February 6 was an exciting day for our lodge as we witnessed the installation of our new officers for 2025.
The installation kicked off with a Venezuelan dinner catered by CaliCaracas, a Latina-owned catering company in Mountain View and organized by our incoming Vice Grand, Sister Katie Dickinson. We had a lovely cake for dessert.
Our incoming Noble Grand Sally Calpo decorated our tables with purple tablecloths, vases of flowers and pride decorations. Flowers were chosen for their symbolic meaning related to our mission of Friendship, Love and Truth. The tablescape was a delight to behold.
After dinner, we went upstairs for the installation.
Sibling Sally chose a formal, public installation so that visitors attending would be able to learn about of our organization.
As outgoing Noble Grand I opened the meeting but soon passed it over to our District Deputy Grand Master to start the installation process which went very smoothly.
Our Noble Grand gave a heartfelt and thoughtful speech. They talked about how they initially did not know that OddFellows was a place for them until our lodge reached out to their organization, the Oddizens. They reminded us that many people in our community do not know that they have a welcome place in our fellowship unless we reach out our hand first. It is our job to be the hand of Fraternity, to reach out to our community and find those in distress, whether that distress is as simple as not having a place to meet or whether it is more pronounced. They also spoke of wishing to provide more social experiences to our members so as encourage us to get to know each other better such as at a Game Night or an Open Mike night.
I feel that Sibling Sally spoke to all the members present and made them think about what they can do to fulfill our mission of Friendship, Love and Truth. I believe Sibling Sally will be a great Noble Grand and look forward to their tenure.
Elected Officers 2025:
- NG- Sibling Sally Calpo
- VG – Sister Katie Dickinson
- Treasure – Sister MaryLou Lang
- Financial Secretary – Brother Mason Wolf
- Secretary – Sibling Zöe Timmerman
Oddfellows pins were awarded at the installation
- Past DDGM – Sibling Zöe Timmerman
- Past NG- Sister Sinéad Toolis
- Past NG –Sister Ria Toolis
- Merit Award – Sister Sinéad Toolis
—By Ria Toolis