(20250324) HTI Update March 24, 2025

High Twelve International
March Update

March 24, 2025

Fellow High Twelve Masons,

By the time you have received this in your email, our clocks have all sprung forward, and Spring is well in effect.  We are entering the last quarter of our High Twelve fiscal year, and with that I remind you all of our upcoming Annual Convention.

Our 104th annual convention is scheduled for June 27th – June 30th 2025, in Sunny Orlando, Florida.  Our convention will be held at the Rosen Plaza Hotel – a beautiful 5-star hotel on I-drive- and we have a lot of events planned.  The convention this year will start on Saturday morning, June 28th, with the Wolcott Luncheon taking place that afternoon. On Sunday we will hold our elections and have the Installation that evening at the banquet.  In between, we plan to have events for the ladies, and there will be lots to do with the family.  We will even have a few Fraternal Orders that will be conferred during the convention.  Please be on the lookout for the full calendar in the coming weeks.

To the right is a link if you would like to reserve your room now HERE.

February was a busy month: From February 6-9th 2025, Jared Kichline and I attended Masonic Week in Washington, DC, where we represented High Twelve at the several Grand Sessions of the dozen or so Organizations that met during that time. While there, I ran into several members of High Twelve, including PIP Sid Leluan, as well as Simon Polkinghorne (England), Oswald Hernandez (El Salvador Club), and Victor Quintero (Mexico Club), just to name a few.

From February 17th through March 1st I was on 3 different Islands in Hawaii (Oahu, Maui, and Hawaii). I visited with some High Twelve Masons of our Club there and attended the Hawaii York Rite Session in Honolulu, Hawaii. I also had the privilege of attending a BBQ at the Shrine Beach Club in Oahu on February 23, 2025. If you ever get an opportunity to visit Hawaii, definitely put the Shrine Club on your list. The Beach Club is an amazing beach front property that is owned by Aloha Shrine Temple and usually hosts a social for Masons on Sunday. You may even get lucky enough to have a glimpse at the next door neighbor, which is none other than President Barack Obama.

March seems to be just as busy as the rest of the year has been. On March 7 & 8, I attended some of the festivities of the Grand Session of the York Grand Lodge of Mexico. This included visiting again with Past International President Sid Leluan and Grand Master of the Grand Encampment David Kussman during the York Grand Commandery of Mexico session. I also met up with several members of the Mexico Club, as they showed me all of the interesting programs they have been having.

On March 2oth I will be traveling to Pennsylvania to attend the State association meeting. At the end of March, I will be traveling to Scotland, where I will be assisting in the installation of our International Chaplain – Allan MacDougall, as he will be installed as Master of his lodge.

As always, your executive committee has been hard at work, and it has been our pleasure to continue to serve the High Twelve Masons internationally.

Your executive committee has rolled out the revised 5-year plan, which includes our continued full support of the Wolcott Foundation. This will be rolled out on our webpage sometime in March.  

I hope to see many of you through my travels this year. Let’s continue to participate in the Family, Fellowship and Fun that High Twelve International has to offer.

Roberto M. Sanchez, PSP
International President
High Twelve International Inc.

FAMILY FELLOWSHIP FUTURE!

Greetings High Twelve Members,

Spring is finally arriving in the Northeast, and it’s nice to bid a temporary farewell to the ice and snow. As we enjoy March hopefully there was an opportunity to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with our fellow High Twelve members.

On a personal note, my home High Twelve Club just received our shipment of members name buttons, and they look fantastic! It’s helps to foster new friendships when we might not remember a Brother’s name, but we can quickly glance at a name badge and give them the greeting they certainly deserve. 

It always gives a sense of pride in being a member of our organization when we get to see information on our unbelievable Wolcott Fellows, these impressive individuals are often only able to achieve their dreams through our generosity and support. Making a difference in the lives of our community certainly gives our members something to be proud of. Hopefully, we all look forward to contributing to the little red schoolhouse when we go to our next meeting. 

