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St. John’s Day 2009 to Reflect the Past

Since the early years of The Home, St. John’s Day has been celebrated on the campus of The Masonic Home for Children at Oxford.  The day has been highlighted in many ways with a variety of activities. Many remember the parade and musical entertainment of the past 20-plus years, while older citizens in the community may remember earlier years as a day of commemoration and picnics. The focus this year will be to showcase The Home and its history while expressing appreciation to the loyal supporters.

The Home will host a traditional St. John’s Day celebration and open house on campus Saturday, June 27, 2009. The parade and musical entertainment will not be scheduled. While activities will be occurring from 8:30am until 2:00pm, the main features of the day will be a St. John’s Day commemorative service in the York Rite Chapel starting at 10:00am. Following the service guests will have the opportunity to visit some of the homes and tours of the campus will be conducted by some of the residents and staff. The Archives and Museum will be open for those who wish to view some of the history of The Home. Games and entertainment for the children will be available.

This change has been considered for several years and was a hard decision to make because of the far-reaching impact. However, with attendance decreasing steadily, expenses to MHCO increasing, and increased responsibilities to be handled by a significantly reduced staff, it became necessary to modify activities to a more manageable level. The Home would like to thank all those who have for years helped make St. John’s Day a safe and memorable occasion. Special thanks is extended to the City of Oxford and Granville County law enforcement personnel and emergency management services and to the Shriners and Masonic volunteers who helped make the day a success. To all the local businesses and other community volunteers who helped support the St. John’s Day activities, “Thank you.” The goal of the event continues to be to provide our guests with a memorable and enjoyable day.

Again, we thank all who have volunteered their time, money, and support throughout the years. To those who plan to participate in the celebration we reiterate that no parade or musical entertainment will be provided as part of St. John’s Day 2009.  For more information visit the Home’s website at http://www.mhc-oxford.org/StJohns.html.

 

 

St. John’s Day Celebration Set for June 27, 2009

Format Set to Feature Church Service, Open House, Tours, and Meal with the Children

OXFORD, NC – With records dating back before 1910, St. John’s Day is an Oxford and North Carolina Masonic tradition, highlighting our fraternity and our historic children’s home.  With brief hiatuses for world wars, the Depression and polio and with wonderful additions such as the Shrine parade and the leadership of our departed friend, “Mr. St. John’s Day”, Brother Lloyd Young, St. John’s Day has changed many times during its 100-year plus history. The year 2009 will signal another year of change, while bringing back some of the traditional aspects of early St. John’s Day celebrations.  On Saturday, June 27, 2009, The Masonic Home for Children will host an open house for Masons and Eastern Star and their families and friends. Visitors can once again tour many different homes and facilities, including the residences, print shop, and Cobb Center museum.  For this year’s celebration tours will be conducted by residents of The Home. The residents will have the option of setting up cottage booths, allowing the children to participate by selling food and gift items with proceeds benefiting their respective cottages.  A special “Legacy” tour of campus will be conducted by Home alumnus and Grand Master of Masons, Most Worshipful Dan C. Rice, highlighting those places and people special to his life during his time at The Home.  The tours with the residents will be conducted throughout the day following the service in the chapel.

The day will begin with a stated meeting of Orphans Lodge No. 761, the Masonic Lodge which meets on campus and was chartered with a specific goal of raising money to support the children.  All Master Masons are welcome to attend.  Soon after the Lodge meeting, a special St. John’s Day service will be held in the York Rite Chapel, conducted by the Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of North Carolina.  A BBQ and chicken lunch will be provided in the dining hall by The Home to Masons and Eastern Star members and their families. There will be souvenirs for sale, and other activities for the family and special events may be available.  An updated schedule of events will be posted in April. All our Masonic friends and families are encouraged to make the trip in groups or individually and spend a day visiting our children’s home, one of only a few Masonic children’s homes remaining in the United States.  For more information, please call 1-888-505-4357 or visit the Home’s St. John’s Day website at www.mhc-oxford.org/StJohns.html.  We hope to see you and your Lodge members and family on June 27, 2009, 8:30am to 3pm for St. Johns’ Day 2009.

 

St. John’s Day Faces Major Change

Allen Hughes, Administrator

Masonic Home for Children

For years St. John’s Day at the Masonic Home for Children has been synonymous with good times and good memories.  Unfortunately, like most good and cherished things, it has gotten caught up in the winds of change. St. John’s Day has been celebrated on campus since the early years of The Home in several different ways over that time, including formal Grand Lodge religious programs followed by community picnics, as well as the recent format of parades and entertainment. Excluding a special centennial ceremony in 1955, there were no St. John’s Day celebrations on campus between 1935 and 1979. This break was caused initially by a polio epidemic and there apparently was not enough interest in resuming the annual activities at that time.

