The First Day

Well,
The first week is complete, I am writing this post, just prior to Carrie and I leaving to attend the Shrine Circus in Flint, MI, under the auspices of Elf Khurafeh Shriners. The state of Michigan is divided into four Shrine Centers, of which we have jurisdiction over the 11 counties of SE Michigan. Elf Khurafeh (based in Saginaw) is North of us and East of I-75 up to the Mackinaw Bridge. Saladin (Grand Rapids) holds jurisdiction to the West of the lowere peninsula, and Ahmad Shriners hold jurisdiction to the Upper Pennisula.

A recap of my first week:

Monday January 12 - 5:00 A.M.: I arrived at our downtown garage at 5:30 AM to welcome the volunteers drivers of our Child Care program who were getting ready to take our bus to Chicago. These drivers are the backbone of our Child Care program, I was able to meet with two drivers preparing to take our beautiful coach bus to the Chicago Hospital. Their projected return to the garage, 9:00 P.M., that is a 15 hour day. What do they get out of it? Pure and Simple, the joy within their hearts that they are helping in a specific manner our children we treat at the Shriners Hospitals for Children (Much, Much more on Child Care throughout the year)

Monday January 12 - 11:00 A.M.: After breakfast and a short nap, I arrived at the Shrine Center, which is about 20 miles from my house. This is the first day of business and our first Board of Directors meeting begins at 12:00 P.M.

A Tangent on Shine Leadership:

Each Shrine Center consists of a leadership group, commonly referred to as the DIVAN (ancient middle eastern theme from the beginnings of the Shrine in the late 1800's). In actuality the Divan is the Board of Directors, comprised of the Potentate (CEO), and between 6 - 10 Board of Directors, depending on the local Shrine Center by laws. The Moslem Shriners Board of Directors are comprised of 7 members, which include a Treasurer (CFO), and a Recorder (Secretary).

The other Offices in descending order from Senior to Junior are:

Chief Rabban (i.e. Vice President)
Assistant Rabban
High Priest and Prophet
Oriental Guide (most Junior member)

Each year, on the second Monday of December, the Shrine elects officers for the ensuing year. Although it is customarily a "moving line", whereby once elected to the office of Oriental Guide, you tend to automatically advance to the office of Potentate (5 year total commitment).

Back to business:

First Board of Directors meeting went very well, our new Oriental Guide provided food and refreshment. We ended about 2:30 P.M.

I met with my General Chairman, who is the greatest support system a Potentate can have, and I am truly lucky to have a tremendously talented individual.

My bride, Carrie, stopped by and began decorating the Potentate's Office. It took her several hours, but I cannot believe that she was able to transform the office into something akin to my inner thoughts, decorated by visions of Maize and Blue, along with Shrine memorabilia, photos, certificates, some baseball memorabilia, and my personal humidor. Carrie hates my smoking cigars, but as a surprise, she began preparing my humidor prior to Thanksgiving to get it seasoned and ready to go. You will continually read how incredible Carrie is, and I will not stop repeating those words.

Well, the next task was conducting the Annual Business Meeting of the Shrine, beginning at 7:00 P.M. We tried something new this year, the Chairman of Shrine Hospitality, Hungry 5 and Aides, set up food and beverages at 5:30 P.M. for Shriners in the Banquet Center for Nobles to come and eat prior to the meeting. Lo and Behold, what an incredible success, for almost 3 hours after the meeting there were still dozens of Nobles at the tables, talking, socializing, and more importantly enjoying their time in their Shrine Center. Our Assistant Rabban came up with this idea, and I am running with it, in order to promote the Social aspect of the Shrine.

The business meeting went very well, short and to the point. Afterwards I enjoyed th ecompany of many Shriners for the remainder of the evening. You will also hear me repeatedly say, How I Love the Shrine.

Until Tuesday Morning