Oct 20, 2020 Newsletter #3

Hi Member, Highlights of this newsletter A Message From the Chairman of the Executive Committee Scholarship reminder Time to order Junior Christmas Gifts Highlights from the Supreme Council Executive Committee Meeting Virtual Meetings using Zoom Roy's Corner    A Message From The Chairman of the Executive Committee Dear Members, We all started on January 1st, 2020 thinking about all the great activities we would plan for this year; such as family gatherings, holidays, worshiping in church, sporting events, vacations, back to school, graduations, council meetings, charitable projects, marriages, medical care procedures, the exciting Royal Arcanum Session in Annapolis and many more activities. Our outlook for our "Great Future" in "2020" was high with anticipation. Suddenly, we were told of the COVID 19 virus, which came along, that resulted in a global pandemic in such a proportion that we have never encountered before! Our "normal" activities came to a hold and all of a sudden our lives were replaced with masks and social distancing and staying basically indoors. Every part of our everyday routine changed in many ways. We had to live secluded from our friends and family and postpone daily activities. It has been truly an extreme hardship for so many people to endure. We will, however by the grade of God, get through this period because of our resiliency and strength to carry on. Hopefully, this will soon be a remembrance of the past and with great hope, normal activities will soon begin again. Please remember, the Royal Arcanum Society and membership has been in existence for over 143 years. We are strong and certainly will endure and survive the current challenges of "2020." We must continue our founding principles: Virtue, Mercy and Charity. We must strive to help others now through different ways, namely; 1. To provide food, support, comfort and friendship to those in need. 2. To communicate with our council members via teleconference if necessary. 3. To continue our fraternal spirit and energy within the community. I would like to give our Home Office staff recognition and thanks for their true dedication and work throughout this pandemic period. They have worked at home and the office to maintain the Royal Arcanum business and fraternal activities. They have all insured that the membership service support was available at all times. Finally, I am certain that the Royal Arcanum and members will weather this storm, but not without the strength and support from you, family and friends. Continue to reach out to others who need reassurance that they are not alone. I wish everyone well and hopefully see the end to this pandemic will be coming soon. Stay safe! James O'Neill, Chairman    Spread the News on Scholarships Applications for our Royal Arcanum Scholarships and non-competitive grants are now being accepted. More than $60,000 in scholarships and over $8,000 in grants is available. Remind your members who are eligible to apply by December 31, 2020 to take advantage of this opportunity! To apply, call 1-888-ARCANUM or visit http://www.royalarcanum.com/forms.html. Applications are due by December 31, 2020. Please include a photograph of yourself in your application that we can use for advertising winners. All components of the application must be submitted and completed by March 31, 2021. Do you know of family or friends with children that are not yet members? Talk to them today about signing up so they can take advantage of this golden opportunity when they reach college age! It's just one of the many benefits of membership.    Christmas Gifts for Juniors There is nothing more exciting than the arrival of the holiday season!  It's the perfect time for family get-togethers, seeing friends, holiday parties, the arrival of Santa, and the holiday cheer that fills the air. Unfortunately, this year, with the pandemic and social distancing, everything will be different and we continue to adapt to a new "normal" routine.  I do not know if any jurisdictions in the United States and Canada will be able to host their holiday parties for our junior members, but Christmas gifts will be available from the home office in November as always.  Have your council officer fill out the form requesting gifts or call the home office.   A postcard is being mailed out to promote the college grants and scholarships that are available.  As a reminder, applications need to be received no later than December 31st to be considered.   Wishing you all a safe Halloween and a blessed Thanksgiving.   Yours in VMC Errica Conforto    Highlights of the Executive Committee Meeting The Supreme Council Executive Committee met by teleconference on September 15, 2020. Many topics were discussed, but the brief highlights are: Our investment performance from the end of February through the end of August was down less than 1% Pennsylvania's Penn Laurel Council membership was transferred to Integrity Council in Philadelphia The Home Office has a new Administration system, and it has gone live The Home Office reported on new initiatives with Heartland Medical Supplement, a PreNeed change that should save about $80,000 annually, progress on getting licensed in Texas and Indiana, and gathering of member email addresses. The Home Office is fully operational through partial in-office staff and partial work-from-home staff. We have been approved for the government's Payroll Protection Program since we did not have to reduce any Home Office employees due to the pandemic. The Ohio Grand Council has been reactivated! The "Planting Seeds Together" program wrapped up on September 30. Thanks to all who participated! Sales of new policies so far this year have already matched all sales last year, pointing toward a very good year for the Royal Arcanum    Virtual Meetings Using Zoom In the lasts two newsletters, we covered holding meetings by email and by teleconference. This time, we're stepping up to video conferencing using Zoom. Zoom is a video conferencing service that is very popular: schools are using it to teach remotely. The political party conventions were held using Zoom. Late Night TV talk shows and news stations use Zoom to continue deliver their shows while away from their normal studios. This same technology is available to us! To use Zoom for your council meetings, at least one person in your council should sign up for an account at https://zoom.us/signup. It's free, with limits, or with no limits your council would likely meet for a monthly or annual fee. The rest of your members need only download the Zoom app on their phone, tablet, or computer from the Zoom download page, https://zoom.us/download#client_4meeting. When you install it, you may (but need not) sign up for your own account. Installation is quick and in no time at all, you should be able to join a Zoom meeting. They even host if you want to try things out. Zoom also has a lot training information. If you are interested, there are a number of Zoom "How-To" videos. Need some help? Contact us and ask for help from the Executive Committeeon using Zoom. We're happy to help! As always, let us know if your council is holding any kind of virtual meeting, we want to share your success stories.    Roy's Corner Roy has been getting into the seasonal changes in the Illinois Jurisdiction. The summer months were spent lounging around and reading books, but with the cool weather arriving, Roy went out to see the leaves change colors. And with the changing colors, Roy also knows it's time for Halloween. He knows he has to stay safe and stay at least 6 feet away from everyone else, but he wanted to be sure, so he donned his mask. He hasn't yet decided on a costume, but he sure looks ready! Let us know what Roy is doing in your area! Even if Roy isn't with you, let us know what you're doing.

