and Charlie Thompson took turns throughout the day placing the steaming hot chickens into the containers and then passing them on to Greg Waters who was in charge of quality control. Greg made sure that no stray parts were sticking out of the package and neatly taped the lid shut so the chickens would stay where they belonged. The runners then delivered the completed order back to the correct car.

Throughout the day we had other brothers arrive and take their turns at being runners and pitching in anywhere else they were needed.

Fred Lucabaugh, Blake King, and our WM John Dickason arrived towards the end of the day to help with tear down and clean up.

At 1:59 p.m. we only had 7 chicken halves left out of the original 520. While we were discussing which of the brothers present would buy them, a car drove up and the driver was waving his six tickets. After filling his order, that left us with only one half which Brother Scott Elzey quickly sold to the next driver that came near. We couldn't have asked for a better outcome. We sold every last chicken we had by 2:00 p.m.

Thank you again to everyone that participated either in selling tickets or helping at the event.

The Nelson's Chicken Committee

5/12/10 - Greetings from the East:

Bluffton had an excellent lasagna supper prepared by Brother Doug Harris for our stated meeting. Thank You Doug

Twenty six Brothers showed up for the Award of Gold presentation to Brother Richard Couch, congratulations Richard! Brother Hostetter was back in the West, welcome back Mike, we all missed you. We voted on, and passed a petition. His Entered Apprentice degree will be on 5/20/2010 at 7:00 PM. We also read a petition to be voted on at our next stated meeting.

Our Nelson Porta-Pit chicken fund raiser pre sales have been excellent. Excellent job Brothers! This event is to take place at Villa-North parking lot Saturday 5/15/2010 from 10:00 AM till 2:00 PM or till all chickens sold?

Our dues committee has recommended a $2.50 raise in dues for the next year. This will be voted on at the June stated meeting.

John Dickason, WM

11/23/09 - Hello Brethren. At our stated meeting on Nov. 10^th. we discussed the possibility of having a Nelsons chicken fund raiser. Brother John Dickason formed a committee which is working on all the details. If and when we do this, the time will be announced.

We will be having a Master Mason Degree on Dec. the 3^rd at 7:00 P.M. Remember that you can go on our web page at blufftonlodge145.com too. Always check on our upcoming events.

We would like to thank brother Fred Lucabaugh for arranging our dinner before or last stated meeting. Also remember that we try to have a meal before each stated meeting at 6:30 P.M.

At next months stated meeting will we be having our election of officers for the ensuing year.

Fraternally yours

Larry Tschannen, Secy.

4/21/09 - Hello from the East. At our stated meeting we elected Fred Lucabaugh to receive the Degrees of Masonry. There will be a practice this on this Thursday at seven o'clock. We will presenting Entered Apprentice Degree on Thursday April 30th at seven o'clock.

Unfortunately if we do not have your e-mail address you will receive this message late, please call the Lodge @ 260-824-2524 or e-mail us at Secretary@blufftonlodge145.com. If those of you who do have e-mail know a brother who doesn't, offer to give him a ride, or inform him of the Degree.

We would like to thank Brother John Dickason for rolling and mowing the lawn in April. The hole produced from the previous water cistern on the east side of the building has been filled for the safety of our those in our community.

Our Charter was draped at the stated meeting due to the loss of Brother Lyle Roller, memorial services were held in Ossian on Friday March 20th. A special thank you to all of the members who were present to pay their respects and support the Roller family in this time of sorrow.

We would also like to thank Brother Larry Dumpert for supplying the meal at our April stated meeting for the members to enjoy in this time of fellowship.

3/12/09 - In March it was our pleasure to have guests from Amity Lodge of Huntington join us for dinner and stated meeting.

Members of the Elks Lodge will also be meeting at our facility in March. On that subject, brothers do not forget that Bluffton Lodge 145 encourages the use of our facility for members and guests. If we do not invite the community into our Lodge and possibly ask questions about our order - who will?

Spring has sprung, and we will be having a spring clean up day on Saturday April 18 beginning at 8:00 a.m. Please come and join us in preserving the image Bluffton Lodge has had in our community.

Don't forget that will be awarding a gift certificate at the restaurant of your choice for the suggestion that is adopted as the name for our monthly email news letter. Please check your mail regularly for special called meetings. Talking about special called meetings, we will have a report from a investigating committee. We will keep you posted on the website, and Square & Compass.

We would like to give a special thank you to P.M. Kenny Boots for repairing the faucets in the restroom recently.

It was great to see many of the seats filled on the side line at the March stated meeting, will yours be occupied in April? Next month we will be enjoying Ham & Beans before this stated meeting. Come and join in the fellowship.

Rick McAffee - WM

Bluffton Lodge # 145 F.&A.M.