Last year I shared with you my vision of what Oregon DeMolay was and what I saw we could become.

Membership was a big part of that vision because we need to provide the great ideas and fun of DeMolay to every young man in all of our communities. Each of you should be proud of your membership in DeMolay and eager to share it with the entire world.  We were able to obtain Positive Growth in 2009 and we brought in 8 new members at this conclave and we are on our way to Positive Growth for 2010.  But the vision of Oregon DeMolay is not just of positive growth by one, two or three members, it is a vision of exploding membership in every chapter and the expansion to new and reactivated chapters that bring the DeMolay experience to more communities and more young men than ever before.  Oregon DeMolay is committed to this and will provide the tools for each chapter to achieve growth.  This weekend we reintroduced the “Oregon Membership Plan” which is one tool for your membership toolbox and throughout this year we will continue to bring to the chapter new methods and ideas for membership expansion and retention.

I would like to expand this thought to include Oregon DeMolay embracing the Squires Program for young men between the ages of 8 to 11.  Teaching our ideals to those young men, who at age 12 become members of your chapters, is another way to bring DeMolay to our communities.

The vision I shared with you was of Adult Volunteers that had the opportunity to expand their knowledge with continuing training and support from Oregon DeMolay and DeMolay International to be able to guide their chapters toward achieving the best results.  We are moving toward that goal and will have Continuing Education classes at every statewide event and will be bringing training into chapter advisory councils throughout the year.

The vision I shared with you was one where in which DeMolay is a shared experience between parent and child and not just for young men. I would like to expand that vision to include the Masonic family in that shared experience. Too many times Chapters are not a part of the Masonic Family that meet in their building and that is an issue that needs to stop.  DeMolay has much to gain from sharing the family experience with our Masonic Brothers and our Eastern Star and Amaranth Sisters and these adults have a huge amount to gain from sharing with DeMolay their knowledge and experiences.

I shared a vision in which DeMolay is a household word in every community and we have yet to accomplish this and as a jurisdiction have failed to embrace a huge opportunity for Community Service in participating with the American Cancer Society and the Relay for Life which happens in all of our communities.  2010 and 2011 will be a turning point and every chapter needs to put on their calendar the dates for their local Relay for Life and work with Dad Hamshar, the Statewide Coordinator, in contacting the local representative of Relay and becoming involve.

As we all expand our vision of DeMolay I would like to share the thoughts of my counterpart in Massachusetts whose jurisdiction is of a comparable size with 13 chapters and 358 members.  His vision of his jurisdiction is one that has 5500 members in 30+ chapters.  He is working on a plan and I am looking forward to borrowing on his plan for Oregon DeMolay.

I have shared this vision and I again ask each and everyone to join me in my vision and to help me expand my vision with your ideas so Oregon DeMolay becomes what we all envision.