Oct 06, 2020 Newsletter #2

Hi Member,  We have a nice selection of information for you this time, and are looking for a few responses, too. A Message From our Fraternal & Communications Director Reminder to Scholarship Winners Reserve Your 2021 Calendars Bulletin Deadline: October 9 Member Benefit: PerkSpot Teleconference Meetings Roy's Corner    A Message From The Fraternal / Communications Director Dear Friends, I sincerely thank and acknowledge Fraternal Committees in jurisdictions throughout the United States and Canada for their allegiance to our Society’s main objective – Charity.  During this unprecedented time when many charitable organizations are struggling to keep their doors open, the benevolent spirit of Royal Arcanum’s fraternalists is being exemplified with compassion and concern. Their generous support in providing donations of funds, goods and other essentials is helping ensure that the mission of service will continue.  As the harvest season approaches, let’s be thankful for our blessings and remember to share them with others.  We are very fortunate to live in the land of the free and home of the brave.  Please thank a veteran for their service. Yours in VMC,      Scholarship Winners: Have You Submitted Your Tuition Bill This Year? Scholarship winners: please note that in order for funds to be sent to the school, the student must submit their tuition bill and include their student IDeach year. A letter is sent out annually as a reminder to scholarship winners, but sometimes those letters may be missed, so please be sure to complete this important task. We need to ensure that students receiving scholarships are still enrolled before we send funds to that school. We wouldn't want your scholarship funds lost because you changed schools and your money was lost by your old school -- that's just one reason why we need this completed annually. Please call our office at 888-ARCANUM if you are a scholarship winner and have any questions.    2021 Calendars Looking ahead to a new year? We are! And we're readying our order for 2021 Royal Arcanum pocket calendars. We're looking to ensure we don't order too many or too few, so we need some help on sizing the ordering. To make sure we get this right and don't double-count, we urge you to contact your council secretary if you want a pocket calendar for 2021. Secretaries: Please let us know the number of 2021 pocket calendars your council would like. Be sure to let us know by October 15 to give the printers the time they need. Thanks!    Bulletin Deadline: October 9 If you have any articles for the upcoming Bulletin, please submit them as soon as possible. We have a firm deadline of October 9 to have the best chance of the Bulletins getting out to our members on time. Articles received after the deadline will be considered for the next quarterly Bulletin. As always, be sure to include a high-res photo if you're including pictures, and be sure to identify everyone in the photos. Thanks!    Membership Has Its Perks Did you know that as a member of the Royal Arcanum, you are entitled to shopping discounts? We're members of PerkSpot.com, an online discount shopping service, and all our members are eligible to use this service. You can save on travel, computers, movies, cell phones, food, and more! Our web site outlines some of the benefits that are yours. Just go to royalarcanum.perkspot.com and sign up or log in, and start saving!      Virtual Meetings Using Teleconferencing Last newsletter, we talked about using email and phone calls to go back and forth with members to hold a virtual meeting. Wouldn't it be nice if we could all just talk at the same time? Teleconferences allow many people to all be on the same phone call at once, and might be a way to hold a virtual meeting. But there are a few tricks that will make those teleconferences work so much better. Much like meeting in person, if any person on a teleconference talks, everybody who is on can hear. That's great! But what if several different people start talking at once? Just like in-person meetings, it makes anyone hard to hear or understand. When you're meeting in person, you may respond to visual clues to realize somebody else is speaking as you wait for your chance to add to the conversation. Maybe you've had to quietly remind the person next to you that someone else has the floor and pay attention to a quiet speaker across the room. On a teleconference, there isn't any easy way to quietly nudge someone to remind them. Still, there are some techniques that can be used that can help out. If you want to try to hold a teleconference meeting for your council, you need to first secure a teleconference service. Most of our members probably don't have access to a service, but the Royal Arcanum does have a service, and can allow your council to use it if it's available and you reserve it in advance. Once you've secured the line for your meeting, let your members know in your usual way the date and the time of the meeting, and provide them with the teleconference information. Each attending member, on the date and at the time of the meeting, will need to call a special teleconference number, then enter a special code that will authenticate them for the meeting. As long as the host of the meeting has already dialed in, they will be placed in conference with each other for your meeting. There is a special role needed for this: the meeting host. The meeting host should be familiar with teleconferences, and ideally will have experience hosting them. They have extra duties to facilitate the meeting and to help your members hold a successful meeting. We can provide a meeting host if you would like one. Some tips to keep in mind: Pay attention to the meeting host. The host will invite people to speak when needed or remind them to defer their talking while someone else has the floor. Call from a quiet place. If there is a lot of background noise when you call, that noise will often be picked up by your phone and make it hard for everyone to hear. Mute your phones when not talking. Placing yourself on mute when you are not talking helps tremendously in cutting out background noise and allows the speaker to be heard. Many phones, such as mobile phones, have a mute button built in. If your phone doesn't have a mute button, you can still use your audio PIN and a *6 button sequence. Secretaries: use a hands-free device if you can. In order to take meeting minutes during a call, it helps to have a speaker phone or earphones or some other hands-free device so you can take notes during the meeting. Meeting hosts: your job is to make the meeting run smoothly.Remember members should be invited when to speak or asked to refrain from speaking when someone else has the floor. Ask those not speaking to mute when another is talking. Remember to ask for member comments and remind members to unmute to speak: the regent may need some help with this, especially if there are several members who want to speak at once. Your role as facilitator is to help the regent in the meeting. Remember the meeting may sound more structured or formal than your usual meetings. It will feel different from meeting in person, but it's easy once you get used to it. Why not give it a try? We would love to have all our councils meeting virtually, either by email and phone as described in the last newsletter, or by teleconference, or by some other way. Please let us know what you've tried, and how it worked for you. Happy meeting!    Roy's Corner What's a Home-bound Bear to Do? With the change of seasons and changes during the pandemic, our travel bear, Roy Al Arcanum, is turning his thoughts from traveling to staying in his den. He's looking for some ideas to keep him occupied. What's Roy doing in your home? Drop us a line (and a picture) of Roy helping you cook and share a favorite recipe. Is Roy helping you with a problem? Let us know your fix-it solution. Perhaps Roy has a humorous story to share. Send usyour hints, tips, recipes, and stories and we'll share them in future newsletters.

