potentate's notes

Illustrious Sir Jeff Downing
and Lady Laura

Greetings Nobles,
​
Welcome to March! Spring is just around the corner and with it comes warmer weather. Parade season will be coming soon, and I look forward to seeing our parade units in action. If your unit has a parade scheduled, let me know – Lady Laura and I would love to come out and support you!

Just a reminder that we will “spring forward” on March 13th. Personally, I look forward to the later sunsets. It will give Lady Laura and I a chance to get out in the yard and get things tuned up for summer.

March is also a busy month for Elf Khurafeh. We start with our first “Open” business meeting on March 9th. Bring your ladies and guests to our meeting – they do not need to be Shriners to attend this meeting. We will have the Pizza, Puzzles, and Beer night on Friday, March 11th. Assistant Rabban Greg Cartwright has a fun night planned for you all. Lady Laura will be hosting the Ladies Luncheon on Sunday, March 13th. Rumor has it the Divan will be waiters, dressed in their tuxes, there will be a skit for entertainment, and there will be a guest speaker. GLSA is bringing back the mid-winter session on March 19th – a one day session with discussions on Membership, Leadership. Fundraising, and reports from the Chicago and Dayton Hospitals. The Snowbirds Luncheon is scheduled for March 21st in Sarasota, FL. We will be having a Red Cross Blood Drive on Friday, March 25th at Circus Park. The blood drive is not a money maker for us – it is a chance for the community to see that Circus Park is still open and still the home of the Shriners. We close March with our second Poker Room at the American Legion in Davison, Michigan. Oriental Guide Phil Gean did an amazing job with our first Poker Room, surpassing our budget for the year in the first event. Great job Phil!

Our Easter Party is set for April 3rd at Circus Park. Committee Chairs Jon and Bonnie Jacobs have been working hard to put on another awesome party for the kids. We hope you all can join us and make the day special. There will be a Driver’s Seminar on Saturday, April 9th in Alpena. If you honestly want to learn and see why we do “what we do,” attend a seminar and get scheduled to drive a patient to one of our hospitals – you will NOT be disappointed! Saturday, April 9th is also Installation of El Said Court, our Lady Shriners. Those of you not attending the Driver’s Seminar are invited to watch our own first lady, Laura Downing be installed as High Priestess of El Said. This just goes to show that the Downing’s don’t know how to say no. I am proud to share 2022 as Potentate with my wife, my confidant, and my soulmate at the helm of El Said. I have no doubt she will give her best effort to inspire the ladies of El Said to greater things!

We are also closing in on our April 23rd Sportsman’s Raffle. This event is likely to be our biggest fundraiser of 2022 and all help will be greatly appreciated. We will need all hands-on-deck for this event. Please contact Illustrious Sir John Arnould or Illustrious Sir Phil Brack if you can help – we will need help in all aspects of this event. Also, if you have tickets and money to turn in, please get them to the office as soon as possible. We need to put a payment on the prizes very soon, and the remainder is due by the Raffle date.

Lastly, I want to thank everyone for all that you do for the Shrine and for our Shrine kids. As we see the light at the end of the tunnel for the COVID pandemic, and we start getting back to normal, it is great to see so many nobles and ladies getting involved and being involved in what we are doing. We had an amazing circus; we had a lot of fun at the Indoor Ice Fishing/Chili cook off; and we look forward to many more fun-filled events and activities. And none of them are possible without you, the Elf Khurafeh Shrine Noble!

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me, or send me a text message or voice mail. I’m more than happy to hear any comments you may have which will improve our journey through 2022.

Thank you all, and God bless our Shrine Kids.

Fraternally,
Jeff Downing
Potentate – 2022
Elf Khurafeh Shrine

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