Rainbow Spirit

In this issue, you can look forward to Atlas's big announcement and discover what he and Ashley have been up to, some heart-touching info from Mrs. Dedra, check out the new column from Mrs. Mary! There are some important dates to remember too! Don't forget to show your support by clicking on the heart icon and liking us.

It's back to school and time for our School of Instruction!

We hope everyone has an amazing school year!

Our Grand Worthy Advisor has asked that EVERYONE attending the School of Instruction on August 26 bring a bag lunch and we all eat together.

Remember that the School of Instruction will be at Dentsville Masonic Lodge, 6604 Shakespeare Rd, Columbia, 29223. The dress is Temple Casual--no jeans or short shorts, please.

Here is the schedule:

• Junior and Senior Executives meet at 10 am

• Everyone bring their bag lunches and join us at 12:30 pm. Chips, cookies, water, and soft drinks will be available.

• The School of Instruction will start as soon as everyone is finished with lunch.

• We hope to conclude by 4:30 pm.

We will pack purses for the Supreme Worthy Advisor's Purses of Empowerment project. We have more than 100 purses coming--what a great problem to have! We also have more than 100 of some of the items listed below, but we can partially pack some purses. There will be some ladies who will just be glad to get a purse!

• Toothbrushes/toothpaste - Dedra

• Deodorant - Dedra

• Feminine hygiene items - Michelle

• Small notepad and pen - Greenwood Assembly

• Socks - Martha

• Body wash - Summerville Assembly

• Shampoo - Summerville Assembly

• Hair ties - Lynn

• Adhesive bandages - Marcia

• Lip balm - Diana

• Hairbrush/comb - Dentsville Assembly and Summerville Assembly

• Facial wipes - Summerville Assembly and MJay

• Hand sanitizer - TJ

• Lotion - Lynn

• Pocket pack tissues - Angel

• Miniature Bible - Anita

Please make plans to attend. The day promises to be fun and informative. You don't want to miss it!

Tentative Jurisdictional Calendar with Deadlines

Aug 26 – School of Instruction (Dentsville)

Sep 15-17 – Grand Family Retreat (Short Stay in Moncks Corner)

Sep 23 or Oct 7 – Subordinate Assembly Installation of Officers

Sep 30 – Constitution of Hope Shines Assembly (North Augusta)

Oct 21 – Deadline for Grand Dress payments ($120 payable to SCIORG)

Oct 21 – Faith and Hope District Official Visit (Newport near Rock Hill)

Nov 15 – Grand Cross of Color (local observance)

Dec 9 – Charity District Rainbow Road (Goose Creek/Summerville)

Dec 15 – Annual Reports Open

Dec 16 – Winter Wonderland Scholarship Luncheon (Harmony in Mauldin)

Dec 30 – Jurisdictional Fun Event (Newport near Rock Hill)

Jan 6 – Mother Advisor/Adult Worker Seminar (location to be announced)

Jan 15 – Annual Reports Due

Feb 10 or 17 – Sock Hop (location to be announced)

Feb or Mar – Faith and Hope District Rainbow Road Trip (Columbia)

Mar 15 – Grand Assembly Session Registration sent to Assemblies

Mar 23 or Apr 6 – Subordinate Assembly Installation of Officers

Apr 15 – Ad Sales Deadline

Apr 20 – Charity District Official Visit (location to be announced)

May 1 – Grand Appointments Recommendations Deadline

May 4 – Color Run (location to be announced)

May 15 – Grand Representatives’ Reports Deadline

May 15 – Grand Assembly Session Registration Deadline

May 18 – Scholarship Tea (Laurens)

Jun 1 – Additional Forms Deadline

Jun (26) 27-30 – Grand Assembly Session (Columbia)

Jul 8 – Founder's Day (local observance)

Jul 21-24 – Supreme Assembly Session (Hampton VA)

TBA (Spring) – Jurisdictional Charity Project Fund-raiser

TBA (Spring) – Grand Officers’ Rehearsal/Grand Representatives’ Meeting

August reminders for your Rainbow Assembly:

• Submit meeting reports to the Supreme Inspector using the Google Form at the following link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSet-kQpdfAUpxFC9gttWjMA3a6fGBtoun2I2ndNk8FjFnqz8w/viewform?usp=sharing
• Turn in Service Hours for Supreme Worthy Advisor Membership and Service Incentive Program. Log your hours at https://forms.gle/LSQRpXwFNRBvrVSV9

Complete Form 990N E-Postcard for Assemblies with Assembly Numbers 39 or lower.

