Royal Arch Matching Grants Close on
October 15th
A reminder... the closing date for
Massachusetts Royal Arch Matching Grants is Saturday, October 15, 2005.
After that date we will cycle eligibility down to the next group of
potential recipients.
Under the Royal Arch Matching Grant,
any eligible Massachusetts Masonic Angel Fund in good standing may
receive a matching grant of $100 if they have received at least $100 in
donations since July 1, 2005. Applications should be emailed to
info@masonicangelfund.org
Eligible Lodges are listed below.
Those that have already qualified are noted with a (Q) next to their
name.
|
Olive Branch Lodge (Q) |
Millbury |
MA |
|
Elm-Belcher Lodge |
Agawam |
MA |
|
Oxford Lodge (Q) |
Oxford |
MA |
|
Simon W. Robinson Lodge (Q) |
Lexington |
MA |
|
Mount Tabor Lodge |
Saugus/Revere |
MA |
|
Eddie Shore Memorial MAF |
Springfield |
MA |
|
Moses Michael Hayes Lodge
(Q) |
Needham |
MA |
|
Pacific Lodge (Q) |
Amherst |
MA |
|
Somerville Lodge |
Somerville |
MA |
|
Universal Lodge (Q) |
Orleans |
MA |
|
Mount Horeb Lodge |
Dennis |
MA |
|
Pilgrim Lodge |
Harwich |
MA |
|
King Hiram's Lodge (Q) |
Provincetown |
MA |
|
Siloam Lodge |
Westborough |
MA |
|
Winslow Lewis-Adams Lodge
MAF |
Wellfleet |
MA |
|
St. Martins Lodge |
Chatham |
MA |
|
Nauset Light Lodge (Q) |
Orleans/Chatham |
MA |
|
Howard Lodge |
Yarmouth |
MA |
|
Marine Lodge (Q) |
Falmouth |
MA |
|
DeWitt Clinton Lodge |
Sandwich |
MA |
|
William Parkman Lodge |
Winchester |
MA |
Transitioning Between Schools
Many of our Lodges
have now operated their Masonic Angel Funds for three to five years. Most
of us started out working with elementary schools and many have expanded
into our local middle and high schools.
Even though we don't know specifically
who the recipients are, the school professionals will often mention that
we have "helped this child before". Indeed, here in Orleans there is a
little girl whom the Universal Lodge MAF has helped with eye care and
items related to her diabetic condition for over six years.
What happens when these kids "graduate"
into middle school? Usually their needs do not change - a diabetic child
is still diabetic and a family that could not afford shoes in sixth grade
probably won't be able to afford them in seventh grade, either.
The next time you visit your elementary
school contacts, we suggest that you ask them about any children your MAF
might have helped on a continuing basis who are about to graduate to
middle school or who might have graduated last spring. Oftentimes the
elementary school staff have "transition conferences" with the middle
school staff and bring up issues of continuing concern. Perhaps your
elementary school professionals can pass the word to their middle school
counterparts that the MAF has helped certain children several times over
the years - and provide your contact information to the middle school
staff so they will be able to get in touch should that child need further
assistance.
Massachusetts Grand Lodge Matching Grants
The Grand Lodge of Masons in
Massachusetts is again offering matching grants of up to $1,000 for
charitable donations by Massachusetts Lodges. In the past many of the
Lodges that sponsor Masonic Angel Funds have applied for and received
matches to funds they contributed to their local Masonic Angel Funds.
Applications are available in the downloads section of our web site or may
be obtained from the Grand Treasurer's office.
Over the past few years Massachusetts
Grand Lodge matching grants have contributed well over $50,000 to our
affiliate Masonic Angel Funds.
Fund Raiser
for MAF's in the 15th Masonic District (Massachusetts)
Electra Events is again producing a fund
raising event to support the Masonic Angel Funds in the Massachusetts 15th
Masonic District. Particulars of this year's event are:
"The Marvelettes" Oldies
Night
Christina's
Two Washington Street
Route 1
Foxboro MA
Saturday October 29, 2005 7:00 PM
Join us for cocktails from 7:00 - 8:00 pm, a Prime Rib Dinner at 8:00
pm, Entertainment, Dancing, and a Silent Auction.
During their reign at the top of the charts, the Marvelettes turned out
over a dozen hits, eight of which went Top Ten including: "Please Mr.
Postman", "Twistin' Postman", "Playboy" and "Don't Mess with Bill".
Hosted by Rhonda Mann, WCVB Channel 5, Senior Producer of Health Beat
and Mike Finegan of Oldies 103.3. Sponsors include WCVB-Channel 5,
Community Newspaper Company, Oldies 103.3 WODS FM, Winthrop Printing,
Dunkin Donuts, Encore Party Rentals, Holiday Inns and Invensys.
Supporters include Mr. Tux, Bridals by Rochelle, RentaBox,JMB Services,
and Bailey Design.
Ticket Information: All tickets are General Admission.
Tickets may be picked up starting 1/2 hour prior to the event.
Tickets : only $50.00 per
person
Reserved Tickets Only (No Ticket Sales at Door)
For more information or to purchase tickets
Please call 800-757-2658
No ticket sales available at door.
General Electric
Employees/Retirees
Last month we were very pleased to learn
that the General Electric Foundation is matching charitable gifts given by
GE's employees and retirees. If you have any GE employees or retirees in
your Lodge who would like to support our program, please contact us via
info@masonicangelfund.org
for particulars on how to arrange a matching gift through the GE
Foundation.
A Word About Hurricane Relief
We're
sure you are as deeply distressed as we are by the destruction on the Gulf
coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. As with the tragedy on 9/11, many
of our Lodges will want to contribute financially to the relief effort.
Please
note that Standard #3 and Standard #4 require that 100% of the funds a
local Masonic Angel Fund raises must be used for the benefit of children
in the communities it designated when it adopted the program. Some
affiliated MAF's have added communities to that list as they have grown.
Therefore, monies from local Masonic Angel Funds should not be
used to provide donations to Hurricane Katrina victims in the Gulf area.
If
Katrina refugees are housed in the communities served by your Masonic
Angel Funds it is the option of your local MAF trustees whether or not to
provide assistance if requested by your local school. Many of these
children will be enrolled in local schools, so at that point we feel they
do become eligible for such assistance as the school
professionals request and the trustees deem appropriate.
Zip Code
Directory
Several people in the MAF community have
asked for an easier way to find out if a particular community is covered
by an extant Masonic Angel Fund. Our current directory of Masonic Angel
Funds lists the city where the sponsoring Lodge is located. However,
there are many of our constituent MAF's that serve children in several
towns.
In order to come up with a "zip code
search engine", our webmaster needs a list of all zip codes that are
served by each Masonic Angel Fund. Please save us some postage by
emailing your MAF name and the zip codes/city names it serves to
webmaster@masonicangelfund.org - information should be submitted as it
is in the following example:
Universal Lodge Masonic Angel Fund
02653, Orleans
02643, East Orleans
02662, South Orleans
02631, Brewster
02642, Eastham
02651, North Eastham
Thank you for providing our webmaster
with the information necessary to fuel this new search engine.
Share Your News!
Do you have benevolence stories you would
like to share with the rest of the MAF on-line community? If so, please
email them to
angelfund@listserver.blackwidowweb.net and we will pass them along to
your colleagues.
Regards to all,
Bob Fellows, Co-Founder/Board Secretary
Masonic Angel Foundation, Inc.