READY TO CELEBRATE — Members of the Steubenville Shrine Club who are looking forward to the organization’s 100th anniversary celebration to be held July 22 at Aladdin Land, Kenmore Road, Wintersville, and who collectively constitute 168 years of membership are, from left, Dan Truax, president; Leonard Morris, rental chairman and past secretary; Larry Sneathen, vice president motor patrol and past president; Charlie Morris, past president and a member since 1957; Chuck Vandine, past president and event chairman; and Wayne Fulmer, chaplain. The steak and corn roast dinner with all the trimmings is open to the public beginning at 5 p.m. and includes an open bar, music and dancing beginning at 7 p.m. through 11 p.m. with live music by the US3 Band and a 50-50 drawing. Tickets are $20 per person if purchased before July 15 and $25 afterward, including at the door. For information or tickets, contact Vandine at (740) 277-9977. -- Janice Kiaski

STEUBENVILLE — The Steubenville Shrine Club is ready to mark a special occasion — its 100th anniversary.

And the public is invited to join in the celebration of the organization that’s best known for the Shriners Hospitals for Children that it administers, the red fezzes that members wear and their motorized presence in parades.

The casual gala will be held July 22 at Aladdin Land, Kenmore Road, Wintersville, Reeds Mill, with a social hour beginning at 5 p.m. and a steak and corn roast dinner with all the trimmings. The event includes an open bar with music and dancing from 7 p.m. through 11 p.m. with live music provided by the US3 Band.

The event tickets are $20 per person if purchased before July 15 and $25 afterward, including at the door. For information or tickets, contact Chuck Vandine, event chairman, at (740) 277-9977.

There also will be a 50-50 drawing with the drawing conducted at 10 p.m. The winner must be present and will receive 50 percent while 25 percent will benefit Shriners Hospital and 25 percent, the Steubenville Shrine Club.

Club President Dan Truax will offer welcoming remarks at 6 p.m. with opening ceremonies to include Jon Kinney, potentate with Aladdin Shrine Center, Grove City, Ohio, and his officers as guests, who will bring their pipes and drums and provide patriotic renditions during the dinner.

The opening ceremony also will include representatives of the Wintersville American Legion Post 557 and the Steubenville Shrine Club presentation of the meritorious service award to a fellow club member.

The local club was founded in 1917 and originally held its meetings in downtown Steubenville.

Charlie Morris, a past president and past president of the motor patrol, joined in 1957 and ranks as one of the club’s senior members in addition to Anthony Violi, at 99 its eldest member. As many as 60 members attended monthly meetings.

“I was a Mason, and I joined the Shriners to help Shrine Hospitals for Children,” Morris said. “Our first meetings were held at the Fort Steuben Hotel,” he said of the North Fourth Street location.

That changed during the late 1960s, however, when the club obtained land and built facilities at what is known as Aladdin Land on Kenmore Road, Reeds Mill, Wintersville, constructing in phases a shelter house, garage and two-story building.

The Steubenville Shrine Club is open to men of good rapport who are Masons, a process which involves three degrees — entered apprentice, fellow craft and master mason — and a belief in a God. Being a Mason is a prerequisite to being a Shriner.

Chuck Vandine, past president and event chairman, said, “You must believe in a God, and one of the things to that, people say it is religion, no it’s not. There are two things in the lodge room never spoken, and it stays true at Shrine. We do not speak about religion and politics. We all believe in a god, a supreme being.”

While roster membership is approximately a hundred members, active membership totals about 19, according to Truax, whose fellow officers include Steve Sipes, first vice president; Mike Petrisko, second vice president; Artie Miller Jr., treasurer; Mark Yocum, secretary; and Wayne Fulmer, chaplain.

Shriners International, also commonly known as the Shriners, was established in 1870 and is headquartered in Tampa, Fla. It describes itself as a fraternity based on fun, fellowship and the Masonic principles of brotherly love, relief and truth. There are approximately 350,000 members from 195 temples or chapters in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, the Republic of Panama, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Europe and Australia, according to its website.