Our International Officers are working hard to represent our members and help further High Twelve International so we can enjoy the next one hundred years as much as we did the last century. Our input is always welcome, and the officers truly appreciate it. Together we will continue our vital role in the Masonic family and grow our organization by enjoying a fraternal hour.

Keep up the great work! 

Respectfully,
Jared R. Kichline, 1st Vice President

FAMILY FELLOWSHIP FUTURE!

Greetings from Illinois and the Midwest. The Grand Architect is blessing our organization. High Twelve is growing in my region with several new Clubs Chartering or ready to open.

I have personally enjoyed the Fellowship of my home Club with their good food and speakers.

Texas has invited me to their Association Annual Meeting in May.  I have been contacting Louisiana for updates of the Brothers there. The Illinois Association invited me this month to their Mid-Year Meeting and I spoke about International and our activities.

In my Travels, I have shared the message of Family Fellowship Future, Wolcott as our primary philanthropy, and continued communication from High Twelve International. It is being well received by both Masons and High Twelvians.

Terry Hills, 2nd Vice President

FAMILY FELLOWSHIP FUTURE!

As 3rd Vice President, I am the zone contact for Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. There are many great things that are happening in our clubs and organizations.

On March 4th 2025, I had the pleasure of holding a Zone Contact Zoom Meeting. The conversation was great, and I heard many great things that are happening in the states that logged on to represent themselves. Our topic for this meeting were a reflection on our fraternal organizations. Some questions that were posed were, “Why are our organizations dying? How can we figure out ways to plug the holes and make it work? As always, there was great input from the members that logged on and the conversation and feedback was key in how to keep High 12 a successful masonic organization.

Florida:

High 12 is still thriving in the sunshine state!

Ohio:

Brother Shaw shared that they just opened a new club in Ohio. I am happy to report that this new club has eager members invested in their commitment to High 12. Due to weather conditions, their event was canceled. The club is now being chartered on March 16th, 2025. The name of the club is Buckeye Corridor #810. Good luck to the members and installing officers for the ensuing year.

Pennsylvania:

Pennsylvania is holding their 3rd Quarter Meeting on March 20th, 2025, at the William Penn Inn. Their special guest speaker is High 12 International’s President Brother Roberto Sanchez.

New Jersey:

On March 12th the North Jersey High 12 Club met at The Franklin Steakhouse where it was well attended. The meeting had a guest speaker RW Brother Mike Czech. He gave a great talk on conflict resolution. They will meet again on April 9th and will have another guest speaker lined up. Brother Ron Murad, who has a lengthy Masonic career will give a talk on “Masonic Symbolism and the Path to the Perfect Ashlar.” On March 17th, 2025, the Jersey Travelers held their first St Patrick’s Day Bowling Party. Brother Robert Sposato shared that the lanes were “hot, the energy was electric, and the good times just kept rolling!” Thank you to the Jersey Travelers for organizing this event and getting the word out on High 12.

Michigan:

Brother Clark has been a regular on the Zone Contact meetings I hold every month. He gives us updates on the Wolcott Foundation and gives suggestions on ways to get the donations for our philanthropy.

Ben Castellamare, 3rd Vice President

FAMILY FELLOWSHIP FUTURE!

Hello Fellow High Twelvians,

My hopes are that each and every one of you and your families are doing well. 

Like many of you March is a very busy time. The past few months my wife and I have Been visiting varying Colleges and Universities for my Son and Oldest Daughter as they will both be graduating from high school in June. One of the hard parts of having twins is while double the love, comes double the tuition… at the same time. They both have chosen their respective career paths, for now, they have also chosen which schools they will be attending. My son will be attending the University of Northwestern Ohio, and my daughter will be attending East Stroudsburg University. 

While I am using this opportunity as a father’s way to brag, it does bring me the cost of post high school Education. While I did not attend a college or university as I went to a trade school and the closest to college, I came was through my Counties fire academy as it is through our local community college. So while I on paper attended the Community College, it did not provide me all the credits needed to attain a degree in fire science. 

