Lodge Ledger: Don't forget to recharter your lodge for 2014

Every year, each Order of the Arrow lodge must submit a charter renewal form in order to maintain their membership. This year, the OA has created a new and simple system to submit recharter information along with your lodge's Journey to Excellence (JTE) petition. The new process has been streamlined into two steps.

Remember: The signed renewal application must be postmarked no later than December 31, 2013.

First, a lodge must submit their JTE and charter renewal through their OA LodgeMaster (OALM) account. If your lodge doesn't have a LodgeMaster account, then they are able to submit their JTE and charter renewal through email. Through OALM, select the "charter and JTE option" from the modules menu. Once you have done this, there will be a step-by-step walkthrough on applying information from OALM to the charter renewal and JTE form. Make sure you print a copy of your charter and JTE for your lodge's personal records. Then, select the option to "send to national through OALM," but be sure all the info is correct. Note: this process can only be done once, so triple check for accuracy.

In order to submit this information through email, you must first download the charter renewal and JTE forms in Excel format. These files can be found on the Forms page. The JTE and charter renewal workbook should be completely filled out with all pertinent lodge information. Once completed, the forms should be emailed to @email. Make sure you print a copy of the charter renewal page.

The second step of this process is easy. Whether you choose the email or OA LodgeMaster option, you must print a copy of the charter renewal and obtain the signatures of the lodge Key 3. It should then be corresponded via one of the following options: (1) email to @email, (2) faxed to 469-331-8279, or (3) mailed to the national office at: Order of the Arrow, PO Box 152079, Irving, TX 75015. We encourage lodges to take advantage of the email system for ease-of-access and to save time.

The national Order of the Arrow committee has worked hard to make this an easy process, but recognize that some problems may still exist. A simple email to the aforementioned @email will allow someone to be alerted to your concern and to answer your questions in a timely fashion.

Remember: The signed renewal application must be postmarked no later than December 31, 2013.

Lodges that earn JTE recognition will be announced in the first quarter of 2014 and will also be published in the OA National Bulletin.