Thank you for the opportunity to be your Potentate, it is an honor and a privilege to serve as your Potentate for 2022. It is very humbling and I will do my best to serve El Riad to the best of my ability.
Thank you to Les Kruse PP for a great 2021, he did a great job keeping this Temple moving forward. It has been fun and interesting following Les up the line. When you see him, please thank Les for a great job throughout 2021 with some of the hard decisions during COVID. I would like to thank all that came to the Installation and Annual Meeting, it means a lot to the entire Divan and members of our team.
Congratulation to our newest Divan member, John (Hank) Schuety, as Outer Guard. Please welcome “Hank”, I know John and his Lady Bobbi will do a great Job as they progress through the line.
Congratulation to our Shriners of the year, Jason Schlechter, in town Shriner of the Year, and James Halverson, out of town Shriner of the Year. Congratulations gentlemen, thank you for all your hard work and dedication to the Shrine.
I would like to thank the office staff, Gail Gustafson and Kent Quail, for their hard work for Installation and the Annual Meeting. Another big thank you to the Culinary Staff for a great job…well done for both the Annual Meeting and Installation meals. A big thank you to my Chief of Staff, Brian Schultz, and Head Pote’s Aide Dave Murphy and his crew of Pote’s Aides for all their hard work getting the Ladies to and from their luncheon, setting up the Shrine, and the Masonic Center.
Thank you to Illustrious Sir Charles Brown PP for Marshaling the Installation and to Illustrious Sir Bruce Wallin PP for his excellent work swearing in the Divan and new Officers to their new positions.
I am sad but also happy for Bruce Wallin as this was his last official duties as our Treasurer for El Riad. Bruce will be missed being around the office and handling all of the finances for El Riad. Thank you, Bruce for all of your dedication and hard work keeping El Riad straight. When you see Bruce, please thank him for his dedication to making El Riad a great Temple. Bruce is and was a big part of the Divan for many years and now you can go visit all your grandkids…enjoy your time with you family. No worries though, Bruce has promised he will be in the thick of things come circus time and we are not letting him get away that easily.
On January 15, we had an opportunity to get all the unit officers together for the Annual Unit and Club Seminar to refresh or help new officers on running their units and the operation of the temple. Thank you to all of the Unit Officers that attended this very important meeting.
Our upcoming MSA Winter meeting will be in Green Bay, WI, February 10-12, with MSA Summer Session on August 18-20. Then, Imperial Session will be in Minneapolis, MN, July 2-7. Please keep these dates in mind and if you can make both it would be great! Both will be fun to attend.
We, the Divan, have been asked many times if we will be having an El Riad Shrine Circus this year and the answer is YES! We have dates for this year with April 21 to April 24 with set up on the April 20. Like in the past we will need all the help we can get so we can put on a great show for Sioux Falls and the surrounding area. Please let all of your family and friends know we will be having the Circus once again in 2022.
On June 11, we will have the All-Shrine Parade in Mitchell, SD. As you may know, The Corn Palace dedicated the maize designs to our Circus and Shrine. As a thank you, I thought that it would be a great place to have a Shrine Parade, so please save the date for June 11 for a great parade day the city of Mitchell! And, they’re wanting to be a big part of this event…more details to come.
One other date I would like to mention is the Shrine Patient Christmas Party on December 5. We will be bringing that back to the Shrine. It was sad that we had to cancel the event the last two years, please plan on this event for next December.
Lastly, I would like to thank the Ladies, you do a great deal for this temple. Your support is priceless and we would not be able to do what we do without your support.
My fiancé, Penny, and I look forward to working with all of you to make 2022 a great year!
In Faith,
Jim Slater
El Riad Shrine Potentate, LVL6