September Emphasis: Grandparents’ Recognition Night; *Lessons of Confidential and Outer Observers

First Meeting: Ritualistic to elect Officers and renew Obligation

Second Meeting: Ritualistic or business/educational/service

Grand Family Retreat

Installation of Officers

Reminders: Officers must be installed within 30 days of election; Plan new term with Worthy Advisor-elect; Order service bars and PWA pin; Grand Dress measurements and payments; Complete Form 990N E-Postcard for Assemblies with Assembly Numbers 39 or lower.

Hello everyone! Atlas here!

I’m really excited to see all of you again at the School of Instruction!

Don’t forget, a new member of the herd is joining us! Make sure to be at the School of Instruction in order to vote on his name!

Last month I shared the meaning behind why my name is Atlas. This month is about one of our flowers – Poppies! Did you know that red poppies have been worn since WWI to honor and support our Veterans?

Poppies have a ton of meanings like sleep (important for any Rainbow Girl), peace, and remembrance.

Remembrance ties to one of our watchwords – Legacy. How will we be remembered? What will be our Legacy? If we are going to leave one behind – let’s leave behind a good one. See you all soon!

Remember you are God’s Masterpiece!

<3 ~ Atlas & Ashley

Our traveling deer needs a name! Please turn in suggestions at the School of Instruction. You will find out more about what his travels entail at the School of Instruction.

Hello South Carolina Rainbow Family!

There are big plans ready to be revealed at the School of Instruction on August 26. Ashley is prepared to lead us as we take up our palettes and paint a masterpiece of a Grand Year. Be sure to be there to learn more about Ashley's plans for our jurisdiction and Annabell’s scholarship fund-raisers, while learning some ritualistic work and participating in the Supreme Worthy Advisor’s Service Project. You can be a colorful part of our Rainbow masterpiece.

Ashley selected some wonderful things for our Grand Term. She has an excellent reason for selecting Cure Sarcoma as her Charity Project, but it is very important to me as well. My niece, Marlee, was diagnosed with a very rare sarcoma just after she graduated high school. She fought that cancer while working toward a degree in Graphic Communications at Clemson University. She worked tirelessly to raise funds for the American Cancer Society through Relay for Life. She had a wide circle of friends on social media while documenting her treatments and clinical trials. She died on February 5, 2012, and we celebrated her life at the Relay for Life in Pendleton, SC, on May 4.

Marlee was never a Rainbow Girl, but she was an artist. She would very much appreciate Ashley’s theme, “One Canvas, Many Colors.” She would probably encourage you to fill your life with the same kindness and service that she did as she encouraged others who had cancer.

So again I urge you to use this year to develop yourself into the masterpiece that God intended for you to be. Paint this year with every color of the Rainbow through kindness and service. And let us never forget how important it is to support and encourage each other.

With brush in hand to color my world,

Mrs. Dedra

The Supreme Worthy Advisor Service and Membership Program started on August 1, 2022, and runs until July 2024.

Service Hours can be turned in using the Get Pumped QR code above or this link: https://forms.gle/LSQRpXwFNRBvrVSV9

Red Charm – first-line signer on ONE application or second-line signer on TWO applications

All other charms – Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet are awarded for every 20 hours of community service.

Adults you can participate too! Adults it's $9.50 for you to be able to receive the charm bracelet.

Remember when you were asked to drink your lessons into the very depths of your soul? That means not only knowing the words you recite but also finding a connection to those words in your life.

When I need to learn a new lecture I begin first by simply reading it to myself and then meditating on the lesson. Let’s take the station of Patriotism for instance. As an Air Force brat, I connected with this lesson immediately. If you aren’t affiliated with someone in the military you may still feel some affinity for those that serve our country for the sake of the freedoms we enjoy, like the ability to gather and conduct our meetings. We take that privilege for granted sometimes, but it is a privilege, and acknowledging just that, can give you a connection to your lesson and the importance of being patriotic. Knowing the words is important but knowing what they mean is even more so, as this is how you turn a bunch of nicely placed verbiage into a magical moment. I’ll discuss delivery in a future article, this time I’d like to go over some ways to put your ritual parts to memory.

One way to memorize your ritual work is by simply reading the part over and over until you don’t have to look at the words anymore. I like to stand in front of a mirror as I recite the ritual. Looking at myself keeps me from looking at the ritual but it’s there if I need it. Try to commit to 30 minutes a day. Go over the lecture in your mind when you exercise, or during long car rides when you don’t feel like talking. Your lessons are always a good distraction from the anxiety of everyday life.

