President

Dateline Las Cruces Shrine Club Spring has sprung in the southland and Las Cruces Shriners are springing around! As a club we have accomplished much in the past three months! Member attendance is trending up for general meetings and work details. Spirits are buoyant, meetings noisy, jovial, energetic, focused!

We are pointing to our annual, mid-June visitation from our Potentate and the Divan. Our location “sans” lawns, sidewalks and paving makes dust control a real challenge! Nevertheless, all hands battle the elements to keep everything as “spiffy” as possible.

Eddie Ferguson keeps the grounds, John Morgan has refurbished the air conditioners and, after a $600 estimate to trim the two pesky mulberry trees, Eddie Ferguson, Kary Wall and John Morgan took matters in their own hands and spent another Saturday morning trimming, cutting and hauling – a do-it-yourself project that yielded a huge savings plus an added dividend of Shrine fellowship.

Our V.P., Harvey Rutherford is spearheading a noon luncheon to reach out to inactive Shriners, the Masonic community plus other good citizens in the business and professional ranks.

Some Las Cruces Nobles and friends have made transportation contributions in memory of Margaret Winans and Noble Tom Whelan. Others have given to the Million Dollar Club.

Another club initiative, headed up by Treasurer Jim Harbison, is to reestablish our position and reputation with local officials having first line responsibilities in dealing with crippled and burned children. That non-functional line has been re-established! A huge bonus – the same individual, Eric Enriques, Fire Investigator with the Las Cruces Fire Department is also personally involved with a City League baseball team, “The Naturals.” They were delighted to have our Club as a sponsor. With a modest donation, we have a large Shrine banner heralding our Club, the Ballut Abyad Shrine Temple and Shriner logo is displayed at each game. John Morgan also donated the Shriner patches for the uniforms of each player and coach.

Our goal: public awareness and good will for Shriners in general, especially the Las Cruces Shrine Club. President Kary Wall represented the Shriners at last Saturday’s opening game. Kary Wall reporting

The Las Cruces Shrine Club is up and running in this new year! Four of seven officers and directors attended the Potentate’s Sector 3 Quad meeting in T or C on Friday, February 1, 2008. Attending were Nobles Pres. Kary Wall; VP Harvey Rutherford; Treas., Jim Harbison and Director, Don Moen. Our consensus was that the gathering was informative, mutually beneficial and we returned home with bountiful, scrumptious luncheon by the T or C Shrine Ladies.

At the local level, we welcome back long time Shriner, community activist and fund raiser extraordinaire, Noble Eddie Ferguson! For starters, to spruce up the Shrine Club for a forthcoming Ladies of the Nile meeting and their annual fundraiser, a spaghetti dinner, Noble Eddie spearheaded a clean-up initiative to strip all floors, mop/clean and wax to a high sheen; clean the kitchen and to eradicate all hard water rust stains from the porcelain fixtures in both “comfort” rooms.

Kudos to Noble Eddie and crew! VP Harvey Rutherford has presented a listing of fix-up initiatives as must do now, do when we can fund and a long term wish list. Great job, Noble Harvey! And, of course, Treasurer Jim Harbison and Secretary Harry Mikel, demonstrate remarkable expertise in their areas; both are embarked on a long overdue initiative to get our house in order by inventorying, filing or retiring obsolete, no longer needed records, manuals or periodicals. Until next time -

Pres. Kary Wall reporting