Members of the Valley of Omaha Scottish Rite VMAP committee meeting to discuss goals for the committee.

Past Master of the Council of Kadosh Armel MacDonald, 32° KCCH hosted a meeting on the morning of Saturday, June 18 for the Valley Membership Achievement Project (VMAP) committee.

May-June 2016 Scottish Rite Journal, featuring Scottish Rite Masons at the Phoenix Leadership Workshop in April, holding up a VMAP plaque. The Valley of Omaha's own Sonny Ashford is in teh second row, second to the right.

Committee members included Mike Thomas, Andrew Muska, Kyle Beckner, Don Leu, Rob Corsaro Don Kavalec, Bill Cornell, Gary Williams, Mike Precella, Danny Whitlow, Bill Kimme, Bob Pelletier, John Hardy, Chris Nigro, and Alan Boulter.

Armel's goals in establishing the committee is that no members would be older than himself, and while several are active as Line Officers, members were selected on the basis of being men we want to engage in the Scottish Rite leadership. For several members on the VMAP committee, this represents their first involvement on a leadership committee within the Scottish Rite.

After a breakfast catered by Wheatfields, Armel discussed the working points of the VMAP program. VMAP was designed by a Supreme Council committee based on input from hundreds of Scottish Rite Masons at the 2014 Scottish Rite Leadership Workshops. VMAP is designed to help Scottish Rite Valleys better engage members and create a positive, dynamic experience for membership. The 11 categories of VMAP are:

1. Membership Retention / Engagement
2. Scottish Rite Education for Members
3. Membership Recruitment
4. New Member Engagement
5. Reunion Experience
6. Scottish Rite Education for Candidates
7. Philanthropy
8. Public Image
9. Degree Conferral Proficiency
10. Officer Responsibilities & Engagement
11. Valley Organizations

Upon completion of these categories each year - or rather, continued advancement in each category since they are never truly complete - the House of the Temple will send an annual date tab which is mounted on a beautiful VMAP plaque presented to participating Valleys. Read more about VMAP at http://www.scottishrite.org/vmap.