Pumpkin Spice is back, Fall is right around the corner, and the 2016 Membership Team has come up with the perfect membership activities to celebrate! Embrace the season and invite potential new members to learn all about CAIORG as you come together for fun and festivities! We hope these ideas inspire you to work together with your alumni, masonic family, and local community to keep the force growing! Don’t forget to share your events with the PR team so we can share your success!
California Rainbow Donates 891 Backpacks to A Place Called Home for Underserved Southern California Students
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Amy Kimes
714.293.6135
carainbowgirls@gmail.com
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – You could say that backpacks were stacked and overflowing in car trunks across the state. California International Order of the Rainbow for Girls (CA IORG) collected a total of 891 backpacks for A Place Called Home (APCH), an organization located in South Central Los Angeles dedicated to aiding underserved youth by giving them direction in education, arts, and overall well-being. Within less than a month, girls and adults throughout the state collected more backpacks than they could have dreamed of – 891 backpacks! A Place Called Home had only asked the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls to collect 500 backpacks, being satisfied with whatever amount of backpacks would come their way. But when the members, alumni, and supporters throughout California came together, they not only accomplished a phenomenal goal, they greatly exceeded it!
APCH helps youth take ownership of their lives and guides them in the right direction. One of their main focuses is helping their members stay in school and pursue a higher education and career. Backpacks are a fundamental necessity on every child’s back to school list and this backpack drive allows APCH to help its members have a fresh start at the beginning of the school year. CA IORG was excited to assist in this drive because it would help many children to achieve their full potential in school by helping them feel confident. Backpacks are one of the many ways that kids express themselves and when they have a new backpack, it gives them a boost of confidence that they otherwise wouldn’t have. This is just a small way of helping kids feel excited about school and learning and CA IORG is honored to be a part of it.
The International Order of the Rainbow for Girls is a non-profit service organization for girls ages 11 to 20 that teaches girls to be leaders by building confidence and public speaking skills in a safe and fun environment. It teaches girls
to help others with service to create a better community. Each year, CA IORG’s Grand Worthy Advisor, or statewide president, chooses an organization to be the state’s Grand Service Project. This year, Grand Worthy Advisor Heidi Johnson has chosen A Place Called Home to be California Rainbow’s statewide service project. Throughout the year, assemblies throughout the state will collect money that will be donated to APCH in spring 2017. But the service for APCH doesn’t stop at donations like the backpack drive; CA IORG has found ways to support APCH on multiple levels, which is what the organization is about: giving back to your community and serving others.
California Rainbow encourages and inspires youth to come together to make a difference – like how its members joined forces to provide 891 students with new backpacks for the school year. Just think, changing others’ lives can be as simple as a backpack drive. For more information on California Rainbow, contact Dana Regier, Supreme Deputy, International Order of the Rainbow for Girls in California at Dana.Regier@gocarainbow.org or Amy Kimes, Statewide Promotional and Marketing Team, International Order of the Rainbow for Girls in California at 714.293.6135 – carainbowgirls@gmail.com.
Click here to view the Official Press Release Page
Website Team Members Wanted!
We are now taking applications to join the Website Team!
While we have successfully merged the two California Rainbow websites into one, we still have much to accomplish! We would like to establish a website team that will work to keep the information on the website updated and fresh and also continue to add content regarding our jurisdiction’s history.
We are currently looking for alumni that would be willing to take leadership roles on the website team. If you are someone that would be interested in working on the website, work well in a team situation and would like to gain experience working with our young ladies in a team setting, please apply!
**We are currently only taking applications for adults to join the team, however, in the future we will be adding active Rainbow Girls so keep your eyes peeled!**
We will take applications through Monday, September 5th so make sure to turn yours in! The link to the application is below:
Click Here to Open the Application to Join the CAIORG Website Team
Instructional Surveys!
To all Instructional Attendees: Thank you all so much for your participation at the Instructional! We continue to learn together through your questions and comments. We want to especially thank all of our girls and alumni for their crucial input on membership initiatives, their creativity in coming up with new ways to target potential new members, and their openness in sharing with us. We hope you take what you’ve learned from each other back to your local assemblies and reach out to your friends to join us! Remember the membership team is here to help you! As always, we would value your input on ways we can continue to make this event relevant and useful for YOU! Please complete the survey appropriate to your instructional by following the appropriate link below. The surveys should be filled out by both girls and adults that attended either Instructional.
Directed with all of our love and appreciation, Mrs. Warren and Miss Rosenthal
Northern Instructional: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5GSY6MH
Southern Instructional: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/F65NBVM
California Rainbow’s All New Communication Connection!