While I may not have had the money to attend a college or university, I was not aware of all the grants and scholarships that were available. Now as The Wolcott Fellowship Is not something that I would have had a chance to receive due to the gpa requirement, but since being a member of High Twelve has afforded me the opportunity to meet these bright adults that have received the fellowship. 

While Brother Mike Clark who is the chairman of the Wolcott Foundation, always provides a great article and is always very informative of what the Wolcott Fellowship is about, did you know he will speak at your Club and Association if requested. While he may be unable to attend in person, there are various other means where he can. Or you may be able to request a recipient to speak. All of these options are other there for everyone.  you can also utilize recordings from past events where we had speakers in attendance. Or there are Wolcott Trustees who are responsible for your region who may be able to come and speak. 

These options are truly the best way for your members to be better informed about what the Wolcott Fellowship and the Wolcott Foundation is truly about. There sadly is a lot of misinformation or misunderstandings out there. But you can ask the questions and get the answers strait from the horses mouth. Plus hearing how these Wolcott Fellows who share the same ideals and beliefs that us as Masons have, will be the future leaders. 

Sincerely, and fraternally,
Thomas J. Brotherton III, Secretary
secretary@high12.org

FAMILY FELLOWSHIP FUTURE!

Brothers, I participated in a Zoom meeting with the topic being Freemasonary in Decline, 8 Points to Ponder.

Unless you are under a rock, it is quite obvious why  fraternities are in decline.  My topic is looking through the front windshield and not the rear view mirror about the challenge we face.

1. Don’t be complacent, be MOTIVATED, DRIVEN, CONCERNED about your clubs.
2. Have INTERESTING meetings, any topic will do, not just Masonic. Use your minds and broaden your thinking.
3. Get the FAMILY INVOLVED, either at meetings or special events. remember Family, Fellowship, Future, sound familiar?
4. Invite the right men to join, tell, them about WHAT you do and WHO you are.  What will be their commitment.
5. High Twelve is unique, we can meet ANY TIME, ANY PLACE, ANY DAY, I like to say, it’s like Burger King, have it your way.
6. Dues  are reasonable and it should never be an obstacle to join, there are always Brothers ready to sponsor someone
7. Any Master Masons in good standing can join.
8. All are welcome, young, old, working, retired, everyone is important.

Conrad

FAMILY FELLOWSHIP FUTURE!

Follow this LINK for the offer

Donations are accepted of personal hygiene items, clothes, shoes, swimming pool items (e.g. masks/snorkels), soccer/volleyballs and other sporting gear.  President Larry Lace and Treasurer, Emmett Mills, presented Morgan with a check for $100 as a donation from the club to Arnette House.

David Windmiller, Secretary

Greetings to our fellow Club members from the Old Pueblo! Although our attendance has dropped off slightly, we are still going strong. In February, our regular weekly meeting place, a Mom & Pop type restaurant, closed it’s doors and we had to relocate on hardly no notice. We were lucky to have IHOP accommodate us right away so we only missed one meeting. We are back in business and quite happy with our new meeting place. We were fortunate to have the Wolcott Foundation Chairman, Mike Clark, pay us a visit a few weeks ago. He gave a nice presentation on Wolcott and thanked our Club for our ongoing support of the Foundation. We presented him with a check for the Foundation in the amount of $1,000! Needless to say, he was quite happy, as was Will Wilkinson, a 523 Club member and Wolcott Trustee. If you happen to be in the area, please stop by. We meet every Thursday at 8:00 AM at the IHOP on Oracle and Limberlost. You would be more than welcome.

Gene Wickey, PP

Omaha Club #68 has changed its location for its monthly meeting to Johnny’s Cafe.  We just enjoyed a festive evening dinner there a few weeks ago.  Johnny’s is a classic Omaha family owned Steak House dating back to 1922.

Johnny’s Café opened in 1922 as a small eight-seat saloon located next to the Omaha Stockyards. Founder, Frank Kawa, expanded the menu and footprint as the Stockyards and surrounding South Omaha community continued to grow.

