Hi, friends. We have lots of things happening this year!  See more info below. Please put all our Events and Special Outings on your calendar. (scroll down for calendar or see attached)

We are looking for people to help with the following items:

• Lodge Cleanup Day on Sat 3/18 1-4pm – please come for an hour or more!
• Lodge Open House & Lit Hop on Sat 4/22, 3-7pm: we need at least 5 volunteers to manage this. Volunteers would mainly guide people to and around the lodge. 
• Lodge Maintenance Day on Sat 5/13 – help needed to clean and re-glaze skylight

If you are willing to help with any of these, please reply to Julie at juliemac@pacbell.net or call or text 510-329-0660

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Peace & Pizza Fri. 3/10 Postponed until next month

This meeting may is postponed pending recovery from surgery. 

Peace & Pizza meets monthly on Zoom, always on the second Friday of the month. They usually feature a discussion, guest speaker or documentary, organized by Sycamore Member Stephania Widger at oceankayak@aol.com . 

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Social & Business Meeting Mon. 3/13 at 6:30/7:30 pm

Our monthly Lodge Social and Business meetingis always on the second Monday of the month – the Social starts at 6:30 and the meeting at 7:30. This will be a hybrid meeting – a combination of in-person and Zoom, so you can choose how to attend. . Come visit and say hi for a bit, or stay and find out what is going on at the business meeting.  Let Noble Grand Ted Seitz  tedviolafire@yahoo.com or Secretary Laura Brady laurabeanbrady@gmail.com know if you have an item that you wish the lodge to discuss. I will send out the agenda and all the additional items to members via a separate email on Monday.

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New Weekly Tues. Zoom: Requests & Dedications Hour

Sycamore Member Frank Goulart continues to recover from his 2020 stroke, but he still plays guitar – and he invites everyone to a weekly “Request & Dedications” Zoom social on Tuesdays at 12:30-1:30! (Pacific time). If you would like the Zoom link, please email him at fgoulart@pacbell.net . Email him (ahead of time, if possible) requests for any songs you would like him to play. 

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Lodge Cleanup Day Sat 3/18 at 1-4pm

Let’s gather together and spiff up our building! Bring gloves and/or cleaning supplies if you have them, or come and use ours. Choice of chores will be provided. Refreshments! Friendship! Come for an hour or come for the afternoon. Everyone’s invited! For a flyer on the lodge website see here or see flyer attached to this newsletter.

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Special Outing to Japanese Gardens Wed. 3/22 at 11:30 am

Let’s visit a Hayward gem: the Japanese Gardens to celebrate Spring! These used to be part of the botanical area of the old Hayward Union High School. Join us for a short walk around and some visiting, maybe some sitting in a gazebo and watching the koi. (Rain cancels) For a flyer on the lodge website, see here or see flyer attached to this newsletter.

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2023 Lodge Open House on Sat 4/22 with Hayward Lit Hop?

We are considering having a lodge Open House at the same time as the Hayward Lit Hop 4/22 from 3-6 or 3-7pm, since we will have the lodge open anyway for Lit Hop participation. We need at least 5 volunteers to make this happen. Volunteers would guide people to the lodge entrance in the back, and to the main room for the Lit Hop presentation, and could show people around the rest of the lodge.  If you are willing to help with this, please reply to this newsletter or contact Julie at juliemac@pacbell.net  If there is enough interest, we will schedule one.

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2023 Sycamore Events & Activities Calendar!

Join us for some fun events this year! Add these to your calendar. See calendar below and attached.

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2023 Sycamore Special Outings Calendar!

If you like to get out and about, these may be the activities for you. Add these to your calendar. See calendar below and attached.

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Looking for Volunteers to support your Lodge

We have an elected Trustee position that is open: the five Trustees meet usually once a month for an hour and are mainly in charge of deciding on and recommending to the lodge on issues regarding our beautiful lodge building. This would be a 2-3 year position.

Every year we need people to fill appointed positions such as Inside Guardian, Outside Guardian, Warden, Chaplain, Right Supporter, and Left Supporter, which sometimes involve reading lines at the monthly lodge meeting (and sitting in the big chairs, when we meet in person!); these are yearly positions. 

Also, we re-elect our Noble Grand, Vice Grand, Secretary and Treasurer every year in December. These positions are really important, and keep our lodge running.

Finally, our Communications Committee could use someone who knows a bit about keeping a WordPress website updated, and/or connecting it to (and updating) an online calendar.

If you are interested or willing to do any of these positions, or want to know more, please contact our Noble Grand Ted Seitz at tedviolafire@yahoo.com 

As always, Friendship, Love & Truth, and may 2023 be gentle on us all,

Julie Machado

Sycamore #129

Communications Committee, Chair