Gilroy Rainbow Girls #125

Scenes From an Installation

2011-01-30T18:08:00.001-08:00

Gilroy Assembly had its Installation yesterday afternoon. Savannah is our new Worthy Advisor. Her theme was "Rainbow Makes My Heart Sing," and her colors were teal and green.

Newly installed Gilroy officers. Left to right, front to back: Confidential Observer, Drill Leader, Worthy Advisor, Recorder, Hope, Charity, and Chaplain.

Gilroy Assembly with our wonderful Installing officers from our sister assembly, Santa Cruz. Thank you, dear sisters from Santa Cruz, for being there for us whenever we need you.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Farewell Meeting

2011-01-19T22:00:00.000-08:00

Our last meeting was not only Heather's farewell meeting, but also Mrs. G's as Mother Advisor. Thank you for all you do for Rainbow, and especially for Gilroy Assembly, Mrs. G!

I caught these girls conspiring around the piano after the meeting. Hmm, wonder what that's about.

7th Meeting & Elections

2011-01-05T22:00:00.000-08:00

I was looking at all our girls gathered together after the meeting and thinking, isn't it great to see our little assembly growing at last!

You girls make my heart sing!

Initiation

2010-12-18T22:00:00.000-08:00

We initiated two new members, bringing our total up to four for this year!

Thank you, San Jose Assembly No. 5, for all your help growing our assembly, including hosting this Initiation. :)

Christmas in the Park

2010-12-11T22:00:00.000-08:00

Christmas in the Park has become an annual tradition for us. We had pizza together first.

It was really crowded, but we did manage to find a large enough place to take a picture together...

...and have a light sabre duel!

Magnolia Chapter Christmas Party

2010-12-09T22:00:00.000-08:00

Gilroy Rainbow was delighted to attend Magnolia Chapter's Christmas party. We got lots of pretty Christmas ornaments...

...and Magnolia Chapter received a new petition.

This Weekend

2010-11-08T15:07:00.001-08:00

I'm sorry I haven't been updating our blog like I should. Rather than try to catch up, I'm going to just pick up with what we did this weekend.

We all had a wonderful time at the Bassett's home this weekend. First, we spent some time together playing board games, and then we made sandwiches for our picnic later. We visited the beach at Carmel, but unfortunately, I was having such a good time, I forgot to take pictures!

We had our little picnic at Carmel Masonic Lodge. Afterwards, we visited the lodge room to see the beautiful carved wood panels.

Mr. Bassett explained their meaning to us.

It is a beautiful lodge room. I think they need a Rainbow assembly to go with it!

Then we visited the Carmel Mission, and we were lucky enough to catch a gorgeous wedding!

To the girls' delight, the limo driver rolled down the windows so they could peek inside.

Of course, what we really wanted to see was the beautiful bride. :)

At the end of the night, Mrs. Wolford taught us "The Twelve Days of Halloween," and then she played a trick on the girls that had them screaming (with delight).

In the morning, the girls helped serve breakfast for the Bassett's wonderful church, First United Methodist in Salinas, and then we attended the Sunday morning service together.

It was a very special weekend that we will all remember for a long, long time. Much thanks to the Bassetts for making it possible!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Oops, I meant 7:00 a.m.

2009-06-29T16:12:00.001-07:00

On that last post, I wrote 5:00 a.m. Girls, you don't have to arrive sooner than 7:00 a.m. on July 4 for the parking fundraiser. Sorry!

4th of July Parking at Morgan Hill Lodge

2009-06-29T16:09:00.001-07:00

Girls, be sure to invite your friends to park at the Morgan Hill Masonic Lodge if they are going to see the 4th of July parade!

The MH Masons have been so kind as to let us use their parking lot every year for this fundraiser for many years. Donations from this event are used to support our organization and for Grand Service. Best of all, the parking is right on the parade route, so even if you come right before the parade, you will still get great parking. We always have plenty of room, since this is a fairly well kept secret, unfortunately!

Here's a link to a map for Morgan Hill Lodge:
http://ping.fm/DxEoK

Girls who are working at this event are requested to arrive at 5:00 a.m. Bring a chair or two if you can and a blanket if you get cold early in the morning.

We will also be selling cold water, so let your friends know about that too. See you there!

xxoo Mrs. Williams

Heather's Blood Drive!

2009-06-29T11:16:00.001-07:00

Masonic Temple Association & the American Red Cross are having a blood drive at Gilroy Masonic Center. Please help! Heather is our Rainbow Girl in charge of recruiting volunteers for cookie serving, etc., and to pass out info at a booth for Rainbow, but email me if can help or have questions at mrswilliams@gilroyrainbow.org.

*** BLOOD DRIVE ***
by
MASONIC TEMPLE ASSOCIATION
and the
AMERICAN RED CROSS

The need is constant. The gratification is instant. Give blood.

