James Heineman

August 2023

Hello All,

June has passed and we had a week or so off after TSA and then headed to Charlotte North Carolina for the Imperial Session on June 28. We dropped our puppies off at our daughters, spent the day with her family and headed to Charlotte on the 29th. We took 2 days to get there, had a nice drive and the weather was good, but the traffic was a mess on the Atchafalaya River Basin Bridge in Louisiana and a little way out of Charlotte. We made it to the hotel in Charlotte on July 1st, got our room and checked in for registration. The rest of the day was going to the marketplace and meeting up with our divan and hanging out. With around 4000 Shriners in attendance, the restaurant at the hotel was overwhelmed, service was very slow to almost nonexistent, but we survived.

July 2nd was the Public Opening and Imperial put on a good show. There were performances by several patients, and all did themselves proud, what a great show. They worked hard and gave a wonderful performance. After the opening, we went to our 2024 Reno Reception and watched a presentation for the 2024 Imperial Session along with food and drink and met with our Texas Counterparts, it was a nice evening. 2024 Imperial in Reno will be great with Imperial celebrating our 150th year.

July 3rd started the day off with the Texas Breakfast and presentation of gifts to our Imperial Ladies. The morning started early, was in the room by 6 am. After breakfast, our Divan went to the Imperial Session. The Session lasted 3 full days starting on July 3rd and finished on July 6. We took part in the Imperial Session Parade on July 4 at the Zmax Dragway. Our Ladies were in the stands and made some noise when we passed by them, it was fun.

There was a Brewfest on July 2. Got to taste a couple beers, didn’t stay out long, too hot to wait in line for the beers. On Wednesday, the 5th we were introduced to the National Patient Ambassadors, Gianna and Juan, what a great couple of young adults.

We were able to get good seats for the Joe Nichols concert on the last night. Then we met up with some of our Texas counterparts for a few drinks. Always fun with our Counterparts.

During the Session, Illustrious Sir Chuck and I voted on many items and the one that everyone was concerned about was the increase in our per-capita tax. The first vote failed and was brought up the next day to do a revote. There were amendments to the proposal and the result was the increase was changed to $20 from $30 which passed this time. It was a needed increase to make sure we were going to survive in the future.

The next Imperial Divan was voted on with everyone moving up and the new Imperial Outer Guard elected was our very own David Hamm from Sharon Shrine. Congratulations goes out to Imperial Sir David; may your journey be a fun and rewarding one.

Congratulations to Imperial Ed and his First Lady, Jolynn, and the rest of the Imperial Divan

The drive home was good with a few rainstorms before we made it back to Texas. We picked up the puppies and made it back home safely and a bit tired.

Looking forward to our Pizza, Pitcher & Puzzle fundraiser on August 12th. Get your team together and join us for a fun afternoon. For more information see the flyer in the Chariot.

Signing off for now,

James Heineman

Chief Rabban

"Stay Ben Hur Proud"