101 Things You and Your Lodge Can Do for Masonic Youth Groups
1. Sponsor or co-sponsor a local chapter, assembly, or bethel.
2. Invite a group to give a program at your lodge.
3. Allow a group to serve or help for lodge dinners as a fundraiser.
4. Tell your child, grandchild, niece, nephew, or neighbor about the Masonic Youth groups and encourage them to join.
5. Offer a "scholarship" for attendance at an annual session or other conferences.
6. Send cards of congratulation to newly elected youth group officers.
7. Complete training as an advisor for a youth group and be available as a "back up."
8. Provide transportation to events.
9. Sponsor the printing of their newsletter or other publication.
10. Provide a link on your lodge's website to the youth groups.
11. Offer to buy a meeting suit or gown for a youth who can't afford one.
12. Visit a regular meeting, degree conferral, or installation of officers, and report on it to your lodge.
13. Sign as a Masonic Sponsor on a petition for membership.
14. Serve as your lodge's youth representative.
15. Ask your lodge's youth representative for information about the local groups and their meetings/needs.
16. Serve on an Advisory Council, Board, or Guardian Council.
17. Help a youth member learn a ritual part (their ritual is written, so you needn't know the part beforehand)
18. Provide help with costuming, makeup, floor-work, or rehearsal for degree conferrals.
19. Don't just wait for "problems" to communicate with your local group... send them a note when they do something right ("Thanks for leaving the kitchen so clean after your spaghetti dinner...")
20. Offer a professional skill or hobby that may be helpful to the group, or offer to teach them how to do it themselves.
21. Hold a joint social, athletic, or fundraising event with a chapter, or start an annual event (the "Bowling Challenge," for example).
22. Wear a youth group pin, t-shirt, or emblem to show your support, and be prepared to tell people what it is!
23. Sponsor a statewide competition held by one of the youth groups.
24. Offer to sponsor a new piece of ritual equipment or to replace or refurbish old equipment.
25. Put up flyers or brochures for youth groups in your lodge building, or in your place of business, if possible.
26. Include youth group leaders as invited "dignitaries" for public lodge events.
27. Read the "Masonic Youth Minutes" cover to cover!
28. Contribute to one of the many scholarship funds to assist Masonic Youth in furthering their education.
29. Be a mentor to local youth -take an interest in what they do.
30. "Brag" about positive experiences with Masonic youth to other Lodge members.
31. Attend a meeting of the advisory board/council for a youth group to get to know the advisors and their needs.
32. Read a book or take a "correspondence course" offered by the youth groups to learn more about them.
33. Sponsor the making of sports jerseys, jackets, t-shirts, or other "wearable PR" for a local group.
34. Say hello to everyone you see wearing a youth group emblem and identify yourself as a Mason. Encourage their involvement!
35. Include youth calendars or flyers in a Lodge mailing.
36. Post a schedule of youth events in a prominent area of your lodge building.
37. Offer the youth group space for a bulletin board in the lodge building to display photos and other memorabilia of events. Then keep up with the postings!
38. Hold a testimonial dinner for youth group leaders or members with notable accomplishments.
39. Put a youth group emblem on your car, and tell everybody what it is.
40. Offer to provide a Masonic education program, or program on your profession or hobby, at a youth group meeting.
41. Offer to bring refreshments for a youth group meeting.
42. Make a financial gift to the operating budget of a local youth group.
43. Offer Masonic service opportunities to youth, like "odd jobs" around the lodge building.
44. Invite youth to go with Lodge members to visit shut-in members or widows.
45. Find out about special needs in families of local youth, like medical needs, home repairs, etc. - and get your lodge involved in meeting that need.
46. Do you teach or have a specialty subject? How about offering tutoring or homework help for youth groups?
47. Offer to teach a particular skill, like car maintenance, basic carpentry, et cetera, as a unique youth group activity.
48. "Adopt" a needy family for the holidays, and involve youth in shopping and delivery of gifts.
49. Offer to act as a "photographer" for youth functions.
50. Hold a fundraiser or special fund drive in your lodge specifically to benefit youth. How about a Lodge "yard sale" with youth participating?
51. Provide a new or used computer for a local chapter to use for record-keeping and publications.
52. Recommend capable Lodge members to youth groups as Advisors.
53. Buy or donate tickets to a Shrine Circus for a local youth group to use for prospective members.
54. Sponsor a blood drive in your community, and invite youth group members to recruit donors and volunteer at the drive.
