Hello Moose Lodge. Today's topic: "A conversation with Chuck Barber"
I was pleased to catch up with Chuck, as he's just completed his tenure as International Moose legion President. "The International Board of Directors are the highest elected officers in the Moose. It's a seven year commitment on the Moose legion Council. Four years as a Councilman, then Vice president, President, and Junion Past president. I went on the Council in20118, and finished last year in Milwaukee."
He has deep roots here. He was born in San JoseHospital in 1951, and lived in a place called Agnew Station, near Agnew State Hospital. "The Vlley of Heart's Delight,' as it was then called, was very muck a rural area. I'd get on a bicycle and in 5 minutes I'd be out in the middle of fields."
Chuck knows the exact date he joined the Moose. It was March 17, 1998, the night of the St Patrick's Day dinner. "I was working for VTA (Valley Transportation Authority) on the fuel island, 6pm to 2:30am, and my boss was Everett Jackman Jr, whose father, Everett Jackman Sr, was a past Governor and Administrator of the Sunnyvale Lodge. One night on our break, Everett mentioned the Moose breakfasts on Sunday morning. In that case sign me up. I got started helping in the kitchen, and coming in to eat. I essentially joined the Moose for breakfast."
Chuck retired in 2014, his wife Patty in 2015, and they moved from downtown Mountain View, where "rents were pretty high and going up," to Modesto. "I thought it wouldn't be any big deal, commuting back and forth between Modesto and Sunnyvale, but it got to be too much," says Chuck. "I'm a lifetime member of Sunnyvale Lodge. For an evening meeting I'd have to leave here around two in the afternoon to get over there by late afternoon, and then after, getting through Fremont and then the Altamont Pass, I'd be in traffic jams... you leave the lodge at 8:30 and you get home at 10:30 or 11 o'clock."
Chuck keeps very busy visiting many lodges on behalf of the Moose Legion, including Folsom, Elkhorn, Yuba City, and Roseville; up and down the Sacramento Valley. "I'm going to Eureka this month and that's a seven-hour drive." And Chuck is looking forward to seeing our new Sunnyvale building. But "it's gonna be different to keep my car from driving to 905 Kifer Road all by itself!"
I asked Chuck to talk about the "international" aspect of our organization. "Well, besides the lodges in the United States, we've got lodges in Canada, and lodges in Great Britain. There is the Grand Lodge of Great Britain. At one time there was a lodge in Bermuda. Unfortunately, most of the members of that lodge lived on the mainland, so they couldn't get over there all the time to do work around the lodge. But we are international. There's always an effort to grow the Moose, internationally and nationally."
Chuck also told me about the "virtual" Moose Lodge in North Monterey County. Derrick Morris is helping to serve the community without having a building. "They hold meetings via Zoom, partly because Derrick lives in Kentucky now. All the records are basically kept in his briefcase." These lodges without a building are called Service Centers, I discovered from Alan and Kathy Childs, and there are dozens. Nevada has at least two or three. California has four or more.
Speaking about lacking a building, Chuck mentioned the Carson City Moose Lodge. They meet at a pub called The Feisty Goat, on Monday nights when it's closed. "They hold their meetings there in that closed building. They're doing a lot of work. They've got around 60 members now, a merge of the Sparks and Carson City lodges."
Over all, what is the core of our organization? "The whole core of the Moose are the members of the Moose Legion, the Women of the Moose, and general lodge members. The ones that do all the work. They put out the effort to run the lodge and provide events and activities for the members. And do all the fundraising, everything...thetremendous amount of work to run a lodge," Chuck states emphatically. "The Moose is for people to have human contact with one another. Not just meetings and raising money, but a place for a community to happen."