To schedule your appointment, please log on to http://ping.fm/GTs41, using
Sponsor Code: WARPEDVIP
OR call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE (800-448-3543)

Donors with Type O blood are especially needed. Please give.

Come to give blood and get a VIP meet and greet voucher. This voucher, along with your concert ticket, will give you access to an exclusive area at the 2009 Vans Warped Tour (http://ping.fm/BnmAu).

Photo identification is required.

Questions? Check the FAQ at http://ping.fm/LTdT6

Questions about eligibility? See http://ping.fm/uhYpj or contact the American Red Cross at 1-800-GIVE-LIFE.

Please drop Heather a line to let her know you signed up! Her email address is Heatherpony95020_06@msn.com.

We also need girls to work in the Rainbow informational booth and to serve cookies and juice to donors. Thank you for your participation!

Notes from the last meeting

2009-06-27T19:13:00.001-07:00

Hi, girls! I am working on our website today. It will probably be offline tonight and reappear in the morning. I am trying to get our website coordinated so that posts are seen across Twitter, MySpace, and Facebook, as well as our own site (which will be served through Tumblr). It's important to keep our own site going as well as the social networks, since our adults are not likely to be signing up for a MySpace or Facebook anytime soon. One of my favorite things about our organization is that we have all ages pitching in, but that makes things more complicated when it comes to technology.

I will be working in some YouTube and Flickr functionality as well, but to a more limited extent, so "stay tuned" for that.

Anyway, I did take some notes at our last meeting which I think might be helpful to you ladies. If you saw me tapping away on my phone, I wasn't text messaging during the meeting; I was taking notes.

July 4 parking: Charity is our chairperson for this. We will be meeting in front of MH Masonic Lodge at 7:00 a.m. to make signs and get set up for the parade. This event is usually over at about noon.

Charity is also involved with a blood drive at Keith Lodge on July 8. Are you girls interest in doing an informational booth for Rainbow on that day? Check with Charity if you need a flyer. I will see about getting one scanned so you may invite your friends over the Internet as well.

The Area Picnic (aka "Founder's Day") is on July 12 at Coyote Point in San Mateo, the Ecalyptus 3 area. Gilroy is providing drinks and cups for this event. We will be leaving Gilroy Masonic Lodge at 9:30 a.m. on that day.

We desperately need people over 16 to help in Gourmet Alley at the Garlic Festival. Remember, this is how we raise money to pay for Grand Service and Grand Assembly. If we don't get some more help, we will have to give less to Grand Service and each of us will have to pay more to go to GA. Please ask your friends and family to help out for this very important fundraiser!

Our next meeting is July 14. Be there or be square! :)

xxoo Mrs. Williams

This is a blog title

2009-06-27T18:37:00.001-07:00

This is a blog body, neat!

2009-06-27T18:28:00.001-07:00

Hi, girls! After much consultation with our WAA -- which is not hard to do, considering she's just across the dinner table from me -- I have decided to make an effort to improve Gilroy Rainbow's presence on the Internet. After all, Oprah is on Twitter now, my judge is on Facebook, and even my mom is out there. Time for us to get with it!

I've been stalking the Girl Scouts for some time now (and to my delight, they know it), and they are a shining example of how we can use the web to get the word out about our organization.

I will post more updates about this in the future, after more consultation with our girls and with the board, but be prepared to find us on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Tumblr, Flickr, and YouTube, and even better, be prepared to tell your friends.

2009-06-27T18:11:00.001-07:00

I'm going to be doing some tests this afternoon for Gilroy Rainbow. Hopefully you won't get too many messages like this! Have a great day!

Gilroy Rainbow in the Dispatch

2008-12-12T09:09:00.001-08:00

Check out the great article which appeared in the Dispatch today!

Thanks so much to Kat Teraji for the great write-up. We love the article!!!

Teddy Bears for Superior Court

2008-11-15T17:31:00.000-08:00

The Girls presented Judge Eugene Hyman with teddy bears for kids who come to Superior Court.

Senior Ball

2008-10-19T18:03:00.000-07:00

We had fun at the "Senior Ball" at the
Masonic Home in Union City.

Yard Sale

2008-10-11T17:15:00.000-07:00

Yard Sale

We raised about $100 through this activity, exactly enough to pay for our new tent. Best of all, it was a lot of fun to be together. Thank you Country Kitchen for letting us use your parking lot and for the terrific lunch!

Santa Cruz Initiation

2008-08-21T17:13:00.000-07:00

Initiation for Santa Cruz Assembly

Central Camp

2008-08-17T17:04:00.000-07:00

Central Camp was great fun, as usual! We played board games, shucked corn, raised money for charity with the Grand Officer auction, and, of course, helped in the kitchen.

Playing Games

Kitchen Helpers

Official Visit of the Grand Worthy Advisor

2008-08-11T11:28:00.000-07:00

We are so proud of our Gilroy and Santa Cruz girls. They worked very hard to make our O.V. a success!

