On August 18, 2011 Smithfield Assembly #5 went to Bremond Lodge and served dinner for their Community Builders Award. Michelle, Stevie, Abbey, Kendra, Megan and I helped serve. A lot of people showed up for the dinner after everyone ate they had an award presentation that was being filmed for television. Two leaders of the Newport News School district received awards. It was a fun evening.

For Smithfield Assembly #5′s last meeting for the month I, as Worthy Advisor, wanted us to have a fun meeting. We agreed on having Tacky Tuesday! The only way to wear tacky clothes was you had to donate school supplies for a local student in need. We collected binders, folders, glue, paper, pencils, pens, erasers, notebooks, rulers, and a calculator. We filled up the backpack! We were able to have a really fun meeting and help someone in need.

We are very excited to report that Virginia Rainbow now has an official Facebook page.  We recognize that we need to be moving forward in technology to meet the needs of our girls and hope that you will go to the site often.  Please be aware this site is OPEN to anyone so you should be mindful and careful what you share. 

With this page we hope to gain interest from prospective girls and of course, new members.  This is where we need your help.  First, go to Virginia International Order of the Rainbow for Girls and “Like” us.  Second, spread the word through your Facebook page to other Rainbow Girls, school friends, family members, etc.  Grand Representatives please ask your counterparts to “Like” us and to leave us a message, that way we can share in spreading the word about Rainbow!  

Our Facebook page will not take the place of our Virginia Rainbow website.  We will concentrate on showing our service to community, our charitable hearts and how much fun we have in our sisterhood.  This will be done through various means.  Occasionally, we will post a question in hopes of getting great participation that will let everyone know what your Assembly is doing, as well as posting pictures showcasing various activites.  You will not be able to Tag our site to post pictures, but will need to send it to the Administrators through email, so we can determine if it is something we want to share.  There will not be any names attached to these pictures.  The Administrators are Cindy and Chelsea Norman and our emails are located in the printed Directory.

So get out there and “Like” us and answer the first question, “What are you doing for the Grand Worthy Advisor’s service project?”

The Rainbow Retreat was amazing! We all arrived on August 6th, 2011 as all the dads made the cookout possible, and we had a lot of fun team building activities. For example, we had split into two teams and went on the low ropes course to recieve imgianary bananas. After a while , it started to rain but it never dampened our spirits. Pretty much all the girls were playing telephone and rolling over in the rain. Soon, the lifeguards opened the pool and we took turns on the diving boards. An hour later, we had dinner and talked about the “unmentionables”. We also played “Family Feud”. At around 9:30, we sang Rainbow songs around the campfire and had S’mores. As soon as we finished, we went back inside to write letters for Nicole’s Sercvie Project. Her Charity is Operation Gradtitude and for the project we are sending care packages and letters for the soldiers. The cards were all amazing and stunning. The next day, we played tag and took a few last minute pictures. Nicole gave a little speech about the Retreat and we all agreed it was awesome! Some would say, “The Best Retreat Ever!”

In Rainbow Love and Service,

Kathy

Grand Representative to Maryland and Canada

Richmond Assembly #10

On August 13th, 2011, the Grand Court of the Amaranth held their annual walk for Diabetes. Attendance included,  Members of the Amaranth, their friends and families, and of course the Masonic Youth. The event took place at the Meadow Event Park. Each person had to walk three miles around the track, give a small donation, and in return got a cool t-shirt. Ironically enough, with the help of strong encouragement by Allison Longest and Michelle Baise, I signed a petition along with Michelle herself to join the Order of the Amaranth. It was a very fun and successful event, and I am looking forward to my initiation in November!

Claire

Grand Chaplain in Virginia and Grand Page to the GWA

My name is Melanie and I went to Supreme Seminar with Mom J (Our Supreme Deputy) and Mom Norman this year which was held in Kansas City. I have learned a lot from the trip, met a lot of new friends, and I flew for the very first time. When I was there we had Sessions learning more about Rainbow and things that could help us in life. My favorite Session was Promoting Rainbow because it caught my eye and gave me good ideas on how to get more girls into our Organization. I also learned about some fun games on getting to know Rainbow Girls, new Pledges, or even prospects like one truce and three lies, popping a balloon and finding out someone’s talents, and a couple others. In one of the Sessions we had to write two paragraphs, one on how to promote Rainbow to parents, and one to the girls. Then we had to stand up and share one of them to everyone in the room. I shared the one to the girls, which I wrote Rainbow has taught me to not be scared to talk in big crowds, to just be myself, and to just have fun. Rainbow is a fun Organization for Girls 11 to 20/21 and it also gets girls ready for life. So I’m really glad and felt honored to support Virginia Rainbow at Supreme Seminar on July 28-31.

