California Division IX Masonic Calendar of Events
Title: SW Hackett
Location: Heald Room San Diego Scottish Rite
Description: Officers and PMs practices for 3rd Degree and annual election of officers
Start Time: 19:00
Date: 2011-10-18
New SW Hackett Fellowcraft
Title: Balboa Park Flag Ceremony
Location: Point Loma Lodge
Description: Point Loma Lodge, Tuesday, 10am, June 14, 2011. Location: near 6th Ave and Elm streets. A pubic event involving a time capsule and flag presentation. Please contact Mike Paine (Senior Warden) @ 619-248-6328 for more information.
Start Time: 10:00
Date: 2011-06-14
Grand Lodge Spotlights SW Hackett Lodge Partnership in Education Program (Download Original Article)
As 2010 rolled to a close, Brother Jim Achenbach found himself back in the principal’s office. It was a familiar scene – and it would stay that way, thanks to his lodge.
That day Achenbach and Principal Ryan Kissel were reviewing the annual partnership agreement between Sequoia Elementary School and S.W. Hackett Lodge No. 574, both located in San Diego. For the fifth year in a row, the lodge signed on to help.
Precedent for partnerships
San Diego Unified School District strives for meetings like the one in Principal Kissel’s office. The district's Partnerships in Education Program, established in 1982, arranges partnerships between the district’s 225 schools and local organizations.
As public schools suffer increasing resource cuts from the public sector, such private partnerships are becoming more and more important. In San Diego, about 1,500 businesses and community organizations are established as school partners. The partnerships focus on service, not funds (although sometimes, those come in handy, too). Organizations work directly with their partner schools to determine how they can help – hence Achenbach’s frequent trips to the principal’s office.
S.W. Hackett Lodge got involved in 1997, shortly after Achenbach joined the lodge. At the time, Achenbach was employed as a speech and language pathologist for San Diego Unified School District. He recognized a need at the elementary school where he worked, and learned about the Partnerships in Education Program from a fellow educator. He pitched the idea to his lodge.
His suggestion was largely motivated by a desire to be more involved in Masonry. At the time, as a new Master Mason – and expecting his first child – Achenbach was hesitant to commit to the officer line. (Today, he’s the current lodge treasurer and a past master.) Public schools liaison was a role he could embrace. “It was my way of being active and useful,” he says. He’s still the liaison today.
“I’m in a unique position, having a foot in both camps,” says Achenbach. “I can walk into the principal’s office that day, and that evening, walk into lodge.”
On the wish list: flutes to flagpoles
It was the start of a lodge program that’s helped hundreds of students. In fact, in 2006 the San Diego Unified School District Board formally recognized S.W. Hackett Lodge for outstanding service to the schools and community.
In 13 years the lodge has been a partner to three district schools. The first was an elementary school, the second a charter school for the arts.
“The art school couldn’t afford reeds for the flutes or rosin for the bows. The music teacher would give me a wish list and I’d take that to the lodge musician,” Achenbach recalls. The lodge donated instruments and parts, and coordinated community drives for musical instruments.
When that school outgrew the partnership, the door was opened for Sequoia Elementary, a struggling school with a personal tie: the lodge secretary’s granddaughter was a student there.
S.W. Hackett Lodge has established some meaningful traditions with Sequoia Elementary. During the holidays, the school identifies six needy families in the community; the lodge buys gifts and holiday meal supplies, then delivers presents and meal fixings right to the families’ homes. Every June, the lodge hosts a Teacher of the Year dinner. And members and families show up en force to the school’s annual spelling bee, where the lodge presents checks to the winners.
That’s just the beginning. Achenbach says that members’ favorite activities are often hands-on, like renovating classrooms, or the time they erected a flagpole in the school yard for the morning assembly. “We literally had to put our backs into that one,” he laughs.
One thing’s certain: The lodge helps in the ways Sequoia Elementary needs most. Achenbach’s visits to the principal are a direct conduit between the school and the lodge.
Living Masonry
S.W. Hackett Lodge members have gravitated to the school activities: At least 50 of the lodge’s 134 members have participated in some way, plus ladies and kids.
The partnership has another notable side effect: membership applications. Achenbach explains that friends and prospects often lend a hand at school projects. “They’ve told me that the thing that really impressed them about our lodge and made them want to become a Mason was going out and painting that classroom,” he says.
That sense of identity is part of the partnership’s bigger picture.
“[The partnership] has really served as a rallying point for lodge members, wives, even children. It gives brethren a way to say to other people, this is one of the things that we do,” Achenbach says.
“It’s all well and good to say George Washington was a Mason and tell the history,” he adds, “but this provides a real tangible way for us to demonstrate to friends and neighbors that we’re an active, vibrant lodge.”
San Diego’s Many Masonic Partners
S.W. Hackett Lodge isn’t the only lodge teaming up with San Diego Unified School District. In fact, a number of San Diego lodges are involved in the Partnerships in Education program, including Point Loma Lodge No. 620, John D. Spreckles Lodge No. 657 and Silver Gate-Three Stars Lodge No. 296
At Point Loma Lodge, for example, members head to the local high school every spring to help with an important rite of passage for graduating seniors. They spend a full day hearing students present their high school portfolios – a summary of their achievements over the past four years.
