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The Honorable Harry E. Smith of Toledo, Ohio, the Imperial Potentate of the Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order Nobles Mystic Shrine of North and South America and its jurisdiction, incorporated, Prince Hall Shriners, will be the presiding officer hers when the annual session of the Imperial Council meet in Washington, D.C., August 16-22, 1981.
   
He will be assisted by Daughter Dorothy M. Jenkins-Scott of Detroit, Mich., the Imperial Commandress of the Imperial Court, Daughters of Isis, the women's auxiliary; by Roswell A. Taylor Sr. of Alexandria, Va., the Deputy Imperial Potentate; Idee Dodson of Oklahoma City, Okla., Deputy Imperial Commandress, and a host of other Prince Hall Shrine elected and appointed officers who are members of the Imperial Council and Imperial Court divans.
   
Bossie Benjamin Simmons of Petersburg, Va., Imperial Director of Publicity said that preregistration and hotel confirmation figures indicate that some 30,000 persons may attend the meeting this year in convention city. He also said they will spend more than $12,000,000 during their stay.
  
Official hosts and hostesses for the week-long meetings will be the elected and appointed officers of Mecca Temple 10, PH Shriners and Mecca Court 2, Dts. of Isis. The officers in the temple and court are already predicting that the convention this year will be one of the best and one of the largest attended meetings held in recent years.
  
Reasons advanced for this optimistic outlook is that the convention site is traditionally a great city, filled with historical places and sights to be seen, and it has the type of entertainment and other social offerings that is pleasing to delegates and their families.
  
An extensive and well planned program of activities, designed to keep everyone busy and happy, has been worked out. Also, a program of activities, designed for the 5,000 youths expected to attend, has also been planned, The youth program is a program of social action for young people, and it is designed to assist local, state, regional and national law enforcement agencies and officers to eradicate crime, delinquency and poverty from the streets of our cities and towns.
  
To date, Shriners and Daughters combined have made financial contributions to worthwhile causes on a national level to the tune of more than 4.2 million  dollars. Some of the organizations receiving these financial grants and donations include but are not limited to the American Heart Association, March of Dimes Foundation, Mental Retardation Foundation, Mooreland-Spingarn Research Center, the NAACP, National Association for Sickle Cell Anemia Disease, United Negro College Fund, National Urban League, and the National Scholarship Service for Negro Students.
  
In case of NSSFNS, this organization and the PH shrine family of freemasons have been working together in unison to provide funds for higher education of Blacks, other minorities and some poor whites. NSSFNS serves more than 50,000 students on an annual basis and is the largest counseling and referral agencies in its field that geared especially for minorities. It has a national office at 1776 Broadway, New York City, NY 10019 and a Southeastern regional office at 965 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, North West, Atlanta, Ga. 30314.
  
NSSFNS works with some 3,000 colleges and universities and more than 8,000 high schools to counsel and direct students to schools most likely to offer some form of admission and financial aid.
  
The 45,000 plus members in the more than 350 Prince Hall Shrine temples, clubs, and courts all over the world are a representation of nearly 350,000 Prince Hall Masons, Order of Eastern Star members, and other members in appendant, adoptive rite and concordant bodies in the Prince Hall Family of Freemasonry, worldwide.
  
In all PH shrine temples, members are "called Nobles."
  
In all PH shrine courts, members are called "Daughters."
  
In both temples and courts, the criteria for membership is very simple. To be a PH Shriner, you must first be a PH Mason and hold membership also in one or more of the other bodies in the PH family of Freemasons.
  
To be a Daughter of Isis, a women must be the daughter, mother, sister, widow or wife of a PH Shriner who is first a PH Mason. The organization accepts membership without regard to race, creed, color, or religion or national origin. At the present time some 10-15 percent of its total membership is non-black.

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[[caption]] Harry E. Smith of Toledo, Ohio, Imperial Potentate, Prince Hall Shriners, worldwide. [[/caption]]

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[[caption]] Nobles in attendance at one of the Imperial Council sessions, held recently in Cleveland, Ohio. [[/caption]]

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[[caption]] Outgoing Imperial Potentate Eugene Dickerson Jr. of Washington, DC, assisted by Oliver P. Aaron, Imperial Marshall, prepares to install incoming Harry E. Smith of Toledo, as the Imperial Potentate, PH Shriners. The ceremony of installation took place at Stouffers Inn on-the-square in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. [[/caption]]

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