Brethren,

After a wonderful day of brotherhood and fellowship at the 269th Annual Communication of our historic lodge, I would like to thank you, my Brothers, for the confidence you have placed in me by electing me to serve as Master of the Lodge for the ensuing year. It is truly an honor to lead St. Johns Lodge #1 Providence and our team of officers look forward to serving the Craft throughout the coming year.

While the Lodge is now dark for the summer, by the time this newsletter reaches you we will have celebrated another successful year together at our Annual Steak Fry at the East Greenwich Yacht Club. Fellowship has always been one of the great strengths of our fraternity, and I hope everyone had the opportunity to enjoy an evening of good food, camaraderie, and the company of their Brothers.

Although our meetings have paused for the summer, work continues behind the scenes. Our Brother Senior Deacon, Octavio Gomez, has been busy establishing an email account for each officer’s chair. As each Brother advances through the line, those accounts will be passed on to their successor, allowing us to preserve correspondence, documents, and institutional knowledge while improving continuity from one administration to the next.

We hope to make some website enhancements. As a result, you may soon see a new website go live with expanded features and resources for our members. One feature I would especially like to add is a directory of our Brothers’ businesses. We have Brothers working in the trades, finance, real estate, insurance, law, healthcare, and many other professions. My hope is that this directory will encourage us to support one another whenever we need a service, not because we are looking for the cheapest price or asking for free or discounted work, but simply because we have an opportunity to support a Brother’s business. If you’re going to have the work done anyway, why not help a Brother provide for himself and his family? In the coming weeks, we’ll share details on where to send your business information so we can begin building this directory. Thank you again for the trust you have placed in me. Our entire team of officers is honored to serve, and we look forward to an outstanding year of Masonry, fellowship, and continued service to our Lodge and community.

Fraternally,

W∴ William C. Gouge
Master, St. Johns No. 1 Providence