Copyright © 2020 Supreme Council of the Royal Arcanum, All rights reserved.  You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website or gave your information to a Supreme Council officer or the Home Office.  Our mailing address is:  Supreme Council of the Royal Arcanum 61 Batterymarch St Boston, MA 02110-3208 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

 

September 22, 2020

Hi,  Member,  Welcome to the first regular newsletter from the Royal Arcanum. Each edition, we'll offer a few pieces of information to keep you informed on the doings at the Home Office, individual councils, and what your Supreme Council Officers are doing for you. We'll keep it short and interesting. Let us know if you have any feedback to make things better. Here are the highlights of today's newsletter: Message from the Acting Supreme Regent Apply Now for Our Scholarships and Grants Keep up charitable giving with IFS Projects Stay Connected with Virtual Meetings Do We Have your members' email addresses?    A Message From... The Acting Supreme Regent Welcome to our Royal Arcanum newsletter! I hope you are all staying safe, caring for yourselves and others, and still finding ways to have fun with family and friends.  I am happy to be able to stay connected with all of you via our new newsletter. Hope you all have a great beginning of Fall!  Sincerely yours in V.M.C., Maria Bettina DiBartolo     Apply Now for Our Scholarships and Grants It's time to apply for the Royal Arcanum competitive scholarships and non-competitive grants. Our Competitive Scholarships are awarded to graduating high school seniors (Two) $10,000 (Two) $8,000 (Two) $5,000 (Ten) $1,500 Based on Membership and Merit Distributed over 4 years Our Non-Competitive Grants are chosen at random for all qualifying applications (Four) $750 (Continuing Education) (Five) $600 (High School Seniors) (Ten) $250 (College Students, Years 2,3, and 4) To apply, call us today at 1-888-ARCANUM or visit http://www.royalarcanum.com/forms.html. Applications are due by December 31, 2020. Please include a photograph of yourself in your application that we can use for advertising winners. All components of the application must be submitted and completed by March 31, 2021.    Keep up charitable giving with IFS Projects While we're all working through the restrictions that COVID-19 has placed on us, let's not forget those with greater needs. Our councils have always been generous, and we thank you for that. But how can we keep our charitable work when our councils aren't even meeting? First, read the section on having Virtual Council Meetings below. While it's important that the council get its members' approval for charitable gifts, that can be done as easily as with a few phone calls and your secretary documenting the approval. It may not be as easy to give non-cash donations right now. Some organizations have temporarily stopped or limited what donations they will accept, so that they can keep the needy safe and healthy. But all locations are gratefully accepting financial donations. Please consider what your council can do that fits with charities that you normally support. And don't forget to take what pictures you can, and write an article for the Bulletin. We always want to know about our members and their generous activities. Remember that each council can receive up to $1,000 in reimbursement for donations given during the year that fall within the International Fraternal Service guidelines. Check out our updated brochure and if you qualify, fill out and submit for a reimbursement for your project using our IFS Submission Form.     Bulletin article deadline The deadline for submitting articles for the Royal Arcanum Bulletin is October 9. Please share how your council has been managing during these unusual times and submit an article for consideration for our member Bulletin. Space permitting, you'll be able to share your council's activities with members throughout the USA and Canada. The sooner your submit your article, the better chance your article will be able to be included (and it will give our busy editors the time to handle all the publishing details). Submit your article today!    