Sean Reed, President

We had our meeting for Houston High Twelve Club #736 last Saturday, March 8, 2025 at Gray Lodge No. 329 Masonic Building in Houston, TX. We are fortunate that our International President was in attendance, Brother Roberto Sanchez. We had a great time and fruitful meeting.

Maynard Fernando, Reporter

At our March meeting, the Club welcomed 6 new members. All in attendance enjoyed food, fellowship and presentation on the history of the Pennsylvania State Police by Brother George March, PM. After the presentation, Brother George had so much fun with the members, he filled out a petition for membership. Since September, our growing Club has welcomed 30 new members.

Eric Downs, Reporter 

The Wolcott Board of Trustees has approved the transfer of $1 million from the Wolcott Foundation Investment Account into the WOLCOTT FOUNDATION FELLOWSHIP ENDOWMENT FUND AT GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY. The transfer follows the initial transfer of $4 million in November of 2023. The $4 million earned over $1 million in interest and dividends in the first year.

THE WOLCOTT FOUNDATION BOARD OF TRUSTEES
MEETS VIA ZOOM TO CONTINUE PLANNING
THE FUTURE OF THE WOLCOTT FOUNDATION

The Wolcott Foundation Board of Trustees met via ZOOM recently to discuss and plan the continuing evolution of the Wolcott Foundation to meet the future needs and requirements of the Wolcott Foundation’s mission of providing funds for graduate students at George Washington University entering public service.

The implementation of these plans will be further discussed at the Wolcott Annual Meeting held at the High Twelve International Convention in June of 2025 in Orlando, Florida.

WOLCOTT FELLOW BRIANNA GIST TO SPEAK AT
WOLCOTT FOUNDATION LUNCHEON AT
THE HIGH TWELVE INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION IN ORLANDO

The tradition of hearing one of the current or past Wolcott Fellows speak at the Wolcott Foundation Annual Luncheon, as part of the High Twelve International Convention will continue at noon, on Saturday, June 28, 2025, in Orlando, Florida.

Mrs. Brianna Gist, a current Wolcott Fellow at George Washington University will be the main speaker discussing reasons for wantin g to become a Wolcott Fellow, her current studies at George Washington University, and her plans following graduation in June of 2026.

It is planned that the Wolcott Luncheon and Brianna’s presentation will be broadcast over the High Twelve International broadcast network. Please plan to tune in to this important event, showcasing the results of your contributions to the Wolcott Foundation. Ms. Gist’s presentation will also appear as a video on the Wolcott Foundation website in the Fall of 2025.

WOLCOTT CHAIRMAN VISITS ARIZONA HIGH TWELVE CLUBS WHILE VACATIONING IN ARIZONA

Wolcott Chairman/CEO Michael Clark and his wife Gayle enjoy vacationing during January/February in the Phoenix, Arizona area. Part of their trip is spent visiting High Twelve Clubs in the Phoenix and Tucson area. This year was no exception as the chairman visited East Valley Club #765, Sun City Club #567 in the Phoenix area, and Sahuaro Club #523 in Tucson.

Chairman Clark as always, enjoyed the fellowship, the wonderful food association with these clubs, and the contribution checks to the Wolcott Foundation received from each club.

In addition, Chairman Clark in his duties as Grand Chaplain of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of Michigan, visited the Oasis Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of Arizona. He was warmly welcomed by many members of the Sun City High Twelve Club who are members of Oasis Chapter Royal Arch Masons.

Thank you my brothers and we look forward to seeing you next time.

Hi YOU’ZE GUYS!!!

I GAVE THREE EXTRA DOGGIE TREATS
TO THE WOLCOTT FOUNDATION

DAT IS WHY I SO HAPPY!!!

YOU BE HAPPY TOO

 GIVE TO THE LITTLE RED SCHOOL HOUSE!!!

DON’T FORGET TO DONATE!