mercredi 6 avril 2016

The 19 Lions And Other Fraternal Organizations

By Janet Snyder


Service clubs are non-profit, voluntary organizations where the members get personally and directly involved in performing charitable acts. There are many examples of service organizations. Among them are the Rotarians, the Kiwanis, the Freemasons, and the Elks. The 19 Lions are one chapter in the Lions International. Service Clubs used to be populated only by men, but they are now opening their doors to women.

Lions International was established in Illinois by Melvin Jones, who happened also to be a member of the Freemasons. He strongly believed that to make progress in life, you had to get involved in helping other people. Founded in 1917, by 2015 it had 46,000 chapters in 200 countries all over the world. It presently has more than one and a half million members.

The official colors of the Lions are gold and purple. To be a member, you have to be above the age of majority and have a good reputation within your community. If you are interested in becoming a Lion, the first step is to get in touch with your local branch. British Columbia in Canada, the state of Washington and northern Idaho are represented by Multiple District 19 (MD19). The chapter is headquartered in Bellingham.

One of the older fraternal organizations is Rotary International. This group got its start by four businessmen, organized by a lawyer named Paul Harris. These men set themselves the mission to raise standards in the conduct of professional business. They gave themselves the name Rotary because they rotated from one office to another. Eventually, the group got so big they had to take to arranging external venues for their meetings.

The Rotarians have established a set of four guidelines to implement when determining whether a particular project fits in with its aims. Their projects are usually aimed at getting businesses that are on the rocks back in the right direction. These criteria are truth, fairness, promotion of goodwill and friendship, and profitable to all parties.

The Freemasons is another very famous and successful fraternal organization. Its roots go back to the stonemasons. The Freemasons are steeped in history and have many traditions, ceremonies and rituals. They can be controversial to some people. For example, they have strict criteria for membership, in that members must be free and have a good character. The basic organizational unit of the club is the Grand Lodge. Most Grand Lodges expect their members to publicly declare a belief in a Supreme Being, with some having a preference for a specific religious denomination.

George Washington was one of the more famous and noteworthy members of the Freemasons. He had a portrait of himself painted in which he was serving in his capacity as Master of his local lodge in Virginia. When he died, he was buried with full Masonic ceremonial honors. Other famous Rotarians have included Colonel Saunders, John F. Kennedy, and Pope Francis.

The Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks was established in New York City in 1868 by a man named Joseph M. Norcross. It, too, has its headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the largest fraternal orders in the United States and has more than one million members. Not bad for an organization that started out as a social club for minstrel performers. The Elks were originally a whites-only organization and got themselves in hot water in the courtroom over this policy in the early 1970s.




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