Since June 27th, when I was installed as Grand Worthy Advisor, I have traveled throughout the state as well as other Jurisdictions. My first stop was to the Job’s Daughter’s Session on July 8th. I met so many girls and dignitaries that were present. I saw many of them again when I went to DeMolay Conclave on July 30th. The ceremonies, meals, and dances were wonderful. I had so much fun with my Masonic Family. In between the Job’s Daughter’s Session and DeMolay Conclave, I had the privilege to visit Pennsylvania’s Grand Assembly Sessions with Erin Pendleton (PGWA from VA) as Kaitlin Nemic presided as Grand Worthy Advisor. At one of the sessions, I took photos with all of her mascots which were Charlie Brown and the Peanuts Gang. I met and took pictures with the Grand Worthy Matron and Grand Worthy Patron in Pennsylvania. I also sold four Rainbow Beach Towels and a ton of pins while I was there. Diana Jolly was installed as the new Grand Worthy Advisor. Her theme is “Friends are Forever” and her mascots are Winnie the Pooh and all of his friends from the Hundred Acre Woods.

 After returning from Pennsylvania with my parents, we then traveled around the state to all of the Installations where Stevie was crowned as Worthy Advisor for Smithfield Assembly #5, Erin was crowned as Worthy Advisor for Richmond Assembly #10, JeannaBeth was crowned as Worthy Advisor for a second time for Hampton Assembly #2, and Katie was crowned as Worthy Advisor for Fairfax Assembly #3. All of the Installations were beautiful and had very creative themes.

Lastly, I had the privilege to travel with our Supreme Deputy, Mrs. Linda Jenkins, to New Jersey’s Grand Assembly Sessions. Jessica Franklin presided as Grand Worthy Advisor. Her motto was “Stepping out of fears to make the right moves”. Their sessions were very long and the way the do their ceremonies were very different from ours. Kaitlyn Guttridge was Grand Outer Observer and was crowned as the next Grand Worthy Advisor. Her theme is “Find Wings and Fly”, her motto is “Faith, trust, and a little Pixie Dust”, and her mascot is Tinkerbell. I met six other Grand Worthy Advisors and got a picture with them. I had so much fun and look forward to the rest of my travels.

From left to right - GWA from VA, GWA from LA, ,GWA from NJ, GWA from MD, GWA from RI, GWA from PA

In Rainbow Love,

Nicole McLaughlin

GWA 2011-2012

Dear Virginia Rainbow,
Fredericksburg Assembly #12 this past Monday at our Ritual meeting
received a special visitor. Miss Kayla, Grand Fidelity, Grand Assembly of
Texas, was able to attend our meeting during her travels up the East Coast with
her family. Kayla enjoyed meeting the girls and filling in a station during our
meeting. It was very nice to have a visitor and to learn about Rainbow in
Texas.

Rainbow love,

Jamie Waite

Rainbow Scholarship Charity Golf Tournament deadline is rapidly approaching.  GOLFERS NEEDED, please complete a registration form (found under events tab for 9/17) and send your registration in today.  Deadline is August 26th!

Hi Ladies

I’m looking forward to seeing everyone on Saturday and sharing some great info from the Supreme Seminar. I wanted to give you the heads up that we will be playing Family Feud. The questions and answers will be based off of www.GoRainbow.org, www.VirginiaRainbow.org and our dress code (you can find on Virginia website). So what I need each of you to do is study those pages and ALSO in the member only section (you should have received log in info from your Mother Advisor) and familiarize yourself with those sites, so you will be able to answer the questions. If you need log in info, please contact your Mother Advisor. Can’t wait to see you all and wishing you and your team good luck!!!

Mom Norman

Virginia Marketing Liaison