I’m sure there are songs you can sing from memory. By hearing the song over and over, and then singing along eventually you knew the song. With this in mind, record yourself reading the lecture word perfect and then listen to it, over and over. I have found this method to be effective for me as I can recite the lecture along with myself, press pause and continue the lesson on my own, and then listen to see if I got it right. It becomes a game for me that I can play alone and I’m only competing with myself.

Another way of learning your part is by remembering how one goes about eating an elephant, one bite at a time. Break your lecture up into three or 4 sections and commit to learning one section per day. By the end of the week, you should be able to put it all together.

A closed ritual reveals no secrets. You have to open it up and study the lessons not just for today, but for what they will mean to you in the years to come. The groundwork you lay today by committing your lessons to memory will increasingly mean more to you as you go through life. Don’t study hard, study lovingly for yourself and the self you are becoming.

In Rainbow Love and Service,

Mrs. Mary

We have been resting after that extraordinary Grand Assembly and all the hard work that went into it but we are also very proud of our Emma who made the High School Tennis Team!! Way to go Emma!

Huge Shout Out to Piggly Wiggly in Summerville for donating the face wipes to Support the Purses for Empowerment program Summerville Assembly Rainbow girls are supporting. We are blessed to be a part of a community that joins together and helps where they can. Thank you Mandy Reaves McFadden for helping and seeing and doing.

Greenwood Sunshine Drops Pledge girls had their regular ritual meeting and painted rainbows. They are scheduling a delivery date to deliver the supplies we collected for the Pathway House.

Members of West Columbia Assembly were off doing some traveling as soon as Grand Assembly ended. Sister Aaviel S. returned to Kentucky and went to Montana to visit family members. Sister Navaya N. was off to the New England area to visit with family. Sister Addie H. was off to the mountains. The other girls were also visiting with family and friends to get a quick trip in before school started.

It is hard to believe that school began three weeks ago for the members of West Columbia Assembly. Sister Alycia A. & Hazia B. are in their senior year of high school. Sisters Savannah C. and Navaya N. are both juniors this year. Sisters Madyson A., Addie H., and Peyton are all freshmen in high school.

The assembly is making plans for another Halloween Happening, charity projects, service projects, fundraisers, and a float for an area Christmas parade. The girls sorted and packaged bandaids for the purse project that will take place and the school of instruction.

Hope to see you all at the School of Instruction.

In Rainbow Love & Service

Ms. Marcia

P.S. One of the girls in our assembly told me at Grand Assembly that she was being baptized in August. She asked me if I would come and I told her that it would be my honor to attend her baptism. This morning (August 20) it was my joy and privilege to watch her publicly proclaim her faith in Jesus Christ and be baptized. Congratulations to this new child of God.

News from the Creek

We have started back to school and are preparing for the new Rainbow Year! We are excited to see what is in store!

We are looking forward to the School of Instruction being at our Assembly on 8/26!! Hope to see all of you here!

We are all settling down from a busy summer and getting back to school, hope to see you on October 21st at the Faith and Hope Official visit!

Hello from Newport #52! Since last month we’ve done lots of fun and awesome things, such as cleaning up around the fire department, baseball field, and the area around the lodge. Before this, we decorated our water bottles with designs from the web and had fun sticking them on and being very patient while pulling the different pieces apart. Thank you, Ms. Kelley!

We also had our Christmas in July meeting (in July, if that wasn’t obvious) where we dressed in Christmas colors, discussed our favorite Christmas songs, donned our fuzzy socks, and exchanged cookies. We also took five boxes of books to the charity, Promising Pages after they were collected for National Book Lovers Day.

We are looking forward to the School of Instruction, where our wonderful GWA will be telling us all about our term!

We are also planning our OV for October 21st and Newport is excited to be hosting.

If you want to join us, we are currently in the process of planning Annice’s Faith’s Tea, which will be an Alice in Wonderland Mystery Tea. And our next meeting will be our Obligation and Formal Introductions meeting on the 23rd of August.

Until next time,

Annice, Newport #52!

Harmony #57 hosted a fundraiser breakfast for the Tri-state Amaranth meeting. The breakfast was a success! The girls really enjoyed getting to know different members of Amaranth. The Amaranth members enjoyed the breakfast and the companionship.

