On Saturday September 29th, Sara, Kensley, Lauren, Reagan, Alex, Maddy, Eva, Bella, Amelia, and our prospect Audrey attended Rainbow Retreat 2018. On the Saturday of retreat, everyone woke up early for breakfast where Grand Page to the GWA, Sara, gave the meal prayer. After breakfast, all the girls broke up into small groups lead by Junior Grand Executive Board members as group leaders. There were ice breakers and small games for the groups to combine with each other to play. Then, everyone came together into a rainbow circle to introduce themselves and explain what rainbow means to them. After that, there was a poster competition where the winners got to get lunch first. Our Grand Worthy Advisor, Kensley, gave the lunch prayer. After lunch was a small break which a scavenger hunt to determine who would get s’mores first later that night. Then was the obstacle course with group leaders Grand Faith Lauren and Grand Recorder Sara. One of the favorite obstacles of the event was the blind makeup challenge where our GWA Kensley and our GWAA Gigi both got makeovers from a blindfolded girl. The winning team got to get dinner first.  Once the obstacle course was over, girls were invited down to a game of giant bowling and Pictionary. The dinner prayer was given by Grand Religion, Kate. After dinner, everyone got the opportunity to decorate shells that will be used for the next grand assembly. Finally, everyone made the trek up the mountain a bit to reach the s’mores that some of the dads had set up by a fire, and once s’mores were eaten, girls could head down the hill for a surprise dance party! After a day full of exciting events and delicious meals (thanks to all the dads who fed us all weekend!) the girls were all happy to crawl into bed for a good night’s sleep. With so many girls attending their first retreat, Hampton is excited to say that our girls are very pleased with the weekend and excited for more! 

In RL&S,

Sara

Hampton #2

On Saturday September 22nd, Sara, Kensley, Lauren, Reagan, and Aubrianna attended the JDI dinner in honor of MVJD and raising money for the Hike Fund. Hampton also had prospects present: Elise and Jasmine. There was a buffet style dinner and a table of items to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. The funds raised, including donations from the dinner, were in honor of the Hike Fund which VAJDI has been raising money for. Dinner was delicious and we even got to see the announcement for the Supreme Ritual Competition team where our Rainbow sister from South Norfolk, Mary, got a spot and our own assembly sister, Aubrianna, got to be her alternate. Our Hampton Prospect, Elise, also has a spot on the team. We are so proud of all our sisters for the work they do and for putting in time and effort to earn spots on the competition team. We can’t wait to see how they do at their International! 

In RL&S,

Sara

Hampton #2

On August 25th, Hampton went to our monthly service project in Phoebus. We work with the local church to make lunches and give them out, along with clothes, to the homeless people in our area. We had a big turnout this month! Our girls Bella, Eva, Thora, Kensley, Sara, Reagan, and I all showed up. We mixed peanut butter and jelly to spread on 70+ sandwiches and made 70+ bologna and cheese sandwiches, too. We packed snacks in brown paper bags and raced to see who could stuff bags the quickest. Afterward we helped load them into the van and headed to our location to pass them out. Many people come out to get our lunches and are always so grateful to us. It’s an amazing feeling to help people in our community, and I’m so glad I get to share these experiences with my Rainbow sisters. 

With Rainbow Love, 

Lauren Ann

Portsmouth Chapter had their installation on August 18th and it was an amazing time. Sara and I showed up as on theme as possible. We both wore flower dresses and lays for the Hawaiian themed installation. All the boys wore Hawaiian shirts and looked like cheesy tourists. The Portsmouth boys seemed to have added new members, which was very nice to see. They’ve grown a lot since their reinstating a few years ago. Afterward, we headed to the reception hall for fellowship and the Hawaiian theme did not stop! There were tons of fun decorations and the food was very tropical. One of the advisors even took time to cut fruit like watermelon and pineapples into works of art. There were pineapple ducks and volcano cakes. It was all very cool to look at and delicious to eat. We joked around and by the end of the night, we didn’t want to say goodbye. It was another fantastic DeMolay event and we were glad we could bring our Rainbow enthusiasm to the mix! 

With Love and Service,

Lauren Ann