About Clair Meske

Every year I take a step back and look at the past year and ask have we done our job? “To provide the members of the Order of Eastern Star a desirable quality of life in their senior years by assisting in housing, healthcare, and related services in a secure, loving, and respectful environment”. Our mission statement is an excellent yardstick to measure our success by.

I am constantly awed by the founder’s selfless generosity of commitment to caring and providing for the members. Together as we look to the future there are many roads available to us to choose from. As one individual person I can not make that choice for the membership. That is something that you as the body of the membership will do. It would not be decided just by votes this week. Reality is that it will be decided in the week, months and years to come by your support. Support of the mission, support of the vision, support of the ideals and last but not least, your long term financial support.

I see increased communication and cooperation between Boards, Committees, Grand Chapter office and the Senior Living Community.  Everyone may not agree at this point on how to accomplish the goal, but we agree on the goal and that is doing what is right for the senior members of this wonderful Order.

Looking back the Senior Living Community has accomplished a lot.

• We have worked hard to find ways to mitigate the rising costs of everything we do, in such a way, to not have a negative impact on the quality of life of our residents and to improve the quality of life for many. These have been no easy task. My Managers pulled together and were successful.
• The physical plant is one of our largest assets and we work hard to maintain it in top condition. We replaced a major part of the air conditioning system last year. It was expensive but by doing so we insured the comfort of our residents and proved to be a valuable necessity in the SLC.
• We have made a determined effort to become a visible part of the surrounding community. We’ve hosted a Chamber of Commerce mixer at the SLC and told those who attended about the SLC and why it is here and the tenants of Eastern Star and the Masons. I was told after the mixer concluded that there were a few inquires made about how to become a member.
• We have secured in brining Eastern Star back into the Eastern Star Home. We have now had Star receptions, an initiation, and memorial services at the SLC. Thanks to Fiesta Funds we are now taking residents to Star receptions and events throughout Southern California.
• We have packed a weekend of events into a one-day fiesta, successfully inviting visitors from the surrounding community to participate. We hosted a fun filled BBQ Dinner despite the many surprises along the way. (Thank you for those of you attended; thank you for your patience and big thank you to Paul Lacroix for stepping up and coordinated some of the youth groups who were our wait staff for over 400 guests when just a few days prior we had RSVP’s for only 250. The one day fiesta makes it much more reasonable for members throughout the state to attend.
• We have long been successful in providing an amazing home for our residents. It has been most often the director Debra Stewart, our Outreach Director, that our outreach program has come into its own. Outreach and StarCARE has had outstanding success in assisting members with what they need and then to additional support of assistance throughout the state. Then success is noted in my ways but none more clearly that coming in under budget and doing so with a caring leadership on the recipients.
• As Outreach and StarCARE grow we are looking to implement ways to bring family members into a full partnership in Outreach assistance and stretching our funding to meet the needs of members with out imposing strict caps on assistance with out to need.

Now looking forward into the future where are we going and how are we going to get there?

Last December we hosted a gathering of the minds for a pro-treat, planning for the future. In that strategic planning session we opened a dialogue on charting a course for the future.

Some ideas and plans were simple and easy to accomplish. Others more difficult to accomplish and still other are being debated. We agree on our mission. What form takes depend on you the membership and how you choose step up to support your mission, with your time, emotional support, and financial commitment.