August 2011

“PEAS” NEGOTIONS BREAK DOWN….

by Wayne "Wayno" Shriver

The summer season is upon us and most people look forward to taking time off and relaxing, it’s nice to know that the Clown Unit is hard at work.

At a recent Relay for Life fund raiser trouble was brewing. Top negotiators from the Aladdin Shrine Clown Unit arrived to calm things down before big trouble set it. Greg “POZI” Osborne, Mike “BUCKETHEAD” Clark and John “SKATES” Knoepfler arrived to find crowds of screaming kids and frantic parents. Talks were going well and PEAS was predicted in the near future, when out of the blue, POZI was attacked by the very balloons he had tied! Skates looked on helplessly while Buckethead called for re-enforcements. I guess these kids have never heard of POZI’S PEAS MOVEMENT speech before, but then again, maybe they have!

Speaking of Buckethead, there is no harder working clown in our unit. Michael attends almost every event. He is always the first to volunteer for any extra duty. Just last month he and a few of the other clowns washed the clown bus. He also joined the Road Runners this past year and has taken many trips to get our kids to the hospital. Michael is a great example of how we should all try to become more involved in our unit. As the summer season brings about vacations and family fun, please remember those who need our kind thoughts and prayers. Trust me, they will be appreciated. I would like to take a moment to mention that there are some folks on the mend. E.C. Babbert has had some breathing issues which has hospitalized him. Bill Baker has some health issues he is trying to recover from. Ralph Hughes has been moved to an assisted living center after a fall. By the time you read this I will have gone back under the knife myself to reverse a previous surgery. Last, but not least, please remember Tom Wade and his family. They have been going through some tough times and could use our prayers as all of these folks could.

If you are new to the Shrine or a current noble just looking for a place to belong and invest yourself, please take a moment and think about becoming an Aladdin Shrine Clown. I won’t tell you it’s not a lot of work and commitment because it is. We are a very dedicated group of men who care a great deal about the well-being of children. However, what we do is not all work. We have a lot of fun too. This is the BEST Unit in the entire Shrine!!! If you would like to learn more about becoming an Aladdin Shrine Clown, or what we do, please give assistant director, Matt Knight a call. His phone number is 614-592-0777. You can also contact Matt by email at  matthew.knight@basf.com