Here's a little bit of our Renaissance dance we did at the beginning of the OV. Our bagpiper is one of our friends from Demolay.

More pictures -- not necessarily better ones -- are here.

UPDATE: Better pictures are here!

Garlic Festival 2008

2008-08-01T09:09:00.000-07:00

Garlic Festival 2008 Pictures

Our Pepsi booth.

Some friendly Pepsi vendors.

Looking out on the Garlic Festival toward the Pepsi booth.

Taking a break from working in Gourmet Alley.

Backstage at Gourmet Alley.

Thank you, volunteers, for making our Garlic Festival fundraiser a success!

Texas Lodge Serving

2008-07-19T16:14:00.000-07:00

We love our friends at Texas Lodge!

Celeste's mom made this beautiful cake.

Mandy was serving up cake.

Mrs. Gewin was very busy too!

Area Picnic

2008-07-13T17:28:00.000-07:00

The Area Picnic was at San Martin Country Park. Attending were all five assemblies from our district: San Francisco, Redwood City, San Jose, Santa Cruz, and, of course, Gilroy.

More pictures -- including limbo dancing and train ride -- from the area picnic are linked to below.

Area Picnic 2008 at Ludwig San Martin Country Park

4th of July Parking

2008-07-08T13:22:00.000-07:00

We made $234 for Grand Service with this project. Good job, girls!

Thanks also to the Masons in Morgan Hill for letting us use their parking lot!

Outdoor Third Degree

2008-06-29T19:28:00.000-07:00

Our girls had fun yesterday serving up barbecued goodies at Keith Lodge's Outdoor Third Degree.

Initiation

2008-06-26T09:33:00.000-07:00

Gilroy Rainbow is growing! Welcome Cassie, Beth, and Teesa! This is the official Initiation picture. Click here for the silly picture.

Texas Lodge Visit

2008-06-14T21:08:00.000-07:00

On this day some of our girls visited Texas Lodge in San Juan Bautista, California; gave a short program honoring fathers; and had a delicious lunch of burgers and beans. Everyone had a wonderful time we will long rembmer. Thank you, Texas Lodge, for your heapin' helpin' of Texas hospitality!

Grand Service Story on Local News!

2008-06-09T07:35:00.000-07:00

Relay for Life

2008-06-08T18:16:00.000-07:00

Every year Gilroy Rainbow fills the luminaries with sand, puts them around the track, and lights their candles for Relay for Life. We didn't have a team this year, but we walked nonetheless. It was an uplifting experience. I understand the event raised about $30,000 for the American Cancer Society.

Sam's Installation

2008-06-01T21:50:00.000-07:00

It's June, and time for our second term of the year. Our new Worthy Advisor is Sam, and her theme is "Go Green!"

Officers and members of Gilroy Assembly with some of our sisters from Santa Cruz Assembly.

Sam and her installing officers.

Sam's cake with her theme.

More pictures are here.

Santa Cruz Installation

2008-06-01T07:59:00.001-07:00

Beautiful installation, Santa Cruz! We are so proud of our beachy-keen sisters!

Click here for more pictures from the installation.

Memorial Day Parade

2008-05-26T17:46:00.001-07:00

Faith Membership Party

2008-05-02T23:01:00.000-07:00

We had a fun time tonight playing Guitar Hero and generally being silly. A great time was had by all.

Rainbow Sunday

2008-04-06T15:39:00.000-07:00

Rainbow Sunday is when we celebrate every year the founding of Rainbow. We celebrate by going to church together, and usually we end up having lunch afterwards.

This year we went to Presbyterian Church of San Martin.

Corned Beef & Cabbage Dinner

2008-03-04T07:05:00.000-08:00

Last night we had a lovely time helping the Masons celebrate St. Patrick's Day. We ate Mrs. Winter's corned beef & cabbage, and Mr. Winter told us all about St. Patrick.

Congrats to Our Champions!

2008-02-23T22:31:00.000-08:00

Congrats to our champions, winners of 1st and 3rd place in their age groups!

Gilroy also won the trophy for having the most participants in relation to how many were installed at the last installation. Way to go, Gilroy! We rock!

Preparing for Ritual Competition Tomorrow

2008-02-22T22:00:00.000-08:00

The excitement is building...

Serving at Mason's Dinner

2008-02-16T22:22:00.000-08:00

We sometimes perform service for our sponsoring Masonic order, Keith Lodge. In this case we served at their Past Masters' Dinner. We even got a nice donation to our assembly as a thank you, in addition to a delicious steak dinner. Thank you, Masons!

Faith's Tea

2008-02-16T22:17:00.000-08:00

We had a lovely membership party today. I'm sorry I didn't take more pictures. We had fun talking about Rainbow, eating goodies, and playing DDR.

Installation for the coming term

2008-02-09T22:55:00.000-08:00

Our theme for the coming year.