“Being part of a local high school benefits the students, and it gets our name out to a younger group,” says Michael Paine, 35. “We want people in the community to know that we’re out there and we want to help.”
(Re-published by permission of California Grand Lodge)
Hey Worshipful,
Good news from “The Rock” Okinawa!!!!
Brother Nolen replied back this morning, that all is well with
He, Amy and the kids
They got hit by a 3′ wave, but they suffered no damage!!!!
He also doesn’t expect any other problems from aftershocks.
He added;
“Tell the Bothers, I said hey and the Nolen family is doing well.”
Thanks,
Magically and Fraternally
JR Knight, PM
Cell 951-805-7318
International Director
The Invisible Lodge
Junior Warden
S.W. Hackett Lodge #574
Brethren:
We have suffered an early and tragic loss of Brother Master Mason, Austin Bice. Austin was the Marshal of San Diego Lodge #35. Brother Bice was a 22-year-old senior, studying international business at San Diego State University. He was taking classes at Madrid's Carlos III University with seven other SDSU business students. Brother Bice played football at Torrey Pines High School, as an offensive lineman, and went on to play for San Diego State as a freshman. Austin was also a triathlon competitor. We send our most sincere condolences and pray for his family.
Almighty and Eternal God, may you rest this young soul in peace.
http://www.calodges.org/no574/Austin_Bice.htm
Title: SW Hackett Officers Practice
Location: Lodge Room
Link out: Click here
Description: First Degree Practice
Start Time: 19:00
Date: 2011-02-08
Ben_Franklin_plays_glass_harmonica
Title: EA & FC Night III
Location: East San Diego Lodge
Description: On Thursday December 2nd at 7:00 pm, S.W. Hackett Lodge in brotherly cooperation and assistance with East San Diego Lodge, #561 will present EA & FC Night III.
This night of celebration of all Entered Apprentice and Fellow Craft Masons will be held at East San Diego Lodge, located at: 7849 Tommy Drive - San Diego, CA 92119. As before, this night is to encourage and inspire our Masonic Brothers who have taken the first or second step in Masonry as well as those Master Masons who desire further light.
As in past EA & FC nights, The Lodge will be opened on the First degree of Masonry so that all can attend. We will then call to refreshment so that informal presentations and discussion can take place. At the close of the evening, we will return to labor and close the lodge.
This night will include a presentation of some explanations and definitions of some parts included in the first degree ceremonies that are often overlooked or misunderstood by the candidate and even by some Master Masons.
We will again be fortunate to have Brother David Watson presenting another interesting lecture and, as the last lecture, this one will expand on the role of Masonry in our history and its links to many cultures. Learn more of the “Mysteries of Freemasonry”. Also as the previous lecture, this one will be acceptable for Entered Apprentice Masons, as Brother Watson will leave out the deeper mysteries that are learned by, and appropriate for, Fellow Craft and Master Masons. Those who have attended in the past will tell you that even as Master Masons, they were brought some very interesting information and that is was well worth the attendance.
We were pleased with the response from the attendees of the first and second EA & FC Nights, and look forward to another good night of brotherhood and education. All the Brethren are invited and encouraged to attend.
We again cordially invite, and strongly encourage, all Masons from all Lodges to attend. We look forward to seeing you there. For further information, questions or suggestions for program inclusions, please contact me at 858-538-6345 or email to: masonic574@irfutures.com.
Please mark this date on your calendar and try to attend. We look forward to seeing many new faces.
Sincerely and Fraternally,
Dennis Stahr, JW
Start Time: 19:00
Date: 2010-12-02
You probably missed this in the rush of news, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper, an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American.
So an Australian dentist wrote an editorial the following day to let everyone know what an American is so they would know one when they found one.
"An American is English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish , Polish, Russian or Greek.
An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani or Afghan.
An American may also be a Comanche, Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, Seminole or one of the many other tribes known as native Americans.
An American is Christian , or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim. In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan .. The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses.
An American is also free to believe in no religion.... For that he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.
An American lives in the most prosperous land in the history of the world. The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence , which recognizes the God given right of each person to the pursuit of happiness.
An American is generous. Americans have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return........ When Afghanistan was over-run by the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their country!
As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan ..... The national symbol of America , The Statue of Liberty , welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest tossed.
These in fact are the people who built America Some of them were working in the Twin Towers the morning of September 11 , 2001 earning a better life for their families. It's been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at least 30 different countries, cultures, and first languages, including those that aided and abetted the terrorists.
So you can try to kill an American if you must Hitler did. So did General Tojo , and Stalin , and Mao Tse-Tung, and other blood-thirsty tyrants in the world. But, in doing so you would just be killing yourself . Because Americans are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American.
Ladies and Brethren please update your summer events in the San Diego Divisional Website.
S&F
Steve Laurvick, Sr. Warden
SW Hackett No. 574
