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A Message from the Imperial Potentate
November 2008
Hello Everyone,To all we have already have had the pleasure and fun of visiting with this summer and fall, we say thank you for the wonderful times you have shared with us. You have made us feel so very welcome within your Shriners families and we have enjoyed every minute of our time with you all. We hope you enjoyed the Imperial Session in St Louis, and the new format of the Imperial Potentate being elected in his hometown. The new format led to increased awareness for the organization, and makes a personal connection between the convention city and our great fraternity. Nobles and their ladies seemed to have definitely enjoyed our new format for Representatives Night with the Beach Boys concert. We have traveled to many locations since July and have found our Shriners fraternity strong and indeed growing. I attribute that to the hard work of our nobles and ladies who love the fraternity as much as we do. We truly enjoy the stories we hear of our ladies joining their husbands in recruiting new members and spreading the word about Shriners Hospitals for Children. It is a wonderful to see us work together for a common goal. At the Mid-Atlantic Shrine Association held in Virginia Beach this September, they had their first MASA ceremonial that brought in new young Shriners from as far away as South America. It was honor to be there and to give them the Oath of a Noble. Shrinedom is growing in Europe and around the globe! On October 11th, in Vienna, Austria, as part of our international development efforts, Imperial Sir Al Madsen, Imperial Chaplain Barry Todd, and I again participated in a ceremonial. We now have new nobles across the Atlantic who want to be more active in our fraternity. It was an event I wish all of you could have shared. Obviously, good works, brotherhood and fellowship know no bounds. The week of October 13-19, brought us the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas. We hope you were able to see the tournament on the Golf Channel, or perhaps even participated at the event as a volunteer. This tournament helped us educate more people about the Shriners fraternity and our mission of providing pediatric specialty care, at no cost to the families, through Shriners Hospitals for Children. As the tournament’s name implies, we are co-partnered with Justin Timberlake for this PGA TOUR fall series event. (If you don’t know who Justin Timberlake is, ask your kids or maybe your grandkids). As part of the week’s events, Justin Timberlake hosted a concert benefiting Shriners Hospitals for Children for a sold out-crowed at Planet Hollywood. Guest performers included the Jonas Brothers, Boyz II Men, Rhianna, and a surprise guest — Lionel Ritchie. It was quite an event. It was wonderful to see so many young people having fun and learning about what Shriners Hospitals have been doing for children for 86 years. The audience had a unique and exciting introduction to the Shriners philanthropy through Justin Timberlake. Another popular event at the tournament was the Wednesday celebrity pro-am. Patricia really enjoyed seeing Josh Duhamel, John O’Hurley, Greg Kinnear and George Lopez, along with professional pitcher Greg Maddux, Olympian Amanda Beard and Ellen DeGeneres participate in the event and have fun while helping Shriners Hospitals. Our golf tournament brought together entertainment, sports and news media outlets. Entertainment Tonight featured Justin Timberlake as he spoke so favorably about our hospital system; and Sports Illustrated also had a wonderful write-up about our tournament and Shriners Hospitals. Even Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly recognized Justin Timberlake for supporting Shriners Hospitals. I wish I could share with you the number of people who came up to Patricia and me to tell us, “Thank you for all you do,” and proceed to share personal stories of friends or family members who were helped by our organization. This has been an exciting and wonderful fall season for our fraternity and the hospitals. I look forward to the future of both the fraternity and the hospital system. It’s a great time to be a Shriner and to have a friend join our fraternity. Our future looks bright in so many ways. I invite you to invite others to be a part of this adventure; we are indeed having fun with a noble purpose, so let’s be sure and spread the word. Fraternally yours, Your Imperial Potentate and First Lady Doug Maxwell & Lady Patricia |
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Shriners International Headquarters
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