Shriner U – A Family Affair Fireside Chat: Embracing the Entire Family and Community

[Title Card] SIEF Noble Academy logo, Shriners International Education Foundation presents: Shriner U – A Family Fireside Chat: Embracing the Entire Family

[Title Card] Jordan Settle, PP, Jaffa Shriners

The other dynamic to this that we haven't brought up is, I mean, how many grandparents are taking care of their grandkids now? You know? There's a lot more children in day cares now than there were 30, 40 years ago, and when we're talking about being a family-friendly organization, it's for your entire family. So grandparents can take their children to an event and just know that the children are welcome and accepted into that organization. You can't do that with every organization in your community, and it's something that makes us unique.

I often talk about, when I meet friends who are not Shriners, that I grew up with, usually when they know I'm pretty involved in Jaffa, and when they ask questions about it, usually it goes back to, "Hey, I remember my grandfather taking me to the Jaffa Shrine Circus," and it's something that connects people in very much in a very positive way.

[Title Shriners] Mandii Sturlaugson, Spouse, El Zagal Shriners

I think what we have to remember is our roots have always been based off kids, right? Our hospitals started this wonderful journey for all of us, and it was children-based, right? I know that the Masons and the Shriners are there, but we had to find a cause, and that cause was children. And so we have to just remember our roots have basis on benefiting kids. We knew that that was going to be the future. We knew that that was benefiting the communities, and so we've got our compasses all set perfectly on that one. Keeping mind that we want to do that within our Shrine temples, I think is probably the best reminder for all of us.

Community involvement, you can't say enough about it, right? We look at our communities as the areas that we serve, and we're willing and very able to get to those kids to help them and recognize Shriner's Hospital. We want that same fun and excitement and accessibility to our shrines.

And so, getting involved in that community, having community awareness of what you do, of what you are, who you are, some of the events that you do, and being more than just those that are always either hosting a parade or hosting the circus, or always asking for donations.

Try to figure out how we can give back to your communities, because I come from a banking industry, and I use this as an example, there isn't a single baseball field out there that you're not going to see seven different bank signs advertised on it, and that is because they want the community to know, "I'm here to support you. I'm here for you. I'm here to celebrate with you, and I'm here to help support and sponsor your kids." It's all about getting out in that community, and I think for us from a family perspective, that's exactly it.

And Jordan, you're perfectly right, this conversation, we have a lot of different dynamics. We have a large demographic, in terms of age generations, and we do have different portions of the country that are more based off of the retirees, but you know what? They do have their grandchildren. They may live in the same city. But even in my local city, I have all generations, and I will tell you my, they don't necessarily raise their grandkids, but they're very active in their grandkids lives. That's great. Those are all opportunities to bring in.

You're going to have your single divorced dad who gets his kids on the weekend. He can be an active Shriner, but you know what? We want him to make sure he knows he can bring his kids to all these events.

You're going to have the women and the children and the grandchildren, and all of that makes this really fun, cohesive, multi-generational excitement thing that we want to just re-invite the groups to start participating, get more active in all that.