Inspiring Look at Fraternity’s ‘Possibilities’


Officials of the Arizona/New Mexico Moose Association (led by Assistant Regional Manager Jerry Stewart, in Pilgrim blazer at center) accept congratulations for winning the honor of 2004-05 Top Association--announced during the Convention Premiere by VP/Fraternal Operations Kurt Wiebe. Others in the top-five running included Massachusetts/Rhode Island, South Carolina, Florida/Bermuda and Virginia. Top Association ranking is based on performance in ten separate goals including fundraising, membership recruitment and retention, community service, family activities, fraternal operation and support of Mooseheart and Moosehaven.

> The 117th International Convention of the Loyal Order of Moose and the 93rd International Conference of the Women of the Moose, held for the fourth time in glitzy Las Vegas, was kicked off Saturday morning, June 18, with more than 5,000 Moose men and women singing the anthems of our three nations--the United States, Canada and Great Britain (including self-governing protectorate Bermuda)--and the posting of our nations’ colors, in the Convention Premiere.

The conclusion of the opener set the tone for the rest of the Convention--with stirring profiles of noteworthy individuals who dared to creatively imagine what might be possible, then applied hard work, and achieved their dreams. With glimpses into the early lives of Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, entertainment entrepreneurs Walt Disney and Oprah Winfrey, evangelist Robert Schuller and Director General Donald Ross. The fraternity’s 2005-06 campaign theme, “Imagine the Possibilities,” was dramatically unveiled.

Director of Marketing & Membership Development William B. Airey, quoting Schuller, asked: “‘What bright ideas have passed through our brain that we’ve let go as if we’re standing at the railing of an ocean liner and somebody poured diamonds into our hands and we watched them fall through our fingers into the sea, never to be caught again?’ Imagine the Possibilities!”

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Director of Membership Retention Debbie Meyer introduced leaders of the 2004-05 Membership Support Teams and announced the results. She also honored the memory of Bull Moose team leaders Joe Birner and Lois Harvey, who died during the year.

Vice President of Fraternal Operations Kurt Wiebe related how a “nerd” named Bill Gates dropped out of college to revolutionize the world with the development of modern computer software.

General Governor David Chambers detailed how a gawky young man named Walt Disney created a cartoon mouse who changed family entertainment forever.

Director of Marketing & Membership Development William Airey then tied in these examples as he revealed the fraternity’s 2005-06 theme, “Imagine the Possibilities”; as he did so, the theme was illustrated with the distribution, throughout the huge and darkened room, of hundreds of colorfully glowing “crystal balls,” which were then made available throughout the rest of the Convention.



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