Stay Connected with Virtual Meetings We're excited to report that some of our councils have been staying connected through virtual meetings. What's a virtual meeting? It's any way of bringing people together for a meeting without meeting face-to-face. Versatility Council #2501 has kept their activities going through emails and telephone calls. They were able, among other matters, to approve an IFS Project for the Felician Sisters Haiti Mission. Medora Council #1648 help a Virtual Meeting through email, telephone, and their private Facebook group. Their meeting boasted attendance of 20 members. In the upcoming newsletters, we'll provide some pointers on how to hold a successful virtual meeting in different ways. Let's start with the basics and explore how to make meetings happen. The Basics First, a proper meeting needs to allow for three important things for attending members: Members need to be able to participate in discussions  Members need to be able to make (and second) motions  Members need to be able to vote  For face-to-face meetings, these are easily done, but how can you do them when we're socially distanced? It's not so hard: it's just that your meeting may not take the same amount of time as it did before. When you're not all together For many councils, we don't have the fancy tools or the experience to be able to electronically connect with all our members at the same time. Thanks okay, it just means you may need to make several calls to each member. Here's a good approach to start with: Create an agenda. Put together a meeting agenda of the topics to discuss. Usually this is done by the regent and secretary, but use whatever members that can help. Send out the agenda and get feedback. Next, get that agenda out to your members -- by mail, by telephone, by email, or by whatever method makes sense for your council. Give your members a deadline to respond. If you're calling them, you can get the response right away, but if you're email or mailing them, give them a chance to get the message and to write back. Ask for motions. While some parts of a meeting are usually sharing information, some items are likely to require motions. Ideally, you can ask when you send the agenda for members to make a motion based on the agenda items. This works well if the motion is standard business and isn't likely to require a lot of discussion. If it does, you'll just spend some time getting and sharing the feedback from everyone until you're ready for a motion to be made. It's useful to consider the first responder to make a motion as the member that made the motion, and the second person who responds to be the person that seconds the motion. Time for voting. Now that your members know what your agenda is and you've gotten motions, you can contact them again, asking for votes for the motions that have been made. This is usually the secretary that will gather and record the voting, but again, other members can assist if that will make things easier (say, by using a calling tree). Depending on how many members you have and how you contact them, this type of meeting can take a few weeks from start to finish. But it's a great way to keep in contact and keep the business of the council going. What about a teleconference or video conference? Meetings sure are easier when everybody is together, even if that "together" is by teleconference or video conference instead of in person. We're here to help with that, too, and will cover that topic in our next newsletter. Has your council held any virtual meetings? Let us know how it goes, and what we can do to help them be successful.    Do We Have your members' email addresses? These newsletters are going out to all members who have given us their email addresses at a Supreme Council Session or provided it to the Home Office or one of our Supreme Council Officers. We know that most people on this list have been to some Supreme Council event in the past, such as a Session or a Mini-Vacation. We also know that there are many active members who have never been at an event outside their jurisdiction. We'd love to keep them updated, too! We particularly would like to have email addresses of your council's key officers so that we can contact them quickly with any important news. Please share this newsletter with your council and have them sign up for the newsletters. Members and those interested in membership can sign up by sending an email to info@royalarcanum.com. We look forward to reaching more of our members!

