Dear New York DeMolay:
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WOW! What an awesome day yesterday! SpringFest West is in the books and I think our young men (and those of us not so young) had a great time. There are so many “thank yous” that go out for the success of the event.
The DeMolays: My brothers, you have heard from us time and time again “Governor Cuomo is not allowing us to do in person events.” “We need to wait until it is safe.” “Please be patient” and a lot of “maybes” and “We’ll see.” Thank you for your patience, your understanding, and attending. I want to also thank you for listening and following the policies we put in place. I cannot recall having to ask a DeMolay to wear their mask properly. You all followed the rules at paintball, bowling and the Shrine center to the tee. We had many nice compliments about the way that you comported yourself at all of the facilities. We also heard a DeMolay’s favorite words of “Please” “Thank you.” The Paintball facility took the time to show us more of their facility because they were so impressed with how you all behaved and acted. My brothers, every day you make all of us so proud of how you live DeMolay!
The Advisors: Thank you to the advisors! Thank you for driving your DeMolays to the event, thank you for modeling behavior. Thank you for helping to fold shirts. Thank you for suiting up and taking paintballs for the team. Thank you for sitting out and not playing to watch phones, glasses, and stuff. Thank you for taking the photos. Thank you for giving advice. Thank you for encouraging your young men in everything you do! You emulate our founder, “Dad” Frank Sherman Land so well!
The Parents and Guardians: Every day that your DeMolay attends an event with us, it is a sacred trust. We thank you for trusting us, supporting your DeMolay, and working with the advisors to allow your DeMolay to participate.
Thank you to those who put health and safety first: The health and safety of our DeMolay is our number 1 priority. We had at least one person who was not feeling well. They made the mature decision to stay home. This modeled the type of responsible behavior and decision making we expect from everyone involved in DeMolay.
Thank you to The State Officer Team: In technology development you hear two phrases a lot: “Ideation” and “iteration.” Ideation is the generation of a concept or an idea, whereas iteration is working and re-working something. Boy, did we have that with this event! The event started out as “WinterFest” to be held in early February. When the COVID19 numbers did not lower the way that we had hoped WinterFest became SpringFest. When the COVID19 numbers made coming together as one state impossible it became the three part event (Virtual, West, East). There was a lot of thinking outside of the box and bringing it all together. Thank you to the entire team and to our Deputy State Master Councilor Br. Brian for leading the effot.
Thank you to “Dad” Eric Evarts: A HUGE THANK YOU to “Dad” Eric Evarts as our SpringFest advisor. Countless hours working with the State Officer team going through the many permutations. Coming back with what was possible, what was reasonable and what would it take for something to happen. This was made even more challenging with COVID19 restrictions and stressed supply chains for ordering hats and hoodies. “Dad” Evarts did a ton of behind the scenes work and truly made this weekend happen.
New York Masons: We are so lucky to have the support of New York Freemasonry. We are so grateful for their support of our programs and activities across the state as well as the financial support to be able to bring these great activities together.
Grand Master Sardone: “Dad” Sardone’s constant support has enabled so much of our success to happen. It is hard to put into words his passion, dedication and support for the youth groups. His laser focus on health and safety and making sure everyone is safe has been a constant place of reassurance for us. As we talked through permutations of the events he asked questions and gave sage advice.
Damascus Shriners: WOW! What an amazing facility! How blessed are we that the Damascus Shrine Temple allowed us to use their magnificent facility? This allowed us to have our Chiptole Brotherhood dinner. Thank you to “Dad” Burke for working with us to use this awesome facility and thank you to the Granata Family for opening up and being there!
We look forward to seeing many of you next weekend at SpringFest East. We are officially sold out and cannot accommodate any one else and be complaint with COVID19 policies.
Yours,
“Dad” Brusoe