Baile discusses several new ventures designed to both make a difference--and to shine a favorable light on us

Community Service Director Shawn Baile reported the total value of 2005-06 Moose Community Service at $75,422,190.87.

> Lending a helping hand to our fellow man is vital to our fraternity’s essence, said Shawn Baile in delivering the Community Service report to Sunday’s Joint General Session. (Baile directed Moose International’s Community Service office from Feb. 1 until mid-May, when his duties were shifted to the Moose Legion and Ritual program; Community Service has been shifted to Fraternal Programs under Jim Morgan.)

“Now that we have all assembled in Chicago to re-ignite the flame of fraternalism . . . I stand before you to say that Community Service is the most powerful fuel available to us to keep that flame burning strongly,” Baile said.

Baile said the Moose will be partnering more with local communities in several exciting projects, all encompassing a portion of the Community Service Six-Point Program.

Among the projects is child fingerprinting on Youth Safety Days. This would be in partnership with law-enforcement and emergency services personnel in local communities. An organization called Fingerprint America offers non-toxic fingerprinting kits for purchase, complete with the Moose Youth Awareness logo. The product has been upgraded for members to the ID Complete Kit. In addition to space for a photograph, dental records, fingerprints and vital statistics, the ID Complete Kit also features the capability to maintain a DNA sample taken with a cotton swab.

2006 Youth Awareness top scholarship winner Stephanie Green of Marion, NC Lodge 1705 received her $7,500 award from Baile. Green will use the scholarship at East Carolina University, where she will be majoring in interior design.

“Think of the impact your Lodge or Chapter could make by developing a program filled with vital safety information from police, fire and medical officers,” Baile said.

Baile also announced a stronger relationship with the American Heart Association by encouraging Lodges, Chapters and Moose Legions to participate in National Wear Red Day, normally held the first Friday in February.

And, he presented an initial outline to partner with local law enforcement to offer our facilities during local natural disasters in a program dubbed “Moose Alert Centers.”

Moose International will also work to foster a partnership with KaBOOM!, a Washington, DC-based organization specializing in the creation of playgrounds and play spaces in communities throughout the world, Baile said. KaBOOM! is the brainchild of founder and CEO Darell Hammond, a 1989 graduate of Mooseheart High School. In the event that a playground build is taking place in a community where a Lodge is located, Moose members could provide a workforce of volunteers to assist in the completion of the project, Baile said.

Baile also spoke about plans regarding fundraising for a planned memorial to the victims of Flight 93 from Sept. 11, 2001. For more information, click here.