Local men in Shriner leadership roles
By From staff reports
Published in News on February 16, 2012 1:46 PM
Two Goldsboro men are serving leadership roles with the Sudan Shriners.
B.F. Smith Jr. was re-elected in January to his 14th term as the recorder of Sudan Shriners and George L. Raecher was appointed by Potentate Steve Norris as the director of public relations.
Rick Jackson of New Hanover County was elected Assistant Rabban -- a ceremonial title given to the number three officer of the Sudan Temple and as such is a member of the elected board of directors.
Jackson, a native of Mount Olive, now lives at Carolina Beach.
As recorder, Smith serves in the role of an operation officer and is a member of the board of directors. Raecher will work with media issues for the Shriners' Hospitals for Children with all of the 40 Shrine clubs in Sudan.
Smith, a native of Mount Olive, now lives in Goldsboro. Smith is retired from the North Carolina Highway Patrol.
Raecher is retired from the U.S. Air Force and the Wayne County Sheriff's Office and is currently the chief law enforcement officer for the Wayne County ABC Board.
Sudan Shriners, headquartered in New Bern, is one of the largest of the 194 Shrine Temples located throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, the Philippines, Germany, and Puerto Rico.
Sudan has approximately 5,500 members from Wake County to the coast and from South Carolina to Virginia, with 40 individual Shrine Clubs in the jurisdiction.
Shriners operate with a unique purpose: Finding children who are in need of medical care and supporting the needs of 22 Shriners' Hospitals for those children, Raecher said. The hospitals operate at a cost of $2.9 million a day caring for approximately 190,000 children annually. Sudan currently has 660 patients.
Nearly a million children have been treated for debilitating orthopedic conditions, burn and scar treatment, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate.
Anyone who knows of a child in need of medical care should call Shriners Hospitals' International office at 800-237-5055 or Sudan Shriners at 800-800-5399.