Faith's chair.

Charity.

WAA.

Our hosts.

Board members.

Our new WA waiting to be installed.

Our new Faith getting installed. :D

Installing officers.

The official installation group picture.

Two San Jose Receptions: Grand Editor & Dean of the Grand Cross of Color

2008-02-02T23:48:00.001-08:00

Today we attended two beautiful receptions for grand officers in our sister assembly in San Jose. First was for Grand Editor of our newspaper, Pot of Gold; then was for the Dean of the Grand Cross of Color. In between there was a wonderful dinner party, and after, even more desserts! Thank you, San Jose, for a lovely afternoon and evening. We love you, San Jose!

Presentation from Pot of Gold reporters to Grand Editor.

Grand Editor retrieves her quilt from a secret corner in the room.

Grand Editor is presented with her traditional quilt with various squares contributed by members of her assembly.

Dinner between the two receptions was sensational!

Entrance of the Dean of the Grand Cross of Color.

Pledge girls present Den of the Grand Cross of Color with a gift.

Dean of the Grand Cross of Color inspects her traditional quilt.

Our girls who attended these receptions.

An array of beautiful cakes were served at the end of the evening.

The traditional "Rainbow Dreams" circle at the end of the evening.

Movie Watching Group

2008-02-01T08:59:00.000-08:00

Six girls came to watch the movie at Morgan Hill Lodge for what we hope will be the first of many movie nights. Thank you, MH Masons, for making us family.

Chronicles of Narnia at MH Lodge

2008-02-01T08:57:00.000-08:00

The Masons in Morgan Hill graciously invited us last night to watch "The Chronicles of Narnia" last night on thier fancy movie screen.

Grand Love Reception Pics

2008-01-15T12:04:00.000-08:00

These are pictures from our Grand Love reception that I'm just getting around to putting up. The first batch are from Friday night, when we were practicing and decorating, and the last batch are from the reception itself.

Practicing with the carry-ins for the big occasion.

Decorating the Assembly room.

Decorations in the East.

Reception in Santa Cruz for Grand Rep to Maryland/West Virginia and Grand Fidelity gets underway.

Santa Cruz's Grandies!

I'm sorry this isn't a better picture. These two quilts were gorgeous!

About an hour before our reception, girls are putting together the finishing touches.

This is what I see from the piano...bee butts...

Entrance of our Grand Love in her beautiful blood red dress.

Giving the flag tribute.

Addressing the crowd.

Thunderous applause.

Grand Officer skit.

Grand Officer hugging circle.

Who let the Phantom of the Opera in?

Presentation by her assembly.

Checking out the quilt.

Getting a good look at that amazing quilt.

Awwww!!!!

Watch out for "Love Monsters"!

My Rainbow dreams are calling me...

The whole group.

There's more time to admire the quilt after the reception.

Our marshalls with the matching butt bows!

The amazing chocolate fountain!

We had a beautiful cake at the dessert buffett -- sorry I didn't get there a little sooner to take pictures!

Grand Love Reception

2008-01-13T08:04:00.000-08:00

We had a lovely day today celebrating the lives and accomplishments of our Grand Officers in Santa Cruz and Gilroy. I have a lot more pictures to put up here, but here are a couple of highlights until I get around to putting up the rest this afternoon.

Our Grand Love enters the assembly room.

This beautiful quilt was made by Mrs. Brentnall with quilt squares designed by our assembly and others from our Masonic family.

Happy 100th Birthday, Mr. Dauberg!

2008-01-06T17:12:00.000-08:00

Our Rainbow Girls worked as hostesses/bus-girls for Mr. Dauberg's 100th birthday party, an event put on today at the lodge in Morgan Hill.

Goofing off in the kitchen.

Kitchen helpers feel the love.

Not a great picture, but standing in the middle, with the balloons behind him and the lei around his neck, is the birthday boy.

Cutting the cake before serving dessert.

Relaxing after working hard all afternoon.

Receptions in Concord and Petaluma

2007-12-29T19:00:00.000-08:00

Our first reception this week was for Grand Charity in Concord.

Grand officers socialize with our friends from Dogs for Diabetics before the reception.

Grand Charity welcomes us in her glittering gold dress.

Getting a hug from the Grand Worthy Advisor.

More hugs from Grand Officers.

Grand Charity's advisory board did a wonderful skit and presented her with her quilt rack.

Before leaving Concord, Grand Officers pose with our canine ambassadors for Dogs for Diabetics.

Time for the second reception of the day, this one for Grand Recorder in Petaluma.

Grand Recorder is presented with a "This is Your Life" style slideshow.

Hmm, I wonder what they're laughing about?

Presentation of the traditional Grand Officer quilt.

Grand Recorder presents gifts to her Assembly.

Grand Officers posing before leaving the historic and beautiful Masonic Lodge in Petaluma.

