What Rainbow Means to your Daughter
The International Order of the Rainbow for Girls was established in 1922 and it has experienced many years of growth and development. There are many things about Rainbow that have a real value. Sometimes when we identify ourselves with an organization, in our more selfish mood, we ask, “What will we get out of it?” This seems a fair question for if we spend our time, our talents, and our money, it is perfectly natural for us to want to know what are the returns. In Rainbow, the answer is “Your returns will be both material and spiritual."
Your daughter may begin her Rainbow career when she is eleven, identifying herself with a select group of girls in the town or community in which she lives. In using the word “select”, we refer to the homes of Masons, Eastern Star, Amaranth, and White Shrine of Jerusalem, as well as homes immediately in touch with them. When your daughter becomes a member of the Order, the girls from these homes will become her friends. She will not only be with them during Rainbow meetings but Rainbow Girls also have a number of social events during the year. To know that she is in a group of girls that are well chaperoned, and that the form of entertainment in which they engage is clean and wholesome, should be very comforting to parents.
Our Mother Advisors have grown very close to their girls; both have developed a lovely devotion to each other during the time they have worked together. The Mother Advisor will listen to their problems, which to the girls, are most important. This is a service that money cannot buy. The finest kind of teachers that can be found are volunteers, whose teachings naturally flow out of their own lives and who serve out of love. Your daughter, as a Rainbow Girl, will have this kind of teacher and role model.
Most Assemblies have two regular meetings each month. The regular attendant therefore has two evenings already provided for. In the Assembly room, she will find a friendly group to mingle with before the meeting begins. The gavel sounds and there is quiet. The Assembly Room is a beautiful place for, as a rule, girls like to surround themselves with things that are attractive. The floor setting of the Assembly is always interesting and invites immediate attention. The more you see it and study it, the more interesting it becomes. It is in this environment that a Rainbow Girl spends at least two evenings a month. Here, she hears over and over about the power of color in her life and what the lessons of Rainbow bring to her. Events like this leave their everlasting impression of peace and tranquility on each and every member.
In the Rainbow Assembly, she will have an opportunity to talk extemporaneously. She will be in a meeting presided over by girls, and while the meeting will be supervised by at least one adult, the adults will be in the background. The girl will have a feeling of freedom, a feeling that she may not have experienced before. She will not only overcome her shyness and be able to talk to this group of girls, but she can become one of their leaders. If she is fortunate enough to pass through the various stations, she may become the Worthy Advisor of her Assembly. As Worthy Advisor, she will receive a training that will be worth more to her than any other training she can possibly receive so early in life.
As an officer, she will not only preside over the particular work assigned to her, but she will work and plan to make a program that will be beneficial to the entire membership. Thus, early in life, she will become a planner and in carrying out these plans which she has helped to make, she will learn to become a leader.
Rainbow Girls learn how to direct their work so it will be interesting, and therefore, stimulates attendance. Some Assembles have proficiency tests and most Assemblies offer merit badges and bars for service rendered.
The Supreme Body, which is the governing body of the Order, has developed through the years, with the assistance of Rainbow Girls, a number of worthwhile things – for instance, the Grand Assembly. It is the state organization that holds annual meetings and selects from the local Assemblies its Grand Officers. These Grand Assemblies plan state-wide programs. They raise money for various charitable and state purposes. Under their direction are held Schools of Instruction in various parts of the state. When your daughter becomes a Rainbow Girl, she is entitled to attend the Grand Assembly in her own state or in any other jurisdiction where she might visit. Her current dues card entitles her to admission into all Grand Assemblies.
If your daughter enters Rainbow and is a faithful worker, she has an opportunity of having her services recognized by being made a Master of the Grand Cross of Color. This is an honorary degree that is conferred upon Rainbow Girls in recognition of services rendered. Only those rendering outstanding services receive this distinct honor.