California Rainbow is excited to announce the All New Communication Connection! Our Grand Recorder Melanie is working hard to prepare the July 2016 Edition of the Communication Connection and it will go out in its new electronic format in the next day or so!
To read the official announcement from our Grand Recorder, please visit the webpage for the Communication Connection at https://gocarainbow.org/Resources/Communication-Connection.
If you are already on the official roster for California Rainbow, you have already been signed up to receive the All New Communication Connection. If you aren’t currently listed on the official roster, please feel free to subscribe to the All New Communication Connection and receive it in your inbox every month on the Communication Connection webpage (the sign-up page is near the bottom of the page).
Note: We will still maintain a small mailing list for people unable to receive email.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email the Communication Connection at communication.connection@gocarainbow.org. If you have trouble subscribing to the Communication Connection, please email me at webmaster@gocarainbow.org.
Calling all backpacks!
A message from Heidi our Grand Worthy Advisor:
ATTENTION: Calling all backpacks!
Hi California Rainbow and friends! A Place Called Home needs our help! Every year in August, A Place Called Home holds a “Back to School” giveaway where they provide backpacks filled with school supplies to children in the community. California Rainbow has been asked to help their event by holding a backpack drive. We will be holding two backpack drives, one at the Southern Instructional (July 16th) and one at the Northern Instructional (July 23rd). If you are unable to attend either instructional but would still like to donate, please contact the Grand Assembly office at dana.regier@gocarainbow.org. The backpacks are for children to use in the school year so please no drawstring backpacks.
Thank you for helping make a difference in getting children ready for a new school year!
A few additional details…
- We will be collecting the backpacks at the State Instructionals. Please bring your donation with you to that event.
- CAIORG will arrange for the delivery of the backpacks, so please do not send or drop off any at APCH.
- If you would like to donate additional items like pens/pencils, notebooks, markers, etc. those will be accepted but we are focused on meeting a need for 500 backpacks that APCH has.
- If you have any questions please email the Grand Assembly office.
For a downloadable flyer about the backpack drive, click here!
Musically inclined? Grand Lodge wants to know!
Do you play a musical instrument or sing in a choir? Would you be interested in working with members of other youth orders to create beautiful music? California’s Grand Lodge is looking for members of Masonic youth orders in both Northern and Southern California who might be interested in belonging to a musical group that would perform at Masonic and other events. If you are interested, please click on the link below to send them your information.
2017 Grand Service Project Announced!
On May 29, 2016, at the First Official Visit hosted by Districts 17 and 20, GWA Heidi announced the Grand Service Project for the Dynamic Deer and California Rainbow. We will be working to benefit a non-profit organization named A Place Called Home. Heidi also asked that each assembly conduct a book drive to benefit a local program in their own communities.
You can read the transcript of her speech on the 2017 Grand Service Project page on the website or watch her give her speech on the CA Rainbow Girls Facebook Page (words in bold are links to the specific pages).
CAIORG’S PR Team Wants You!
The Public Relations Team is looking for active girls and adults to join our team! Our team has recently been reformatted to focus on 5 different sub-teams: Photography/Video, Social Media, State-wide publicity, Assembly Resources and the Website committee. Together we hope to get the word out to the public about California Rainbow Girls and YOU can help!
Girls – Please fill out the following online application by May 21st: https://www.esurveycreator.com/s/4990bf6 . We will be announcing the new members at the 1st OV! Girl members of the PR Team will serve on the team for one year and work closely with adult team members throughout the year on monthly conference calls, at the PR Retreat and other opportunities, where they will both learn about publicity and help California Rainbow with their ideas!
Adults – If you have experience in any area of Publicity and are willing to serve on on the team, including a monthly conference call, please fill out the following interest form:
https://www.esurveycreator.com/s/600c2fe
For any questions about team responsibilities please email CARainbowGirls@gmail.com
Is your Assembly Working on the Publicity Challenge?
Hello California Rainbow!
We hope that you received the Publicity Challenge at Grand Assembly and are already working on it! If you did not pick up your copy at the PR Booth, please download it by clicking here. Be sure to check out our Social Media channels each month where we will highlight the focus of each month’s challenge and give you some tips!
Did you (or a representative) attend the PR Team meeting Saturday morning at Grand Assembly? We need your promo videos you filmed! Please make sure to email them to CARainbowGirls@yahoo.com so we can edit them into one great video!
Thank you,
The PR Team