Mrs. Gewin and Past Grand Officers.

Christmas in the Park

2007-12-23T22:10:00.000-08:00

	We took light rail to visit Christmas in the Park.
	The three bears spend a relaxing evening at home.
	Rainbow Girls and Demolay boys having a ball at Christmas in the Park.
	A beautiful creche.
	Fun on the merry-go-round after dinner at Peggy Sue's.
	Time to go home!

Masonic Holiday Dinner Party

2007-12-17T21:15:00.000-08:00

Thank you, Masons, for putting on such a wonderful dinner party!

It almost did in some of our girls!

Gift Wrapping at Walmart -- Part 2

2007-12-16T21:39:00.000-08:00

We were a lot busier today than we were yesterday! It was a great day for us. We raised about twice as much money today for D4D than we did yesterday, and we made a little over $400 total.

Buddy the Wonder Dog is our canine Rainbow ambassador. This marks his second appearance at a Rainbow fundraiser.

Gift Wrapping at Walmart this weekend!

2007-12-16T07:09:00.000-08:00

These are scenes from day one of our wrapping spectacular!

	Wrapping an awkward package takes two. Check it out -- our girls are smiling even while at work.
	Many people we have encountered in front of Walmart have been very generous in their donations, some even giving when they didn't have anything to wrap. We have been taking advantage of the opportunity to tell them about Gilroy Rainbow and Dogs for Diabetics. One person we met was even a former Rainbow Girl from Morgan Hill Assembly!
	More smiling faces. We love being together, even if we do have to work.

Thank you, Walmart customers, for making our first day a success! We'll be at Walmart again today for one more day of fun and service.

Initiation pictures

2007-12-13T14:28:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our new girls, Celeste & Natalie!

It was a busy day for Gilroy Rainbow today!

2007-12-08T21:15:00.000-08:00

Today featured both "Breakfast With Santa" at San Martin Gwinn School and the Masonic installation at Keith Lodge.

Breakfast With Santa

Here two of our girls sell tamales. This event is the biggest fundraiser for this school all year, and the tamales were very popular...and delicious!

Our girls also sold tickets to the cakewalk and craft tables. It was really cold out there. Thank goodness Mrs. G brought her authentic World War II wool Army blanket!

Slaving away at the craft table! Mmm, look at all those goodies from the cakewalk too.

Keith Lodge 141st Installation of Officers

Our "Rainbow Beau" acted as flag bearer, while two of our girls did a truly beautiful flag tribute.

The Worshipful Master girds himself for another exciting year.

Oh my! That was just exhausting!!!

Eastern Star Installation

2007-11-18T19:54:00.000-08:00

Today some of our girls attended the Eastern Star installation. Mandy escorted the flag, Maryalice gave a beautiful flag tribute, and both of them, together with Cheryle, helped out in the kitchen afterwards. We are so proud of our helpful, poised girls! And congrats to Mr. and Mrs. Brentnall and to Magnolia Chapter on the beautiful ceremony and exquisite decorations.

Greetings from your new webmasters!

2007-11-17T11:18:00.000-08:00

The beginnings of our amazing new website!

Support our troops!

2007-11-14T21:33:00.000-08:00

We are collecting goodies to send to our troops who are serving in Afghanistan over the Christmas holiday. If you would like to help us, you may do so by either donating money for postage or bringing something to give to our soldiers to say thank you for giving up your holiday season and serving our country.

Some suggested items to donate include:
Life Savers Nuts Protein Bars Chips Crackers Tuna Lunch Kits Coffee Tea Sugar & Creamer Packets Powdered Drink Mix Movie DVDs, New or Used Music CDs, New or Used Portable CD and DVD Players, New or Used Cotton Socks Underwear and T-Shirts Disposable Cameras Small Notepads or Paper Duct Tape Superglue Ziploc Bags Dr. Scholl's Type Shoe Liners Shoe Odor Eaters Medicated Food Powder Sunblock Throat Losenges Saline Nose Spray Chapstik Eye Moistener Baby Wipes Travel-Size Kleenex Hand Sanitizer

Thank you...
and God bless America and our troops!

Mrs. Breuer's Official Visit

2007-11-14T12:03:00.000-08:00

BubbleShare: Share photos - Thanksgivingtime!

We had a special meeting last night in honor of Mrs. Breuer, our area deputy, who has done so much for our assembly. We are so thankful for her love and support. Also at our meeting, several girls received pins and points for service hours, and our Past Worthy Advisor received her PWA pin! Way to go, Maryalice!!!

Happy Halloween!

2007-11-01T11:44:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween from Assembly 125!

Pictured are two of our girls who went to downtown Morgan Hill to participate in the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce Safe Trick or Treat on Halloween night. We got there a little late for our first year participating in this event, but we gave away lots of candies to all the scary ghouls and goblins we encountered that night, each candy proudly bearing a sticker with our name and website address on it.

