Ittawamba Leaves

2012 Lodge Officers Sworn In

At the 2012 Winter Banquet, which was held at Northside United Methodist Church in Jackson, TN, on January 7, the 2011 Lodge Chief gave an inspirational, though delayed, Lodge Chief farewell address where he spoke about the many successes of Ittawamba Lodge #235 in the 2011 year and gave a heartfelt thanks to those who made the year a success as well as those who helped him during his tenure as Lodge Chief.

Also at Winter Banquet we had as the guest speaker, Dwayne Fontennette, the 2011 Southern Region Chief who gave an amazing speech about the importance of setting your goals high and striving to achieve them for the right reasons.

In 2012 Ittawamba Lodge Chief Nick Varnick's Incoming Lodge Chief address, he explained how the new system called "Journey to Excellence" will work in our Lodge as well as it's correlation with the Unit, District, and Council level "Journey to Excellence".

He also spoke about how honored he is to be serving Ittawamba Lodge as Chief for 2012 and his vision for the Lodge

There are a lot of people who came together to make the Winter Banquet one of the best of it's time. Some of those people include, but are not limited to: Dwayne Fontenette (Guest Speaker); Daniel Proffitt (Vigil Ceremony, Table Decorations); Adam Pace (Sound System, Vigil Night); Joe Craven (Vigil Night, Awards, Script); Jim Cheatham (Vigil Night, Awards, Script, Special Presentations); Shane Lynch and Jeremy Fair (Trading Post, Silent Auction); Ryan Burlesci and Douglas Burgess (Registration); Northside United Methodist (Facility); Northside Market and Catering (Caterer); and so many more! 

As I have always said, the number one key to any Lodge Officers' success is the support of the Lodge. Without the Lodge's participation, It is simply impossible to put on a quality program. The job of the Lodge Chief is to insure a quality program which operates efficiently and trains as many Order of the Arrow members in Ittawamba Lodge #235 as possible while focusing and maintaining a brotherhood of cheerful service. My key objectives for the 2010 year are as follows:

1) Reassess our approach on promoting Lodge events and begin using all of our communicative resources to the fullest extent.

2) Provide ultimate service to Boy Scouts of America and our community.

3) Last, my wish is to provide the best leadership through service for Ittawamba Lodge remembering that it is the Lodge by whom I was elected and it is the Lodge for whom I shall work.

As Robert Half said best, "Delegating work works, provided the one delegating works, too."

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In Wimachtendienk

Clint Beilke

I am expecting 2010 to be a great year! My goals for the Ittawamba Lodge are to try to increase our Brotherhood Conversion Rate, attain Quality Lodge, and host successful and fun events. I see my position this year as Lodge treasurer as an opportunity to better our lodge's program. One thing I have noticed in the Lodge is that there seems to be a decreased number of active older youth members. I want to try to increase the Brotherhood Conversion Rate and maintain more members in the Lodge by not only making the OA events more fun for our new members, but also by making OA member’s thoughts and input seem more important to them by regularly asking them what they think of the Lodge and for any suggestions they may have. If members do not feel like the Lodge needs them or if their input does not matter, they will be more willing to leave. This is not what I want for the Lodge. My vision is that our Lodge will continue to increase and maintain members, both young and old, so that we will not have a hard time finding good servant leaders, but rather choosing good servant leaders. I see our Lodge becoming not a tribe of mighty chiefs, but as a tribe of many mighty Indians, willing to unselfishly serve their Lodge and others.

In Service,

Tad Lindsey

2010 is expected to be a great year! My goals for the Ittawamba Lodge are to keep up our Brotherhood Conversion Rate, attain Quality Lodge, and put on successful and fun events. I see my position this year as Second Vice-Chief of Fellowship as an opportunity to better our lodge's program in many different ways, and I have many different ideas of how to do that. When asked what the definition of my position is, I would say that it is to make every event more enjoyable by increasing participation, attendance, and brotherhood.

Some ways I have in mind to achieve these include building back up the lodge's dance team, utilizing an "All About OA" night after Ordeals, Extended Elangomat Program, and offering more opportunities for every ONE arrowman to get more involved on the lodge and chapter level.

Each of these ideas are designed as a way to grasp the attention of the members of our lodge, and let them know that the OA is ready to compete in a day when there are so many other things to choose from. It is my vision that our lodge grows more and more each year in participation and overall brotherhood until we are the very best that we can be.

In WWW,

Jacob White

2010 Ittawamba 2nd Vice Chief