Copyright © 2020 Supreme Council of the Royal Arcanum, All rights reserved.  You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website or gave your information to a Supreme Council officer or the Home Office.  Our mailing address is:  Supreme Council of the Royal Arcanum 61 Batterymarch St Boston, MA 02110-3208 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Fraternal Department News

Fraternal Department News

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

May 30th is highlighted on the calendar as 'National Water a Flower Day'; many seasoned gardeners (and hobbyists, too) will be busy planting, pruning, and trimming as they spruce up their window boxes, vegetable beds, landscapes and backyards, getting them in tip-top shape for spending more time outdoors to enjoy the longer days and warmer weather.
Let's participate in National Water a Flower Day by starting at the 'root' of garden treasures and join Supreme Regent Deborah Young in PLANTING SEEDS FOR THE FUTURE! Introduce family and friends who may be unaquainted with the Royal Arcanum to learn more about our fraternal benefit society, our portfolio of insurance and annuity products, member benefits, volunteer-social activities, charitable programs, Junior opportunities and the many projects and events that are organized by our councils. Plant that initial seed, share our brochures, Bulletin and website, and welcome them to participate with council members in an upcoming activity. That just may be the special gardening tool - the invitation to take part to see our members as fraternalists-in-action to spark their interest and enthusiasm! Naturally, just like some actual seeds that may not take root or adapt to our gardens, we may not always be successful in having a prospect enroll as a member. Don't get discouraged! Remember! It's by planting the seeds that SOME (not all) opportunities bud, progress and thrive. It's up to us to choose to help our gardens and councils grow by planting seeds and with a bit more effort and nurturing, we may be amazed at the results! Together we'll strive to have all jurisdictions listed on the Supreme Council's '2019' New Member Roster and achieve another great RA year.