If you found this website via a candy sticker, we would love to hear from you!

Mystery Trip was to Bonfante Gardens

2007-10-21T20:51:00.000-07:00

We had a very nice "mystery trip" today to Bonfante Gardens. The girls got tickets for everyone in the assembly to go from some generous Masons. It was a memorable day, one we will remember fondly for a very long time to come!

Installation in Santa Cruz

2007-09-29T20:48:00.000-07:00

Some of us went today to visit our sisters in Santa Cruz. It was a lovely day and a beautiful installation. The picture shown here is the new WA's assembly taking the "pledge" to keep her out of trouble this term.

Initiation pictures

2007-09-26T20:38:00.000-07:00

BubbleShare: Share photos - Share your baby pictures

We added two new members to our assembly on this night. We are so excited to see our assembly growing. Welcome, girls!!!

"The Nightmare Before the O.V."

2007-09-12T22:23:00.000-07:00

This album is powered by BubbleShare - Add to my blog

Above are pictures from the O.V. [Click here to see larger, non-moving pictures.] Hmm...I'm not sure about that new girl in the very last pictures! ;) What a lot of fun we had that night.

The Night Before the Nightmare Before the O.V.

2007-09-10T23:21:00.000-07:00

Our girls have been very busy getting ready for the O.V. tomorrow night. The lodge is a hodgepodge of Christmas, Halloween, plus a few other holidays thrown in for good measure.

You can see some of the decorations from the street. I wonder what the neighbors think of us!

2007-08-21T07:24:00.000-07:00

Our first YouTube post! :)

This was our skit we did at Central Camp this year, "Extreme Revelations." We think this would be a great way to shake things up at Grand Assembly this year. This skit won third place. We were awarded a lovely trophy and a package of Butterfingers.

More Work On Our Website

2007-08-05T21:35:00.000-07:00

I know it's been very slow work, but finally our assembly website is starting to come together!

This page will eventually be the "blog" page, not the main entry page, at least in my vision, but it will remain the heart of our website as the most frequently updated page and the area that will hopefully best represent not only what we're up to but what we're all about. The main page will soon have more information about joining Rainbow and especially our service projects, Dogs for Diabetics and our efforts to support our troops in Arghanistan.

If you are interested in joining Rainbow, by all means drop us a line at...

Testing!

2007-06-15T15:59:00.000-07:00

Just testing to make sure this website is still working, since I created it and then never updated...

Welcome to our new website!

2006-12-11T15:29:00.000-08:00

I hope you enjoy visiting our new website! It is still under development, and you may encounter some broken links and various other errors. Hopefully we will get those worked out soon!

Mrs. W

About Us

2006-12-11T14:29:00.000-08:00

This wonderful article was written about our assembly on January 13, 2006 for the Gilroy Dispatch. The original article is online here, but we have reprinted it here just in case they ever take it down.

Colors of Community

Friday, January 13, 2006

By Kelly Savio

K.S., front left, and A.L., front right, lead their fellow Rainbow Girls into the reception hall.

C.H., 18, participates in her Grand Officer ceremony, one of the highest ranks in Rainbow Girls. The ceremony took place last weekend at the Masonic Lodge in Gilroy, where the South Valley chapter of the organization meets. She is carrying a bee porcelain doll and wearing yellow because she is the officer of Grand Nature, which is associated with the color yellow in the rainbow.

Photos by Anthony Gonzales, Special to the Dispatch

They are not a cult. They are not gay pride advocates. They are not unaccustomed to whispers of curiosity. They are not to forget their pantaloons under their long dresses.

"They" are lovely modern-day young ladies of the South Valley who are part of the nonprofit, service-oriented organization known as the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls.

The group, commonly referred to as the Rainbow Girls, was founded by a Freemason in 1922, and many of the original ceremonial traditions and terms remain. Their deep bows of greeting to organization leaders; the extended memory recitations from the "Ritual," also sometimes called the book of ceremonies; the secret meetings and the group's affiliation with the rainbow symbol have all led to rumors and speculation. But the girls in South Valley Assembly 125 just roll their eyes and sigh in exasperation at the whispers and misinformation.

"We are not a cult, and we are not affiliated with any other group with the word 'rainbow' in their name," said Stephanie Koppi, 15, who has been a Rainbow Girl since she was 11 and a pledge girl since she was 8. "We do learn self-confidence, how to speak in public, trust and so many other things. I can walk into any group and feel comfortable with myself and not worry about being judged by anyone."

In recent years, the upper echelon of Rainbow Girls has taken care to relax some traditional rules to help dispel myths surrounding the group. At one time, only a Rainbow Girl or former Rainbow Girl could attend meetings. Now, parents, grandparents and legal guardians are all permitted to attend the meetings.

