HAVING FUN WITH A PURPOSE

Jesup Shriners

Having Fun With a Purpose

Story by JOHN RIDDLE | Photos Courtesy of SHRINE CLUB

The Jesup Shrine Club has helped countless burned and disabled children through their support of the Shriner's Hospitals. They've also made countless children smile while doing it.

IN DECEMBER, up to 200 Shriners descend on downtown Jesup to participate in the Chamber’s annual Christmas Parade. They come from all over the Alee Temple region, which covers 32 counties in southeast Georgia, to participate in what is deemed an “Alee Temple designated parade.” Well, that and the oyster and chili feast the Jesup Shrine Club prepares for them. For most of us, that's our impression of Shriners. Fun-loving guys who dress up like hillbillies or belly dancers and ride around on souped-up go-karts or huddled together on a painted bus with music blaring. Then, we forget about them until the next parade. At fi rst glance, it may all seem silly with no serious purpose.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. Shriners have a deep and meaningful purpose. While parading is their number one activity, they dress up and act silly with a single goal in mind - to make a child smile. Of course, they also want to draw a ention to their cause - helping children in need.

A group of current Jesup Shriners at a recent Shrine Club meeting: FRONT ROW Ridge Shefka - Secretary, Richard Burns, John B. Johnson, Caleb Poppell - Treasurer, Timmy Rozier – President, BACK ROW Ronnie Jones, Bob Brannen, Jim Howell, William Benne , Wade Knight, Jim Overstreet, Al Lane, Larry Brantley, Joey Courson.

“YOU SEE US IN PARADES WEARING OUR FEZ AND HAVING FUN, BUT AT THE END OF THE DAY, THE SMILE WE SEE ON A CHILD’S FACE AND KNOWING THAT WE ARE HELPING CHILDREN IN NEED IS WHAT MAKES US HAPPY!” – Ridge She a

A group of the Regulators unit by their new bus: Candler Folsom, Cody Thornton, Joey Courson, Ronnie Jones, Jasper Blanton, Ma Groover, Ridge Shefka, Shane Poppell, Caleb Poppell.

“I don’t know a man who can walk through a Shriners Hospital without crying.”

– Timmy Rozier

ABOVE

Richard Burns, Larry Brantley, William Benne , Ferrell O’Quinn are part of the Hillbillies unit.

LEFT

Ferrell O’Quinn with Alec, the Shriners Hospital for Children national spokesperson. Ferrell’s dad, three uncles, and his son, Kelly, are also Shriners. He knows fi rsthand the great work Shriner's Hospitals do. His aunt stayed in the hospital in Tampa, Florida, for a year as a child. He became a Mason in the 1970s in Tennessee. He joined the Jesup Shrine Club in 2008 and served as president in 2018.

Shriners help children who have been burned and disabled children walk again through their collective support of the Shriners Children's Hospitals. In 2019, it cost $938 million to operate their 23 hospitals. As one Shriner explained, "Every dime was raised before the ball dropped in Times Square on New Year's Eve by members of Shrine Clubs all over the United States, including our own Jesup Shrine Club."

Several men who watched the Shriners in parades as children are now the club's leaders. One of the newest is Caleb Poppell, 26, who became a Shriner in June 2019, after becoming a Master Mason the year before, a Shriner requirement. "As a kid, I watched Shriners in parades, the belly dancers, the clowns, the crazy go-cart drivers, and I wondered how I could do that one day," Caleb explained.

Along with the club's president, Timmy Rozier, and other newer Shriners, he started a new unit called the Regulators to create interest among younger members to participate and a ract others to consider joining. Their group has grown to fourteen. Twenty-one candidates are currently working toward the Master Mason level who will then have an opportunity to be a Shriner.

One of those new members is Al Carter, who was once a Shriner's kid himself. "The Shriners bought my fi rst set of braces. We couldn't aff ord the medical bills, and they helped my family a lot," Al said. He even rode in a parade as a child with the Shriners. "The Shriners had a profound impact on my life. I wanted to be a part and help pay back what they did for me."

Caleb is hopeful that, “These new members will help grow our club and continue the great work of the Jesup Shriners.” Caleb and Al may represent the “new face” of the Jesup Shrine Club, but many men have carried the mantle of fulfi lling the club’s mission over the years.

The Jesup Shrine Club was chartered in 1952. In 1954, Marion Tyre donated two acres of land for a building built in 1956. The fi rst club had 76 members. Though the interest and success of the club wavered at times over the years, it continued a racting a steady fl ow of members from all

A group of Jesup Shriner Regulators presenting the Potentate with a Henry lever action rifl e - Shrine International edition which he won from a raffl e drawing they sponsored as a fundraiser. First Lady Laura Grayson and Past Potentate Buddy Grayson, Caleb Poppell, Jasper Blanton, Shane Poppell, Joey Courson, Ridge Shefka. Newly initiated Shriners (far left) Candler Folsom, and Cody Thornton, (far right) Hunter McCrary. segments of the community. It was named "Club of the Year" four times, most recently in 2019, in the Alee Temple region, which includes areas as far away as Augusta, Georgia.

In 1985, Richard Burns became a Master Mason and joined the Jesup Shrine club. He, too, remembers watching the Shriners in parades as a child in the 1950s. “I thought then that I wanted to be a part of that group,” Richard recalled. He admits that he really wanted to ride a motorcycle like they did.

The Shriners had a more serious tie to the Burns family, though. Richard's aunt was born with cerebral palsy in the early 1940s. His grandfather, from Macon, Georgia, was a Master Mason but not a Shriner. He relied heavily on the Shriners, who provided his daughter prosthetics and a stand-up walker. “He always talked about how his Shriner friends helped his daughter to be able to walk,” Richard said. His grandfather was the one who initiated Richard as a Master Mason years later.

