Morgan Enthusiastic as He Resumes Direction of Community Service, Fraternal Fundraising

Director of Fraternal Programs Jim Morgan

> When Director of Fraternal Programs Jim Morgan took the stage Tuesday morning, he left little doubt he was back where he belonged.

“I stand before each of you this morning and say from my heart, my soul and my mind, we are going to rekindle and we are going re-light the fraternal programs and we are going to re-ignite fraternalism in Moose, the Family Fraternity. In other words we are going to ‘git-’er-done,’” Morgan said.

Morgan candidly admitted that he had made a mistake when he accepted an early retirement package from Moose International last Sept. 1.

“To be honest with each you present this morning, nine months ago I had no idea that I would be delivering a presentation to the 118th International Convention,” Morgan said. After a setting up the 2006 Moose International Student Congress, Morgan realized he should have stayed at Moose International.

“Working for the Moose fraternity is not just a job; it’s a way of life, one that I decided to make mine 30 years ago in Whitehall, Ohio,” Morgan said--where he was sponsored into the Order by future Director General William B. Airey.

“He was not only my sponsor but, more importantly, he was my mentor, ” Morgan said.

Morgan’s duties now encompass supervision of Community Service, Family Activities, Youth Activities, Sports and Fraternal Fundraising.

“The Department of Fraternal Programs will continue to work with and support the volunteer field fraternal fundraising chairs as developed by Moose Charities,” Morgan said. This includes the C-Wing at Moosehaven’s LifeCare Center (for which the Ohio State Moose Association has undertaken ultimately $10 million in fundraising responsibility) and the renovation of Moosehaven’s Katherine Smith residence by the Women of the Moose.

“Further, this department will spearhead and drive, with the help of incoming Supreme Governor Bill Scott, the new ‘Cooperative Community Fundraising Efforts’ as introduced by Moose Charities,” Morgan said. The plan calls for Lodges and Chapters to identify an appropriate children’s charity in their communities, one with a recognized 501 (c) (3) designation, to be one of the fund recipients. The other charitable recipient would be Mooseheart Child City & School. Funds raised would be split between the two children’s charities. A fundraising event would be conducted in t he Lodge home in accordance with Section 44.3 of the General Laws. This permits, with certain limitations, public access to the Lodge home for charitable fundraising purposes without securing a dispensation from the General Governor’s office.

Morgan announced that Moose International is undertaking a one-year initiative to raise funds toward the building of a national memorial in honor of the heroes from United Flight 93, which crashed in a field near Shanksville, PA instead of central Washington DC, on Sept. 11, 2001. Each Lodge, Chapter and Moose Legion is being asked to donate $93 for 93 to Moose Charities. The goal is to invite a representative from the Flight 93 Memorial Project to our convention in Orlando next June and to present them with the largest donation to date from the individual units of any non-profit organization. Click here for more information.

“This unique program will benefit and support the needs of children in your communities, in addition to the children who are under our care at Mooseheart,” Morgan said.

Morgan stressed that--in addition to our current Community Service programs--Lodge and Chapter leaders should look around their communities and offer Moose assistance whenever and wherever needed. “We must never reach a level of contentment when it comes to Moose Community Service,” Morgan said. “As Dr. Norman Vincent Peale appropriately said, ‘Shoot for the moon, even if you miss it you will still land among the stars.’”

Morgan concluded by emphatically stating that Community Service is continuing to evolve and grow,

“The Moose International Six Point Community Service program, as we know it today, is going to expand and grow to greater heights and send such a revelation throughout the North American Continent that everyone will know who we are and what we do,” he said.

Consultant Stresses Necessity of Server Training, Member Vigilance

Adam Chafetz

> Adam Chafetz, from the consulting firm of Health Communications Inc., has worked for several years with Moose International officials on training programs for beverage servers in Moose facilities--known as TIPS training. Chafetz, speaking on “Serving Alcohol Responsibly” on Tuesday, humorously recalled the old line from humorist Oscar Wilde: “A duty is someone else’s responsibility,” but argued that we Moose members must all consider ourselves responsible for making sure no one leaves our Social Quarters to get behind the wheel of a vehicle too impaired to drive. Certainly the first responsibility is that of the beverage server--and ALL servers in Moose facilities are required to undergo formal server training (click here for more information) but Chafetz said we must go further: “We’re all responsible for looking out for each other in this fraternity . . . to look out against putting an intoxicated driver onto the road. If the server is busy, we need to insert ourselves and offer to drive our fellow member to his or her destination.”