Shriners Hospitals for Children is a network of 22 nonprofit medical facilities across North America the Shriners support. Children with orthopedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries and cleft lip and palate are eligible for care and receive all services in a family-centered environment, regardless of the patients’ ability to pay, according to its website.

The closest Shriners Hospital is in Erie, Pa., local members explained, and where they provide transport at no cost.

The Shriners Hospitals for Children in Erie, Pa., is a 30-bed, pediatric orthopaedic hospital providing comprehensive orthopaedic and neuromuscular care to children up to age 18. The hospital offers inpatient, outpatient, surgical, motion analysis, radiology, physical therapy and occupational therapy services.

The Erie facility opened in 1927 as the Zem Zem Hospital and became part of the Shriners Hospital for Children system in 1967 and serves children from portions of Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia and Ontario.

Conditions treated at the Erie Shriners Hospital include cerebral palsy, clubfoot, congenital dislocated hips, hand disorders, hip disorders, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, leg length discrepancies, limb deficiencies, metabolic bone disease, neuromuscular disorders, osteogenesis imperfecta, rickets, scoliosis, skeletal growth abnormalities and spina bifida/myelodysplasia.

Information provided noted that in 2004, the total budget for the 22 Shriners Hospitals is $596 million, $554 million of which is for research and operating costs that fund patient care, education and daily expenses. That amounts to $1.6 million every day to provide medical care for children, according to the information provided.

“We transport kids, and there is no cost to the family at all,” Truax said of the ride there and the treatment.

In June, the local club logged six transports, each constituting an estimated 360-mile round trip and involving a driver and a rider volunteering from the club.

“We go to the child’s home and pick up the child and parents and take them to the hospital,” Vandine said. “If they’re going for a checkup or a visit, we wait for them and bring them back the same day. We have had some children that had to go to the one in Lexington, so we would take them to Grove City, Ohio, and drop a child off there, and Grove City would be waiting to take them to Lexington, Ky., get what has to be done and bring them back to Grove City, and we wait to bring them back to the area,” Vandine explained.

The local club has a van for the transport and raises money to cover expenses related to it such as insurance, maintenance and gas — a task Truax described as “very challenging. It is a very big expense.” The club also raises money for the Shriners Hospitals.

Money is generated through dues and fundraisers such as a pancake breakfast in the fall and an annual tabloid sale involving distribution of an informational flyer. The latter is planned for Aug. 6 at Wal-Mart’s in Steubenville.

Outright donations are appreciated, members said, with checks made payable to the Steubenville Shrine Club and mailed to P.O. Box 193, Toronto, OH 43964.

Another fundraiser involves rental of the Aladdin Land facilities, which is handled by Leonard Morris, rental chairman and past secretary. Inquiries can be directed to him at (740) 264-4460.

Leonard Morris joined the local club in 1967. “Ted Chandler (of Chandler Mills Funeral Home) was a Mason, and he encouraged me to join,” he said.

Vandine explained the significance of the colors of the fez worn by local Shriners.

“Most people are unaware, but the fez has a significance of three colors and sparkling glitter in the writing,” he said. “We help children and unfortunately being medical a lot of children lose their blood so that’s the red. The black is really the unfortunate one. That’s the one who did not make it, the ones we could not help. The sparkle is what we hope every child who comes into Shriners Hospitals leaves with a sparkle and joy in his eyes,” Vandine noted.

Wayne Fulmer, chaplain, explained why it’s important to him to be a part of the Shriners.

“I think it’s important to be in the organization to help the children. That is what our whole goal is plus there’s camaraderie, not that we need another night to get out, but once a month we fellowship together, and it helps you and your growth being with other standup guys,” Fulmer said.

For Larry Sneathen, vice president of the motor patrol and past president, “It’s the fun side of the Masonic body. We do parades and get to see kids and older people smiling when we’re doing our thing in the parade.”

There’s another side, too, Sneathen said. “One kid I have transported for quite a while and have seen him go from where he had trouble walking to the van to where, at our Christmas party, he was actually running around with kids, so it’s a good feeling to know I had something to do to help with that.”

“It’s about the children and getting together,” Truax added.

(Kiaski can be contacted at jkiaski@heraldstaronline.com.)