Richard was the fi rst of four men to join the Jesup club during the mid-1980s that became the nucleus that would hold the Jesup club together through good times and bad. By 1987, three others had become Shriners: Larry Brantley, John Johnson, and John Simmons, now deceased. They all took their new roles seriously and were also commi ed to having "fun with a purpose." They became fast friends in the process.

They started a new unit called the "Jesup Bahas" and bought go-carts to ride in parades. As they aged, both the members and the go-carts, the "Bahas" phased out, and they became a part of "The Hillbilles," joining the unit already in existence through the Alee Temple.

Together, they traveled all over the southeast United States with other Shriners for parades and events promoting the excellent work of the Shriners Hospitals and bringing smiles to the children's faces. They became more involved in the Alee Temple, hosting hospitality rooms at conventions and supporting other clubs in the region. They were eventually dubbed "The Fearsome Foursome" by none other than the Potentate himself.

Larry Brantley recalls, "During the 1990s, the

"The Shriners had a profound impact on my life. I wanted to be a part and help pay back what they did for me." – Al Carter

RIGHT

The “Fearsome Foursome” at the Nobility Ball the year John was elected Potentate. Richard & Lillian Burns, John B. & Judy Johnson, Larry & former wife Tommie, John (deceased) & Bobbi Simmons.

club was failing. Nobody wanted to work and keep things going. The four of us came together and started cooking (for the meetings) and cooked for the next 30 years," he said. "We did everything together."

But their involvement meant more than friendship. Larry recalled one child they helped for seventeen years. “Many of the children with orthopedic problems are born with birth defects and need help their entire lives,” he explained. And, there are no expenses to the child or the parents for transportation, meals, medical equipment, or even surgeries. He recited one of their beliefs that seems to be a theme with all Shriners: “A man has never stood as tall as when he bends down to help a child.”

John Johnson eventually served as Potentate of the Alee Temple Region in 2009 – the fi rst and only Shriner from Wayne County to do so – a real "feather in the cap" of the Jesup club. Richard was his Chief Aide, another fi rst and only for the club. That year at the Nobility Ball, the Alee Temple's annual event, the region reported a record $450,000 in funds raised for the Shriner's Hospitals.

John recalled a poignant memory of one disabled child, “This child couldn’t walk. We arranged to fl y him to Philadelphia to the hospital there. When he came back, he walked off the plane by himself. That was powerful.”

Timmy Rozier, the current president, also had fond childhood memories of the Masons. "I knew of families in times of need receiving help from a large group of friends. I was told

The Shriners are supported by their wives who make up the Ladies Auxiliary, which is an important aspect of the Shriner's success. The Ladies Auxiliary supports them in all their activities and coordinates their own activities like community blood drives. Larry Brantley explained, "If it weren't for the Ladies Auxiliary, we wouldn't be nearly as successful."

BELOW A few Jesup Shrine Club trinkets and fez hats, including one from the fi rst motorcycle corps and a momento from a 1964 Shriner event in New York. they were Masons. I never forgot that," he recalled. From that early memory, he was always curious about the organization and its history. He was initiated as a Shriner the year John was Potentate.

“The Shriners are the fun side of being a Mason,” Timmy explained. But the serious side is important to him too. “I don’t know a man who can walk through a Shriners Hospital without crying. To see those children and know that you’re helping them live fuller lives is very fulfi lling.”

Timmy saw an opportunity to bring some new members into the club when a few young men joined the local Masonic Lodge in 2019. He approached them about considering becoming a Shriner too. This group, Timmy included, has become the new nucleus of leadership for the club. The timing is right while the older members can help guide them, “…the way the old guys did for us,” Richard Burns explained.

The mission of "making a child smile" seems to be the thread that holds the Shriners together. Not only the children they help walk again but the children along the parade routes who they inspire to be Shriners themselves one day. Like some of the Shriners who are leading the Jesup Shrine Club today into what Timmy Rozier refers to as "a bright future."

Shriners do not ask for recognition for their good works. They don’t need it. The best reward they receive is gratitude from the families and children they have helped. Perhaps Richard Burns summed it up best by saying, “When you see the families of the children we’ve helped, and they come up to us and thank us and tell us, ‘you helped my child – my child can walk today because of the Shriners,’ that’s all the thanks we need.” |WM

“A man has never stood as tall as when he bends down to help a child.”

www.shrinershospitalsforchildren.org/shc

BELOW John Johnson’s Potentate Pin was designed with promoting Jesup in mind. The Shriner carrying a child and her crutches under the iconic Jesup Arch is supported by pillars with Masonic symbols. The message emphasizes the Shriner’s mission.

Committed To Our Community, We Are….Your Hometown Hospice

Since the building of the current administrative facility in 2011, Hospice of South Georgia has been working diligently to bring Phase 2 of the building plans into fruition and the time has fi nally come. Phase 2 is to provide the community of Wayne County with an upscale, state of the art, Hospice inpatient unit; featuring an 8-bed facility that will accommodate patients who are in need of GIP, Respite, and End-of-life continuous care. Not only will the inpatient unit serve the folks of Wayne County but to anyone who meets hospice criteria and is under the care of Hospice of South Georgia, Inc. Over the last couple of years, the main focus has been to pay off the administrative building and despite COVID-19, this was taken care of in 2020.

Hospice of South Georgia’s goal continues to be to treat each person and family that we serve with the utymost respect and compassion through hope, dignity, and love. Hospice of South Georgia, Inc. has been serving Wayne and the surrounding counties of Southeast Georgia for over 20 years! We are your local not-for-profi t hospice and we are here to serve you!

The current Administrative Building of Hospice of South Georgia o ers a comforting environment for family members to discuss care for loved ones.