My Moose Family Center (lodge)

I originally joined the Moose organization because a friend belonged and asked me to. It was close to my town so I joined. I had no aspirations on being involved in holding office for the first year.

The lodge I originally joined eventually closed so I transferred to a very new 1 year old and very small lodge in my town. The women's Chapter was even smaller than the lodge and most of the women were involved either as an officer and volunteer. The members who weren't officers were also involved, cooking, serving the dinners and participating in lodge activities. This group of women had the nack of bringing out the best in everyone and within a year I found myself wanting to climb the ladder and contribute more to the women's chapter. I enjoyed this Lodge and Chapter, as well as the Moose Fraternal program concept so much that I achieved all the honors available to a Woman of the Moose member within 7 years. All that time, we were in a 850 sq foot building and if three of us were in the kitchen at the same time, it was too much. If the refrigerator door had to be opened, there was only room for two people. Everyone worked together as a team and more importantly as a family and I found myself having many brothers and sisters. We all shared a common goal to increase the membership and move to larger quarters.

When the lodge was 15 years old (5 years ago) our goal of larger quarters was finally achieved. Our new Moose Family Center (we can now be called a family center because we have a kid's room and playground out back)is beautiful. More than we ever envisioned. Our membership (both the men and women) has increased to around 400 for each.

Gaining so much, we were bound to lose something!! What we have lost is our family closeness. There are 31 flavors of ice cream for a very good reason. Everyone is different. The majority of the new members are not interested in being officers and leading the Chapter into the future. Many do volunteer to work in the kitchen and serve meals - something every lodge needs desperately, but most do not have an interest in the actual Moose program (Mooseheart, our child city in Illinois) or being an officer and without leadership, any Chapter ultimately fails. These new members are also very competetive and rather than acting like a family, they try to outdo each other regarding work in the kitchen, fund raising etc. There are more arguments than there used to be which makes life uncomfortable for the rest of us.

The bottom line - it's just not as much fun as it was. I love my Moose Lodge and Chapter and more than ever, I sure do miss our old 850 sq ft palace.