MILL VALLEY CHAPTER NO. 219, OES HISTORY
MONEY (Pennies from Heaven)
From the beginning of the chapter, it was important to raise funds to meet the needs of the Chapter and for our charitable activities. Anna provided some interesting facts about Money:
The old ledger books for the chapter show that the majority of the chapter income was from dues receipts. Dues in 1904 were $6.00 a year. Now you have to wonder about the priorities of the chapter because the ice cream that was mentioned earlier was served for refreshments at many, many meetings and the cost per meeting was always between $4.50 and $5.75. We had to keep initiating members just to pay for the ice cream. Finally, in 1920, there was a bill for 2.00 for an ice cream scoop. The following year the The Thimble Club was formed, later to be known as the Sewing Club and the Harmony Sewing Club with active members of Laura Mc Courtney, Virginia Hoy, Freda Eherer, Ella Umland, Vee Hope, Helen Wiels, Ruth Dudley and many more over the years. This club has been the fund raising arm of the Chapter and without the work of these fine members it would have been difficult to keep the Chapter solvent.
Most expenses were paid directly to the stores in Mill Valley which included places like the Sunnyside Market, The Mill Valley Creamery, The Pie Shop,
El Marin Florist, The Tamalpais Sweet Shop, Lady Baltimore Bakery, The Old Mill Tea Room, and the Mill Valley French Laundry. There were many others, but you get the idea. We were always paying out for food, but we also made money by selling food that was left over after the meetings.
Lockwoods Pharmacy was first mentioned in 1910 when the chapter spent .50 for alcohol. (there was no description of the kind of alcohol). Lockwoods also provided us with floor wax costing .40¢ – $1.00 (many a dance was held for fun and profit), several mentions were made of buying wire and nails but no mention as to what they were used for. In 1911 we paid Lockwoods .50¢ for planing cards and also paid out $16.50 to California Glass Art works for the paining of altar emblems.
One of the Chapter’s largest expense was the purchase of a piano in 1908. We made payments on it and before we got it paid off we had to pay $3.00 to have it tuned. But we also made money, the Rebecca’s paid us $1.00 a month for the rent of the piano. However, the $1.00 was spent rather quickly on an Officer’s Roll Book from Grand Chapter.
In 1915 there must have been a good party planned for one set of bills showed expenses for a cake, musicians and .15¢ for ice.
During both World War I and World War II the chapter raised funds to help the war effort. We donated money to the Red Cross to help buy ambulances and utility bags for the service men. We bought War Bonds and finally cashed some of them in 1952 in order to buy the beautiful Eastern Star Floor rug that we use today. We donated funds to help refurbish the Statue of Liberty and to help by an electric organ for the Eastern Star Home. When natural disasters of floods, earthquakes and fires imperiled our Sister Chapters, we were there to donate what funds we could to help them rebuild.
The sixties were good money making years for the Chapter. The major fund raiser was the Luncheon Fashion Show. I am happy to say that I was able to directly contribute to this event as I owned a ladies fashion store called Today’s Woman and provided clothes and coordinated the fashion shows. The proceeds from the Fashion Shows bought much new paraphernalia for the chapter including our new star for the east, a new Martha’s emblen, a new Adah’s sword, a new Marshal’s baton and a new Chapter Seal. The original seal is on display here at the Secretary’s desk and the old Marshal’s baton is being used today by our Marshal, Ken Harris. In 1935 Sisters Norma Egger and Fodie Voights made an Eastern Star flag for the chapter. There are no expenses associated with the flag and there also is no record of the flag being replaced so it is very possible that the Flag we gave tribute to today has been with the Chapter for 69 years.
Our Chapter has always supported the Grand Chapter Charities, minutes show funds being sent to Grand Chapter. In 1993, to go along with our Wishing Well for the year, the Chapter started saving pennies and each year we have a Penny Rolling Party, the proceeds all go to the various charities. Over the years we have donated over $600.00, all in pennies.
Not much has changed in 100 years. We have fund raisers, be they dances, theater parties or dinners and we pay our bills for refreshments, Grand Chapter expenses or helping our members in a crisis. Even the budgets look similar over the last 100 years. There is one lesson we can learn from the past. Finances are a means to an end. We try to have fun raising it and try to have more fun spending it.
© Copyright.
All rights reserved. No portion of this page may be reprinted or otherwise duplicated
without express written permission from the respective authors.
___________