During my yearly trip to Ohio to see extended family, I stopped by the Ohio and Indiana Grand Assemblies. The Ohio Grand assembly was held the first weekend of July. I stopped by on Friday July 1st to give remarks during their afternoon session and join them for their banquet dinner. Their Grand Worthy Advisor’s name was Micaela Leach. During their afternoon session, I saw their Grand Rep Parade, where each Grand Rep wore a costume designed to represent their jurisdiction. I also saw their Grand Officer Elections and Appointments. All line offices must be run for, not just Grand Worthy Associate Advisor like in Virginia. Three delegates from each assembly vote beforehand. Once it comes time to announce the winners, all the girls running walk up to the east and introduce themselves. The winner of the election then sits up in the east. This year, all the girls ran unopposed.

In Ohio, there are so many assemblies that they are grouped into districts – I believe they have 13 districts and 29 Assemblies, according to the map displayed during the Grand Worthy Advisor’s Travel Report. Micaela’s theme was Travel. She decorated the assembly room with airplanes, hot air balloons, and bikes. Her Travel Report was very impressive, she visited 21 assemblies, 11 districts, did 8 out of state visits, and in total made over 100 different visits. She traveled a total of 18,512 miles.

After that I ate at the grand banquet where we had build-your-own tacos. While I was eating, I met the Grand Charity of Michigan and the Grand Worthy Associate Advisor of Michigan. They invited me to their Grand Worthy Advisor Reception on August 27th which I will not be able to attend. I also heard remarks from the Grand Rep to Ohio from Indiana, who invited me to their Grand assembly on the 8th.

            I was able to make it to the Afternoon session and Grand Banquet for the Indiana Grand assembly, where I got the contact information for the new Grand Reps to Virginia and passed it along to Virginia’s Grand Rep to Indiana. Their Grand Worthy Advisor’s theme was STEM and her mascots were dinosaurs. The assembly room was decorated with beakers and dinosaur plushies.

Lois C., Hampton Assembly

I was Pete in a dinner show. The show was about Cricket County family and the city family visiting for Christmas. The dinner show was a Hampton Rainbow fundraiser. The show was at the Scottish Rite . It started at 5pm on December 5th. I had fun seeing all my friends. Hugh was the best actor. I was nervous , but I did a good job. I am happy it was a good money maker.  
From Jazzy

Visiting Grandma Rainbow

On December 8^th, Kensley, Mom Kim, and I made our annual visit to our adopted grandmother we call Grandma Rainbow. She is the sweetest lady and her husband, Grandpa Rainbow, love to support our organization and freemasonry in general. We always try to make it out to see them and put up their Christmas decorations. The adventure started when I was picked up. Kensley and mom Kim love to blast Christmas music in the car, especially when they know I’ve had to listen to it in repeat at work for hours on end. Once we arrived the two gave us a warm greeting. Everything was brought down from the attic by her son except the tree stand. I got a flashlight and went up into the attic looking for it. Once I was deep into the attic I heard a call from the living room, “Lauren, you can come down from there! It was down here all along!” After descending the ladder to the attic, we helped her learn how to use the voicemail on her phone. Then we began setting up the tree. There were new colorful bulbs this year and grandma told us stories while we worked. We even got to see a newspaper clipping of grandpa rainbow when he was young. It was an article to thank those who fought in World War II. Then we set up some decorations around the tree and left the rest out for grandma to decide what she wants to keep or donate. We chatted a while longer and she thanked us for everything we do. She got teary and gave us hugs. She’s truly like a grandmother to us. She’s a funny and caring lady who loves to love others. I feel blessed every time I get to see her and she reminds us how blessed she is to see us. We invited her to some functions coming up for the grand year and said our goodbyes. She waved at us as we drove off and we stopped for lunch to discuss rainbow road trips we wanted to take together. It was a great way to spend our Saturday!

With Rainbow Love and Service,

Lauren Ann

On December 1st Hampton Assembly put on a dinner theater to raise money for the girls and our term charity, “Water is Life”. All the girls showed up ready for the last dress rehearsal early in the afternoon. We put on our costumes and began running through the play. Last minute questions were answered and we managed to finalize everything. As people came in to claim their seats, our many different characters greeted them and passed out salad. The play was broken down into 4 scenes so we could serve dinner in between. With the help of mom Toney and mom Beth, we served a delicious soup, baked ziti, and mini strawberry cheesecakes. The play went on with some improv and lots of laughs. It was the story of how the country cousins of Cricket County were moving to the city after claiming their Uncle Zeke’s will. Sara, Amelia, Dad Joe, and Elise played the city cousins. Kensley, Jasmine, Reagan, Audrey and I played the country cousins. Alex was the real estate lady, Dad Gansler was Santa, and Dad Mike was the narrator. Everyone’s participation was heartwarming and we all had a great time. 

With Rainbow Love, 

Lauren Ann