Hope Shines had a wonderful time at Grand Assembly. We had 2 girls and 3 adults attending. Both Alyssa, Grand Representative of Maryland and Bolivia, and Libby, Grand Representative of Massachusetts and Rhode Island did great with their crescent moons. Alyssa received 3rd place in the competition.

Alyssa carried the American flag during the Thursday evening meeting and Libby carried the South Carolina flag and both did this with dignity and honor. Alyssa confessed, "That flag was really heavy".

Some of the highlights included:

Alyssa and Libby worked hard on the Assembly's banner "Remember these moments with Hope Shines". They shared pictures of some of our favorite moments of this past year. We were really surprised to get first place in the banner competition.

Alyssa competed for the first time this year in the ritual competition. She received a certificate of achievement for the Novice level.

We are so proud of our new Grand Representatives for the 2023-2024 Grand year.

Alyssa received her appointment as Grand Representative of Georgia and New South Wales Australia and Libby as Grand Representative of Missouri and Oklahoma. I know that they are excited to get to know their counterparts.

Hope Shines Assembly and Advisory Board are really excited about our Constitution which will be on September 30th at 2 p.m. at Acacia Lodge, located at 499 Brookside Ave, North Augusta South Carolina. Please join us as we celebrate this special event.

SCAMM is in the beginning stages of a project to assist with funds for scholarships. SCAMM is asking for donations of men’s button-down shirts that can be turned into aprons to keep food off of the young ladies' beautiful gowns. If you have a shirt from someone special, just let us know when the shirt is turned in so we can get that specific apron back to them. We will be gladly accepting men’s button-down shirts at the next few jurisdictional get-togethers like the school of instruction. The aprons will go on sale as soon as the finished products have been created. Please feel free to reach out to Lynn Carter or Heather Kamphaus for any questions or concerns.

Our SCAMM Fall Retreat has been cancelled and other plans are being made for the Spring! Please be on the lookout for dates and information!

Mrs. Dedra, Ashley, Mrs. Michelle, and I traveled to New Jersey’s Grand Convention. On the way to New Jersey, we stopped at a County Fair in Salem County New Jersey, where there were all kinds of animals from chickens to horses, they had them all. There were art competitions and they auctioned off some of the animals. There were all kinds of little stalls where you could shop and there were food stalls, too. They had funnel cakes, deep-fried Oreos, hotdogs, and lots of other things. Ashley had some deep-fried Oreos and Mrs. Dedra had a hot pretzel. We all left the fair and went to a little bookstore called Barney Loves Books. The bookstore had a little bit of everything. It even had comics and figurines and I bought a Mickey Mouse Bobble Head. From there we went to New Jersey’s Convention and registered. Then we went to their Friday night banquet and opening session. At the meeting, their officers were appointed, and they explained that the reason they call their Grand Assembly a Grand Convention is to commemorate when they used to meet at a convention hall. They also had their Grand Representative competition, and it was on this night that most people were introduced. On Saturday morning, we went to Grand Cross of Color. We then went back into the Assembly room for their Formal Opening where the Memorial Service and Majority Service were given, and out-of-state visitors brought greetings. Mrs. Dedra, Ashley, and I brought greetings from South Carolina. On Saturday evening, after the Grand Banquet, their pledge girls gave a truly beautiful presentation. The Most Worthy Grand Matron of New Jersey Eastern Star, Joanne Bryne was escorted to the Grand floor where she was given a paintbrush and a paint pallet. All the pledges were sitting on the floor, she would point the brush at one of them. The girl would stand and say which Disney princess doll she held. The speaker in the East would explain the lesson this princess taught us. Then all awards were given, and the officers were installed. They concluded their Installation with a dance.

Aileana Q., Grand Representative of New Hampshire and New Jersey

PS. Make sure to check out our FB page SC IORG Friends and Family to see more photos and to hear speeches!

Editor and Publisher Protem: Michelle Lusk

sciorgmmpr@gmail.com

Supreme Charity and Supreme Inspector: Dedra Hart

PGHope79@aol.com

This publication acknowledges allegiance to the Supreme Assembly, International Order of the Rainbow for Girls, whose seat of authority is in McAlester, Oklahoma, USA; of which the late Reverend W. Mark Sexson was the founder; of which Mrs. Kay Letterman is the Supreme Worthy Advisor; and to the Grand Jurisdiction of South Carolina of which Ashley Lusk is Grand Worthy Advisor and Mrs. Dedra A. Hart is Supreme Inspector