Take Control! of Your Service!

Today's article is from a special guest - Bro. James Palo:

We hear the term service organization tossed around quite a bit when we're talking about DeMolay. What exactly is a service organization, and how are we in one? I did some research on what exactly would be considered a service organization and here's what I found:

A service club or organization is a voluntary non-profit organization where the members meet regularly to perform charitable events, either by direct hands-on efforts or by raising money for other charitable organizations. A service organization is defined first by its service mission. Secondary membership benefits, such as social occasions, networking and personal growth opportunities encourage involvement. A service organization is not necessarily exclusive of ideological motives, although organizations with such defined motives are more likely to identify themselves through their association. Much like historical  organizations formed the basis for many institutions in our society such as hospitals, for example service organizations perform many essential services for their community and other worthy causes. (Wikipedia)

This makes you think "What have we done that makes us a service organization?"  As you all know, the Take Control! theme has been out there empowering DeMolays to control their program, Chapters, and DeMolay knowledge, but, one that has flown "under the radar" is Taking Control! of community service. Community service may sound like a boring activity, but it really isn't! You have the control to make any project fun. All you have to do is go into your community and help out. Your Chapter could volunteer at a food pantry, homeless shelter, or clean up the side of the road! I know that in Erie Chapter, we do a highway clean-up every year. We go out and pick up trash off a part of the road, then we throw a fun activity in with it! The last time Erie chapter took control and helped out, we went fishing and camping at my house afterwards! I reviewed  the News page of www.padeMolay.org and found some chapters that took control of their community. Allentown, Joppa and Pilgrim are three Chapters whose names keep reoccurring! 

We join DeMolay for the fun, friends and food, but we never think about how often we come across community service opportunities within DeMolay. Look around you brethren, it's almost everywhere! Try virtually anything that will get the name of DeMolay out into your neighborhood. In addition to the leadership growth you will receive for helping out, if your chapter does the most community service and documents it at the link below, you can dye your ESO's hair at Spring Leadership Weekend! Yes every single one of them! I suspect that Bro. Tom Moyer, SMC, looks amazing with pink hair! (that's just my opinion). Take Control! of your State Officers hair!

Bro. James P. Palo

State Treasurer

Pennsylvania DeMolay