First I would like to start off by congratulating out- going LoH commander Robin Gradle on his successful year and congratulate Ill. Sir Doug Foss on his installation as commander of the lsmailia Legion of Honor. The Passing of the Gavel was held on February 3 and we had multiple dignitaries in town for it including the IALOH commander, 1st Lt. Commander, and the GLSA 2nd LT commander. Also in attendance was a LoH contingent from Mocha Shriners in London Ontario Canada. The food, camaraderie, and the installation were excellent. Secondly some of you may have seen that during our last snowstorm, the weight of the snow destroyed our shelter over the BBQ pit. All the metal roofing has been salvaged by Richard Mix and we will start looking to see what parts of the structure can be salvaged so we can rebuild it better and stronger than before. The meat raffle was held on February 24 and I am sure as always a good time was had by all.

Lenten Fish fries kicked off on Ash Wednesday which also happened to be Valentine’s Day and will continue every Friday through March 29. If you are looking for a way to get involved, volunteering at fish fries is a good way. We have multiple fundraisers starting up again including a quilt raffle and daily numbers. Sportsman raffle tickets are also available in the office. This year we are trying something new – the tickets are still going to be $20 each, but we are also offering 6 for $100.00. Tickets for the $10,000.00 drawing are still available and the drawing will be held on March 23. March 8-10 is the WNY Sportsman expo @ the Erie County fairgrounds and we could use some help there selling sportsman raffle tickets as well as raffle tickets for a crossbow. April 19 – 21 is the spring NYOSA conference in Saratoga Springs, NY and lastly if you have young boys in your family ages 12-21 please con- sider involving them in DeMolay. There are currently 5 chapters in WNY (Lockport, Fredonia, West Seneca, Olean, and Amherst). If you have younger boys age 9-12 they can be involved in the DeMolay Squire program and don’t worry if you have young ladies in your household – there is the Organization of Triangle which is for young ladies ages 10-21 and they have a “Rosebud” program for girls under 10.

Also you will see an ad in this month’s Smile for DaPinchy’s landscaping. DaPinchy’s is owned by Jeromy Michael Stacey. Jeromy is one of our Shrine patients who lost his hands in August of 1998 when he was 9 years old. He was electrocuted by high voltage wires. He spent 3 months in the burn unit in Cincinnati before being able to go home. Now Jeromy runs a business and is an avid outdoorsman. This year he harvested a trophy buck. So if you have any landscaping needs please consider giving Jeromy a call.

As always thank you for your support and thank you for being a Shriner!!!

Fraternally, Mike P. Ferraro

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