At one time, every detail of the ceremonies and teachings of Rainbow Girls was a guarded secret. Now, anyone can check out a copy of the Ritual from the Library of Congress, said Katrina Sherwood, 17, who has been a Rainbow Girl for almost seven years and who was a pledge girl for three years before that.

"People are afraid of what they don't understand," she said. "The meetings are closed, but I can tell you what I've learned at Rainbow. I've learned not to be afraid to talk, public speaking, how to hold myself. I've learned embroidery, how to make quilt squares, how to enjoy community service and charity work. I'd never have learned these things without Rainbow."

Rainbow Girls is 275,000 girls strong with more than 1 million alumni. The organization is in 45 states and nine countries.

"The meetings are secret to keep them sacred and to keep it special for the girls," said Ena Ferranti, one of the adult leaders. "I was a Rainbow Girl, and I still value the lessons I learned. We teach these girls to be ladies, and there are wonderful scholarships for Rainbow Girls."

The girls meet twice a month at the Masonic Lodge in Gilroy to engage in ceremonies that review teachings and to plan community service projects. In the past, the South Valley assembly of the Rainbow Girls has worked at the Garlic Festival, made luminaries for the annual Relay for Life, served dinner at Wheeler Manor retirement home, donated to battered women's shelters, participated in beach clean-ups, and cleaned light and telephone poles to get rid of old postings and stickers.

The girls also attend both educational and fun field trips.

One of the most distinctive aspects of the organization is the dress code for members. The girls wear modest, long dresses to every meeting and ceremony. The hem of the dresses must be no more than 2 inches from the ground. The straps must be at least an inch thick. Although girls must wear bras, they are not to be visible, and necklines cannot be too revealing.

The code has been relaxed to permit Sunday-best pants at regular meetings, though not at formal ceremonies, but Assembly 125 has not adopted the relaxed rules. The dresses must also be brightly colored - no dark colors allowed. Adult leaders must also wear long dresses.

"You can tell the difference when the girls are wearing pants. They kind of slump over and are very lax," said Pat Gewin, an adult leader. "But when they're in their dresses, they carry themselves differently. They sit up, their shoulders are back and they hold their heads high."

The girls learn to walk in a certain way so it appears they float across the room. They roll their feet and seem to glide beneath the crinolines and hoops of their skirts. They also learn to walk in straight lines, doing military-style left faces when it's time to turn a corner. They must never address adult leaders by their first names. They refer to them as Mrs. Gewin, Mrs. Ferranti and Mrs. Honerlah.

"We learn to be responsible, and we learn respect for each other, for our peers and for adults," said Brianna Anglikowski, 12, who has been a Rainbow Girl for a year. "I used to pass out in front of people if I had to talk, but now I can look at an audience and speak louder."

Rainbow Girls range in age from 11 to 21, though girls can pledge when they're 8. They are much like the rainbow they've adopted as their trademark: They are different sizes, shapes, colors, ages and backgrounds.

"I had, like, three friends before Rainbow, and I didn't talk to people," said Heather Brodersen, 13, who has been a Rainbow Girl for two years. "Now I have a lot of friends because I'll actually talk to people and because Rainbow is like a family."

The Meaning of the Colors

Rainbow Girls learn and memorize teachings associated with seven colors of the rainbow, reciting them during meetings.

Red: Love, in all its forms.

Orange: Religion, though Rainbow Girls is not affiliated with a specific religion. Members must believe in a higher power of some sort, whether it is Buddha, Christ, God, or an un-named power.

Yellow: Nature, and its importance in daily life.

Green: Immortality, an understanding of death as part of life.

Blue: Fidelity, with an emphasis on being honest and reliable.

Indigo: Patriotism, and encouraging citizenship.

Violet: Service, the lesson that ties all others together.

Source: www.iorg.org

The Past Ten Years of Charity

Every year, all Rainbow Girl Assemblies of California work toward one special service project. The assemblies do fundraisers to make money to donate to various charitable organizations. This year's "Grand Service Project" will benefit Straight From the Heart, Inc., a foster-care resource charity that gives new foster families care packages of necessary items such as diapers and formula to help them care for their foster child.

In the last 10 years, the Rainbow Girls have raised almost $920,000 for charity.

1996 $76,090 for Multiple Sclerosis Research at UCLA School of Medicine

1997 $80,845 for Shriners Hospitals for Children, Sacramento Unit

1998 $82,663 for Canine Companions for Independence

1999 $85,876 for Blind Babies Foundation

2000 $100,787 for Jacob's Heart Children's Cancer Association

2001 $94,566 for Speech and Language Development Center

2002 $106,306 for Freedom in Motion Therapeutic Riding Center

$2,597 for New York UFA Widow's and Children's Fund

2003 $108,567 for Camp Sunshine Dreams, a nonprofit camp for children with cancer and their siblings

2004 $90,907 for No Limits for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children

2005 $86,818 for Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation

$339,500 for Locks of Love

Source: International Order of the Rainbow for Girls

Become a Rainbow Girl

To become a Rainbow Girl or to get someone you know involved in the organization, contact the South Valley's local Assembly 125 adult leaders.

