Monthly Letter from the Exalted Ruler
Good Day Members:
This letter will be my last and final letter to you our members as Exalted Ruler of the Middletown Lodge #771. It has truly been an honor as well as a privilege to have served as your Exalted Ruler for the year 2011-2012. It is hard to believe a year has gone by so quickly.
I have had the distinct pleasure to have met as well as worked with many of our great Members over this past year, and I have appreciated your dedication to our Lodge and Community.
As Exalted Ruler this past year, I have come to realize that our Lodge is regarded very highly both locally from a Community standpoint, as well as among 32 other Lodges in Connecticut. I have been very outspoken regarding my bias as holding our Lodge as my favorite among many great Lodges throughout the State.
This past year, my wife and I have travelled throughout the State and had visited some of the other great Lodges that make up the Connecticut Elks Organization. At the end of the day, it is always a comfortable feeling to return home back to our great lodge.
I have had the distinct pleasure to have served this year with a group of professional men and women who make up our current leadership team, who have put forth a herculean effort both in supporting me as well as our Lodge. I owe a debt of gratitude to my fellow officers and commend them for their relentless service and sacrifices over this past year serving our Lodge. Without their professionalism and dedication to a similar cause, we would not have been able to accomplish the work we set out together to tackle in the spring of last year. There are far too many individuals over this past year that have supported my efforts to mention, however please know that I could not have performed my duties without your support and dedication as well. I sincerely thank you for your support.
I would like to personally thank my awesome wife Diane, "The First Lady" for supporting me throughout the year and for standing by my side and for believing in me throughout the year.
The state of our Lodge is good. We are very proud of our accomplishments this year and as your leadership team, I truly believe we have "raised the bar" making our Lodge stand out among many other great Lodges across the State. My hope is that I leave this post as Exalted Ruler and transition this assignment to our new ER Elect with some good foundational work that will continue to make our Lodge an example among many.
During this past year as Exalted Ruler I have had the privilege to have seen many great events take place at our Lodge. We were honored to host the Grand Exalted Ruler Dinner for the Connecticut Elks Association in our Crystal Ballroom welcoming in our new Grand Exalted Ruler for 2011-2012. I travelled to Phoenix Arizona to attend the Elks National Convention representing our Lodge.
I had the distinct honor of serving our Lodge when we had "one of our own" David Greaves become District Deputy Grand Exalted Ruler.
This past year we focused on community events that overall strengthen the perception of our Lodge as a vital fraternal organization within our Community. We spent a great deal of our efforts this year focusing on our Veterans programs within our Community. It was my honor to have had the privilege to oversee these events. Other key initiatives this year were on Youth programs.
Our Lodge aggressively participated in many Youth programs throughout the year. These time investments will no doubt pay dividends back to our Lodge in the future from investing in our youth.
As a local Lodge, we met our Elks National Foundation Obligation (ENF), and from an investment standpoint this investment paid us back dividends to our Lodge throughout the year subsidizing some of our Veterans,Community and Scholarship projects. One of our largest assets of our Lodge is our Crystal Ballroom.
One of my first initiatives was to create a position in which we could control our own destiny with respect to marketing and booking this great hall. Through the creation of the Events Coordinator position, we now have some policies and procedures regarding the usage of this hall that will serve as the foundational guidelines for the future. This fabulous hall represents a tremendous revenue opportunity for our Lodge to offset our ongoing costs of the daily business of our Lodge.
Moving forward, I plan to continue to play an active role in our Lodge continuing the work of Elkdom. As the five year trustee elect, I look forward to from a fiduciary standpoint guard well the financial aspects of our Lodge. I would also like to become involved in our Past Exalted Ruler organization to harness this experience and knowledge of our past Exalted Rulers experience to continue to make our Lodge standout among many. Lastly, as Patio Chairman I look forward as in the past two years to continue to bring you those good times on our patio that we cherish and look forward to.
I wish good fortune to our incoming leadership team and ask you to support their endeavors. Support your Lodge, become involved. Remember the "pebbles in the sand" analogy, when we unite we are unstoppable. Elks Care and Elks Share. God Bless you All and God Bless America!
Fraternally
Daniel Miramant
Exalted Ruler 2011-2012