# Lodge Refreshments



## Benjamin Baxter (Jul 31, 2013)

I have a couple of questions for my brothers. One of my lodges has a full meal weekly and on stated meeting week two meals. These are three or four course meals, a desert, and as much tea as you can drink. The brothers are starting to get weak on the kitty, if you know what I mean. I know the brothers will complain if the meals get less extravagant, or are dismantled all together. I know that our lodge will be bleeding if this trend continues. The meals could be a benefit to the lodge instead of a burden, which it is becoming money wise. Some brothers can't afford it, and for that I understand, I don't mind helping out. I will buy them a meal when they needed it and I can afford it. What are some ways you can get the brothers who can afford it to pony up without being rude. I have a couple of ideas that, but would love to hear yours.


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## LittleHunter (Jul 31, 2013)

Place a donation plate or jar prominently with a sign indicating that it goes towards The food. In my Lodge our donation plate says "$10 suggested." Some give only $5. Some don't give any but that's ok.

Whatever you collection should go towards the cost of food. If you still can't cover The costs organize a food committee. One person donates dessert, another the salad, etc.

No Lodge should go broke over food. Everyone should contribute either money or time... Good luck; it will work out as long as you make it clear that you are a team.


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## onthesquare (Jul 31, 2013)

You don't say if the junior warden and stewards cook these meals or if they have an amount budgeted for these meals in the lodge annual budget. If the lodge is footing the bill then this is a matter that should be discussed at your next blue lodge. If the decision is to continue the meals then perhaps a limit can be set on how much to spend on them and an amount set aside in the annual lodge budget.
 As far as donations,our lodge puts out a donations bowl at dinners. A couple of 5 or 10 dollar bills in it to start the ball rolling. This way if the brother can afford it he donates more ,if not he pays what he can afford if anything.


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## Benjamin Baxter (Aug 1, 2013)

The meals are prepared by the steward and two women who donate there time to help, since the lodge only has one steward. The food is paid for by the kitty. When I started I thought that a good meal was good enough. But then there were mumbly complaints that I wasn't putting out chips and dip prior to the food. I love this lodge and I want to do a great job, but three people show up three hours before lodge to do all of this and some nights we don't break even, some there's a surplus. I hope that in the end we at least are not a burden to the lodge.


Senior Steward - Granbury #392
Junior Deacon - Glen Rose # 525


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## Brother JC (Aug 2, 2013)

One of my lodges upped the dues by $120 a couple years ago to pay for meals. If you don't come to lodge, you still paid for the meal. Guests eat for free, though they are welcome to donate to the fund.

Prior to that volunteers were asked to bring different parts of the meal; main course, salad, dessert, drinks. Unfortunately, only about five of us ever volunteered. Thus the change in the by-laws.


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## onthesquare (Aug 2, 2013)

Brother Bennylee, does your W.M hold an officers meeting. If he does,you should present this problem to this group. The junior  warden is or should be in charge of refreshment with the stewards assistance.I see you hold both a steward and a junior deacon position. What does your other lodge do?  In brotherhood, mike


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## Benjamin Baxter (Aug 2, 2013)

onthesquare said:


> Brother Bennylee, does your W.M hold an officers meeting. If he does,you should present this problem to this group. The junior  warden is or should be in charge of refreshment with the stewards assistance.I see you hold both a steward and a junior deacon position. What does your other lodge do?  In brotherhood, mike
> 
> 
> Freemason Connect HD



No officer meetings so far, but I am going to suggest it.  At my other lodge, a single brother signs up for a month and brings the food and drink.  We only meet once a month though. The lodge that I am having the issue in meets at least 5 times a month for a meal. 

Senior Steward - Granbury #392
Junior Deacon - Glen Rose #525


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## LittleHunter (Aug 2, 2013)

5 dinners a month? That's overkill. Twice a month is sufficient 


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## Benjamin Baxter (Aug 2, 2013)

trysquare said:


> One of my lodges upped the dues by $120 a couple years ago to pay for meals. If you don't come to lodge, you still paid for the meal. Guests eat for free, though they are welcome to donate to the fund.
> 
> Prior to that volunteers were asked to bring different parts of the meal; main course, salad, dessert, drinks. Unfortunately, only about five of us ever volunteered. Thus the change in the by-laws.



We just upped our dues to 120. The responsibility of the meals falls directly on the stewards in this lodge. I have plenty of help that I couldn't do without. I dont know exactly how we got to this point, you cant feed the way we do on 2-3 dollars per person average and sustain it.

Senior Steward - Granbury #392
Junior Deacon - Glen Rose #525


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## Brother JC (Aug 3, 2013)

Our dues are actually $240, with half of that going directly to the meals.
It is impossible to feed people on $2 a head. You definitely need to get together with the other Officers and work this out.


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## Rick Clifton (Aug 4, 2013)

I know a place, but I won't say where that brags about fish and all the trimmings.  

Every degree.

They open cans of salmon and dump them into a large bowl, next to the bowl is a box of saltine crackers .

YUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JMHO


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## JTM (Aug 5, 2013)

while it is indeed in regards to refreshment, this has been moved to a masonic on topic forum.  "refreshments" in the off topic forum is in allusion to things that don't deal with masonry.

carry on


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## relapse98 (Aug 5, 2013)

One thing I experienced in my two years as a steward was that our brothers tended to donate what they feel the meals were worth. I was told before my time that they are cheap and don't give enough, but then the previous stewards also sometimes served olive loaf or pimento cheese. The meals I provided were pretty good and usually we made at least some profit. We have a kitty that we built up so I would go over the top with 1 meal and lose $75 or so but make it up the next meal.

I also noticed, as you do when serving the same guys probably 80+ meals, that there were some men who always threw in a $20 and then we had some who would dig around in their pockets for whatever jingling change they had. The $20 guys always covered the loose change guys.

If its becoming a financial problem for the stewards, I would bring it up in a stated meeting, probably giving the WM a heads up before hand. "Guys, the money given for the meals has not been covering it lately and we can go about this 2 ways. We can  A) provide a less extravagant meal to meet the money given or  B) you start giving more.  Which way do yall want to go?"  Watch it for a month and then come to a conclusion and report back.


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## widows son (Aug 5, 2013)

In my lodge we try and keep at $50, and the JW gets a cheque at the end of the meeting. I was
Told in the past that the making ends meet with refreshment was an issue, so the dues would be raised to compensate. Needless to say the donation pot was much more full from then on. 

A four course meal is nice but not cheap. My lodge does a lot of BBQ, which can keep the cost down while still providing a decent meal. Sandwiches are also great as well. I hope you guys resolve the issue, a good meal always makes fellowship much better.


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## JTM (Aug 5, 2013)

widows son said:


> In my lodge we try and keep at $50, and the JW gets a cheque at the end of the meeting. I was
> Told in the past that the making ends meet with refreshment was an issue, so the dues would be raised to compensate. Needless to say the donation pot was much more full from then on.
> 
> A four course meal is nice but not cheap. My lodge does a lot of BBQ, which can keep the cost down while still providing a decent meal. Sandwiches are also great as well. I hope you guys resolve the issue, a good meal always makes fellowship much better.



Soups and stews are good, especially going into fall and winter.

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## boomer007 (Aug 5, 2013)

Just downloaded this app im an entered apprentice from south carolina and had to move here to montana and am looking to finish my degree work im here in great falls mt now i know where a lodge is down the road but no one is ever there


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## Pscyclepath (Aug 6, 2013)

Our lodge does a meal for the (monthly) stated meeting, for each degree, and a monthly breakfast fundraiser.  AR doesn't provide for "stewards" (we appoint 'masters of ceremonies' instead)  so the kitchen and refreshment responsibilities usually fall to the Junior Warden & friends.  

I currently serve as the Jr. Chef for our Scottish Rite valley, and will move to the South in our blue lodge the first of December.  So, I've been using my time in the SR kitchen to get ready to fill some big shoes in the lodge kitchen this winter ;-)  In a previous life, I've served as an Army mess officer, do all the cooking at home, and have been a camp cook for several years.

At SR, we typically cook for 50 masons for stated meetings, and up to 350 for some of the big banquets; at Reunion we budget and cook for 200, two meals per day.  Portion control is important, not only for your budget, but also to be sure that no Brother leaves hungry, and not to have a lot of leftovers and waste.  We've been doing a lot of this by the seat of our pants, but over the past couple of months I've been converting a lot of our recipes to recipe cards, scaled to 25 servings.  Front of the card is the recipe; on the back is a shopping/budget list for the needed ingredients.

At SR, the valley usually has one of the Camp Guard or KSA members to count heads and sell meal tickets ($8.00).  At lodge, we have the "red box" positioned at the head of the serving line (some neighboring lodges use a gallon pickle jar for the same purpose) with a "suggested donation" of $5.  So we budget at around $5 per plate, and with a little practice, we're able to have well-sated brethren with a home-cooked meal (meat, starch, 2 veggies, salad, dessert) and still make a bit of profit on it.  Beverages include coffee, tea or lemonade, cokes available for purchase out of a spare fridge.

We put a lot of effort into our kitchen, both at blue lodge and SR, because a huge amount of the fellowship and camaraderie in the Craft happens around the dining area and the "Table of Brotherly Love."  Someone is at the lodge several nights per week, and we'll have the kitchen open, fresh coffee, and some sort of light snacks available.  We tend to draw a lot of visitors, and keep our members happy and active because we feed them well.  As Miz Kay says on "Duck Dynasty," "if you feed them, they will come."


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## timgould (Aug 6, 2013)

My feeling on this is that the importance of our meeting is the fellowship of good brothers, not the caloric intake. Break bread together, yes, but keep the main thing the main thing. Good fellowship with good men is hard to come by. A good meal is a dime a dozen.


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## onthesquare (Aug 6, 2013)

Welcome boomer007 ,
My suggestion would be to go to the grand lodge of Montana and look under local lodges in your city.This should show you the lodge name and meeting times,also, the Worshipful master and secretary and contact numbers. In brotherhood, mike


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## Jericho2013 (Aug 7, 2013)

We have dinner before each stated meeting and refreshments like donuts or cake at practice sessions.  The bigger meals are at events like this weekend when we have certification exams.  We will be serving breakfast and lunch.


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