Ena Ferranti: (408) 842-4704

Pat Gewin: (408) 842-3777

Petition

Turn in a petition, available from the Rainbow Girls, asking to be allowed membership.

Investigation/Information Sharing

Once the petition is received, it is reviewed by the Advisory Board and the Assembly. When the petition is accepted, a committee of three people will visit the prospective member and her parents at their home. The chief purpose of this visit is to provide the parents and the prospective member with more information about Rainbow and to answer any questions.

Balloting

Balloting is the next step and is a traditional ceremony that is largely a formality. Only a few have ever been rejected for membership. Petitions are usually only rejected if a girl abuses drugs or alcohol, has a serious criminal record or has been pregnant out of wedlock, according to the adult leaders of Assembly 125.

Initiation

A booklet called "The Journey of Initiation" is available from the Supreme Assembly to help provide some brief explanations of the principle lessons and teachings of Rainbow Girls. This booklet may be shared with prospective members and their parents. The Initiation Ceremony is a solemn presentation that impresses an obligation on young women to live a good life and do right.

Source: www.iorg.org

The Order of Rainbow Girls

The organization of the order is complicated but not impossible to understand, according to the girls. Here's a breakdown:

- Supreme is the international leadership level

- Grand is the jurisdictional leadership level. A jurisdiction is often a state, but some are countries or combined states or other geographic areas.

At the local assembly level, the member leader hierarchy goes as follows:

- Worthy Advisor

- Line Officers, who are elected to their positions, and progress to increasingly more responsible positions until the member becomes the Worthy Advisor

- All Officers, each with its own duties

- Choir/Members, who are active members, but who do not hold office

At the local assembly level, the adult leader hierarchy goes as follows:

- Mother Advisor

- Advisory Board

- Other Advisors

Source: www.iorg.org, the official Rainbow Girls Web site

Kelly Savio
Kelly Savio is a staff writer for South Valley Newspapers.

Gilroy Rainbow Girls #125

Scenes From an Installation

Farewell Meeting

7th Meeting & Elections

Initiation

Christmas in the Park

Magnolia Chapter Christmas Party

This Weekend

Oops, I meant 7:00 a.m.

4th of July Parking at Morgan Hill Lodge

Heather's Blood Drive!

Notes from the last meeting

This is a blog title

Gilroy Rainbow in the Dispatch

Teddy Bears for Superior Court

Senior Ball

Yard Sale

Santa Cruz Initiation

Central Camp

Official Visit of the Grand Worthy Advisor

Garlic Festival 2008

Texas Lodge Serving

Area Picnic

4th of July Parking

Outdoor Third Degree

Initiation

Texas Lodge Visit

Grand Service Story on Local News!

Relay for Life

Sam's Installation

Santa Cruz Installation

Memorial Day Parade

Faith Membership Party

Rainbow Sunday

Corned Beef & Cabbage Dinner

Congrats to Our Champions!

Congrats to our champions, winners of 1st and 3rd place in their age groups!

Gilroy also won the trophy for having the most participants in relation to how many were installed at the last installation. Way to go, Gilroy! We rock!

Preparing for Ritual Competition Tomorrow

Serving at Mason's Dinner

Faith's Tea

Installation for the coming term

Our theme for the coming year.Faith's chair.Charity.WAA.Our hosts.Board members.Our new WA waiting to be installed.Our new Faith getting installed. :DInstalling officers.The official installation group picture.

Two San Jose Receptions: Grand Editor & Dean of the Grand Cross of Color

Movie Watching Group

Chronicles of Narnia at MH Lodge

Grand Love Reception Pics

Grand Love Reception

Happy 100th Birthday, Mr. Dauberg!

Receptions in Concord and Petaluma

Christmas in the Park

Masonic Holiday Dinner Party

Gift Wrapping at Walmart -- Part 2

Gift Wrapping at Walmart this weekend!

Initiation pictures

It was a busy day for Gilroy Rainbow today!

Breakfast With Santa

Keith Lodge 141st Installation of Officers

Eastern Star Installation

Greetings from your new webmasters!

Support our troops!

Mrs. Breuer's Official Visit

Happy Halloween!

Mystery Trip was to Bonfante Gardens

Installation in Santa Cruz

Initiation pictures

"The Nightmare Before the O.V."

The Night Before the Nightmare Before the O.V.

More Work On Our Website

Testing!

Welcome to our new website!

About Us

Colors of CommunityFriday, January 13, 2006

Our theme for the coming year.

Faith's chair.

Charity.

WAA.

Our hosts.

Board members.

Our new WA waiting to be installed.

Our new Faith getting installed. :D

Installing officers.

The official installation group picture.

Colors of Community

Friday, January 13, 2006