A sincere 'thank you' is extended to all members who have served their council as an officer and for their dedicated, volunteer efforts for the growth and success of fraternal programs. We wish all the newly elected members a happy and productive term. Please continue to share the good news from your jurisdicition; your endeavors continue to inspire council initiatives and plant new seeds throughout the US and Canada! Spread fraternal sunshine in your community........You'll be helping a charitable cause and at the same time will promote the good work of the Royal Arcanum and its mission of service. There's a multitude of ways to impart fraternalism and fellowship to see abilities and cooperation flourish!

Councils may apply for up to $1,000 annually from the Supreme Council for approved Internationa! Fraternal Service projects. We welcome all councils to 'Plant Seeds' in this program and be recognized by the Supreme Council with matched charitable donations. Application forms are available by contacting the Home Office (1-888-ARCANUM) or can be downloaded from the Royal Arcanum website (www.royalarcanum.com). If there is doubt about the eligibility of a project, please call the Home Office in advance. As a friendly reminder: Copies of the acknowledgment letter(s) from the recipient of the IFS project gift must be sent to the Home Office in Boston (as part of the program criteria).

Don't forget to have your council entered in the 'Planting Seeds Together' for the Homeless project by conducting a charitable activity for this cause. Submissions will be included in a random drawing in September 2019 for (3) $300 council award checks. Reporting forms are available from the R.A. website. We anticipate hearing from you!

Wishing you and yours a safe, healthy, happy and memorable summer! Wear a smile, keep planting the seeds and share hope and goodness with others!

In friendship,

Cindy Macon

Highlights from Colonial Williamsbufg

Our mini-vacation in Colonial Williamsburg is over, and summer is coming to a close for the schoolchildren. If you were lucky enough to join us on our trip, you know how much we all enjoyed each other’s company while we explored our history as a British Colony. About 100 Arcadians gathered in Virginia to enjoy just a bit of summer with each other. The weather was pretty good — it rained one morning, but most of the trip was bright sunshine.
The Royal Arcanum always strives to find a family friendly, reasonably priced location for our mini vacations, and this year was an excellent choice. Our hotel was just steps from the Williamsburg Visitor Center, where a bus ride (complementary for our guests) provided easy access to the shops, restaurants, and reenactments in Colonial Williamsburg. The same bus also provided transportation to the modern-day town of Williamsburg and their wonderful selection of stores and restaurants, as well as the museums and antique sections of town.
Back at the hotel, we gathered for a welcoming registration, first night dinner; a short program presentation by me, your Supreme Regent, during our rainy morning, which was mostly presentations of awards and drawings for prizes; game night; a morning baby shower breakfast; and ending with our final evening dinner.
A highlight, as always, was our local charity guests. This year we invited Catholic Charities, who collected our members’ generous donations for needy mothers in the Eastern Virginia area. We also held a split the pot raffle with two winners, collecting funds for Don Ferry, Jr.’s participation in the Jimmy Walk Fund that raises money to find a cure for cancer.

We introduced our new mascot, Roy Al Arcanum, a traveling bear who is already making his way across the continent spreading the news of our great organization (and with overseas plans in the works). We’re asking all jurisdictions to share Roy with their members as they travel, and post the pictures online or with the Home Office. On Facebook, post the pictures to our wall or your own page, and tag him with the hashtag #WhereIsRoyNow. Roy also has his own email address at WhereIsRoyNow@gmail.com: email pictures of him there if you don’t have a Facebook account. We’ll be selecting winners for the favorite pictures throughout the year.
We have a contest now: Visit our Facebook page and browse the pictures in the Roy in Williamsburg album. Like all your favorite pictures, and we’ll give out prizes to the photographers of the chosen favorite pictures.
If you missed the mini-vacation, you missed a lot! We’ll try to keep you up to date here, and hope to see you at our next gathering.