55. Have a special presentation at your lodge on the charities of the youth groups. Help support one or more of them!
56. Start a scholarship fund in your lodge for local youth.
57. Coach a Masonic Youth group sports team.
58. Donate a piece of athletic equipment to a local youth group.
59. Allow a local youth group to use your Lodge's FAX or Phone number for messages/contacts.
60. Consider waiving Lodge rental fees for youth groups, or paying them on their behalf if your lodge doesn't own the Temple.
61. Ask a youth group to hold a Masonic "Shadow Night" where Lodge officers sit with Youth Group officers to learn about their work.
62. Sponsor and organize a "career night" in which Lodge members provide information to local youth about career options.
63. Include youth groups in publicity opportunities, especially contributions to other youth groups or to schools. Ask that youth groups be mentioned in press coverage.
64. Be prepared to answer questions/concerns about the nature and purpose of Masonic Youth groups.
65. Introduce youth group members to your eligible relatives and neighbors to allow them to recruit.
66. Consider organizing interested Masons to open a new Chapter, Bethel, or Assembly, or to reorganize one that used to exist in your area.
67. Arrange for Youth Group Road Signs (provided by the Grand Lodge) to be posted with your Lodge sign in the community.
68. Write an article or make a report to the MYM on a success of your lodge's youth program, so other Lodges can follow your example.
69. Have a special program or dinner to recognize and honor youth group advisors in your area.
70. Sponsor the purchase of one or more books about the youth groups to be placed in a local public or school library. Arrange for a press release.
71. List area youth groups in your monthly Lodge notice or other publication.
72. Offer to assist your Lodge Youth chair with his job responsibilities, or to serve on the Lodge Youth Committee.
73. Play the piano/organ or provide other music for youth group meetings, degrees, or other ceremonies.
74. Recognize members of your lodge who have received various honors from the Masonic Youth Groups.
75. Scottish Rite? Don't throw away old costumes or sets! Offer them to DeMolay first!
76. Commandery? Offer to provide an honor guard for special occasions.
77. Put a "DeMolay/Job's Daughters/Rainbow meets here!" sign on the outside of your Lodge building.
78. Start a "Student of the Month" program with your local high school/middle school. When an honoree is a member of a youth group, see that that gets mentioned in the announcement at school. Provide all honorees with literature about the Masonic Youth Groups.
79. Offer to do a specific job for a youth group's advisory board: for example, you might be the treasurer, webmaster, lodge liaison, or legal advisor of the board, even if you can't regularly make youth group meetings and events.
80. Ask youth groups to make your lodge aware of their "sickness and distress" lists, and send a card or note to sick members.
81. Offer to pay the advisory council registration fee for Lodge members who serve a youth group, or give a "discount" in their annual Lodge dues.
82. Encourage or assign new Lodge members to attend area youth group meetings to familiarize themselves with the groups and the opportunities they provide.
83. Have Lodge members attend youth group functions on a "rotating" basis to see that your lodge is always represented there.
84. Host a family dinner or picnic for all the Masonic-related groups in your community, so they can get to know and help one another.
85. Invite local Advisors and Senior DeMolay's to participate in degrees when a Senior DeMolay joins your lodge.
86. Shrine clown? Offer training and assistance in clown makeup and other skills for the Rainbow clowning program.
87. Make Masonic Youth Group information part of your ongoing Masonic Education program.
88. Include youth group activities on your Lodge calendar and notices.
89. Help a local youth group organize a prospect party or other recruiting efforts.
90. Sponsor a local youth (whether a Masonic Youth group member or not) to the PA Youth Foundation's annual LifeSkills Conference.
91. Notify PA DeMolay when a petitioner for degrees in your lodge is a Senior DeMolay. Invite DeMolay Advisors to participate in the degree conferrals.
92. Media connections? Help youth groups make contacts with local newspaper, radio, and cable access for placement of public service announcements and news items.
93. Provide a display case or shelf in your lodge for local youth groups to display awards, trophies, and historical items.
94. Attend a public installation of officers and bring your family and friends.
95. Arrange to visit a youth program at the Masonic Conference Center – Patton Campus in Elizabethtown, to see what exciting programs your youth are having.
96. Offer to provide a program for youth groups on what Masonry is about and what Masons do.
97. Invite a local youth group to use your swimming pool, fishing/hunting cabin, or other facility for a getaway or social event.
98. Make regular visits to PMYF and Masonic Youth Web Sites to stay informed and look for service opportunities.
99. Remember Masonic Youth programs or the PA Masonic Youth Foundation in your estate planning.
100. When in doubt, call a youth group and ask, "What can I do?"
101. Pass on this list to another Mason and encourage him to help too!
Until next time - Joseph Pullin
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