Alabama Grand Lodge
Grand Lodge Convention
Saturday, June 24, 2023
The Grand Knights elected the same slate of officers for the 2023 - 2024 term.
Grand Chancellor: Ken Patterson
Grand Vice Chancellor: Jim Harris
Grand Prelate: Dan Richardson
Grand Secretary: Steve Edwards
Grand Treasurer: Hermon Graham
Inner Guard: Vacant
Outer Guard: Vacant
Grand Master at Arms: Vacant
Supreme Representative: Vacant
Supreme Representative: Vacant
DSC: Hermon Graham
After the vote for officers, the members discussed how best to develop new lodges and members for the Grand Lodge of Alabama. The discussion included the members-at-large positions and visiting these members in their community to create interest in creating a lodge in their area. Although there was not a conclusive decision on how best to continue, several recommendations and ideals were discussed:
Reaching out to those individuals who have expressed an interest in becoming a member at large but have not committed.
Inviting local friends to attend a meeting as our guests and encouraging them to become members. This would include an invitation to members of the community who would be valuable members but might not have considered the benefits before.
Reaching out in the Birmingham area to meet with persons with past Knights of Pythias association.
The Brothers discussed a program to encourage litter prevention in our area and/or state. The discussion included the following points:
Looking for corporate partners to aid in supplying funding for potential signage in various locations to encourage people to be thoughtful and not litter.
Developing a partnership with the Governor’s “Keep Alabama Clean.”
Meet with local legislators to develop a state and local partnership to confront this problem with the corporate community.
Helping to develop a school-age education program to prevent litter and develop good citizenship to promote litter-free communities.
The discussion concluded with thoughts of following up at the local lodge level with our area legislators and possible corporate supporters and sponsors.
Following the discussion about the potential litter prevention program Brother Leslie Johnson discussed the progress of his troubled youth intervention program. He suggested bringing new members into the lodge who would have a personal stake in the program and would bring talent to the table. He also said that the litter prevention program might be an ideal that could be included in the program for school-age children. The membership agreed these ideals were good, and everyone agreed to look for ways to encourage increased membership and to combine litter prevention into the proposed troubled youth intervention program.