Thanks to the dedicated volunteer efforts of Brother Lloyd Young the St. John’s Day celebration was revived in the early 1980s. Lloyd devoted at least one day a week almost every week of the year in preparation for St. John’s Day. During Lloyd’s time the addition of the Shrine parade, use of Shrine cooking units to provide free meals to attendees, and performances by big name entertainers all helped increase attendance. In the 1990’s crowds were estimated to exceed 10,000 participants. While the crowds grew, so did the expenses for St. John’s Day and our Home, while the ability of The Home to support the day with free food, free entertainment, and a severely reduced number of employees (from more than 100 full-time to 54 full-time) declined.

When Brother Young no longer was able to coordinate all the activities necessary to make St. John’s Day successful the staff of The Home attempted to fill the void, hoping to find someone to take on his role. Unfortunately, no volunteers have come forward and the bulk of the coordination has fallen to the limited number of support staff at MHCO. Without a volunteer to plan and coordinate all the associated activities, MHCO cannot continue to support St. John’s Day in its present format. 

Changes in many areas, most which we cannot control (gas prices, liability issues, conflicts with other Masonic and family functions, etc.), have had a direct impact on the success and purpose of St. John’s Day.  Coordination of St. John’s Day activities is more demanding than before. The last year Brother Young helped with the event MHCO had about eighty-five employees with less than twenty directly supervising activities of the children during the day. Currently, MHCO has fifty-four staff members with at least thirty required to be with the children on St. John’s Day. Meanwhile, the number of activities for the day has increased. Financially, St. John’s Day continues to cost MHCO more each year, and it probably is an increasing and major expense for our Shrine units and their families which participate in the parade. Five years ago we had to stop providing free food because the “free” meals were costing The Home several thousand dollars despite asking for donations for the meal. We have tried to make St. John’s Day an enjoyable day for the children and our supporters while providing entertainment and trying to be good hosts to our guests within a reasonable budget. However, with the limitations of our staff and a few volunteers, this year we were unable to open the campus facilities and provide tours to the degree requested. The complaints we received were about what we didn’t do rather than the quality of activities provided. We have actively tried to reduce the expenses for St. John’s Day over the past five years, yet it still cost The Home over $14,000 in 2008, which does not include numerous hours of staff time required to plan, organize, and coordinate activities for the day. Very little of the money received that day can be attributed to the St. John’s Day activities. The crowds have gotten progressively smaller the past few years while the challenges and expenses of The Home and the Shrine units have increased.

Brethren, these realities are obvious and have been painstakingly discussed over the past five years with many dedicated and caring individuals. Based on all our discussions and the declining participation over the past several years it is time to make a business decision, however unpopular it may be. Unless there is strong expression of interest in continuing St. John’s Day as it is and unless someone volunteers to chair, plan, organize, and coordinate the day’s activities, St. John’s Day cannot continue in its present format. Without a volunteer chairman to coordinate the parade, entertainment, food and concessions, and all other activities associated with St. John’s Day, the event as we know it will be discontinued, and The Home will look for another way to celebrate the day within the limits of staff available, funds, and volunteer efforts.

The Masonic Home for Children remains ever grateful to all the members of the Sudan, Oasis, and Amran Temples, and all other participating units for all your contributions to The Home and to the success of St. John’s Day. Please understand that discontinuing the St. John’s Day celebration in its present format is a hard decision to make, but at this point it appears to be the practical decision to make the change. Be assured that we truly appreciate your support, and you have an open invitation to visit The Home and participate in future celebrations, whatever the format may be. That being said, unless someone steps forward to coordinate all the associated activities, St. John’s Day as we know it will be discontinued. The MHCO Board has a St. John’s Day Committee which already is discussing alternative plans for June 2009. Current thinking is that we will hold an open house with campus tours for the Masonic Lodges and interested community supporters. The decision on St. John’s Day cannot be delayed further.

We recognize this will be an unpopular decision to many of our supporters, but unless an individual or group is willing to assume the responsibility of planning and coordination of the day’s activities and assist with the expenses, this is a decision which has to be made. As indicated earlier, this problem and the purpose of St. John’s Day have been addressed annually since 2003 with more responsibility falling on the diminishing staff of MHCO. We want to do something meaningful for our supporters, but we must deal with the realities of what we reasonably can do without adversely affecting our responsibilities to the children.