October 31, 2004 - FREEMASONRY AT ITS BEST!
WELCOME TO OUR NEWEST MAFS
We are pleased to welcome our new Masonic Angel Funds:
#87 Olive Branch Lodge, Millbury, MA 09/26/2004
#88 Mount Ararat Lodge #44, Bel Air MD 10/05/2004
Since the Universal Lodge carries license #0, this places us at 89 Masonic Angel
Funds in ten states.
NEW SERIES OF BENEVOLENCE BUILDER GRANTS
We are pleased to announce that a new series of Benevolence Builder
Grants have been funded by The Lodge of St. Andrew. This grant series will run
from November 1, 2004 through January 31, 2005 or until the funds are exhausted.
Any Massachusetts Masonic Angel Fund in good standing may apply for a 50%
replenishment of benevolences conferred during the grant period.
To apply for a Benevolence Builder Grant simply email the particulars of each
benevolence to info@masonicangelfund.org - DO NOT save up your benevolences to
be submitted at one time - the fund might very well be depleted before you
submit your request. Please send your requests as you confer the benevolences.
BENEVOLENCE STORIES
We're doing something a little different with benevolence stories this month.
Most of the stories submitted by our constituent MAF's were posted to
www.masonicangelfund.org as
"Quick News" items. You can read them at the
main web site.
Instead, we decided to focus this month on the annual report from one of our
newer Masonic Angel Funds. The John Cutler Lodge Masonic Angel Fund has been
working in Abington, Massachusetts for just about a year. Why did we focus on
the JCLMAF? The reason is that their benevolence reports are absolutely
"textbook" for what we see in the annual reports of most all constituent Masonic
Angel Funds. John Sherman and I continue to be impressed by the consistency of
values that we see from one MAF to the next. It seems that each trustee in the
system values very much the same type of benevolences.
As you know, the Foundation does not mandate what kinds of benevolences a
constituent MAF confers. So long as a request falls within the scope of the Ten
Standards, local trustees are free and clear to do whatever they feel
appropriate. It impresses us that trustees in 89 different Masonic Angel Funds
in ten states all seem drawn to the same type of benevolences - talk about "the
universality of Freemasonry"!
Read and enjoy the story of John Cutler Lodge
MAF's first year of service!
Request #1 - Esten School, Rockland, Nurse - $86.44 to Wal-Mart for winter
outerwear and boots for a fourth grade boy and a sixth grade girl, both being
raised by their grandmother [request received 12/19/03 10:00 a.m. - check
delivered 12/19/03 10:45 a.m.]
Request #2 - Esten School, Rockland, Nurse - $28.00 for afterschool art program
for a nine-year-old girl. Parent has serious illness [request received 12/22/03
2:30 p.m. - check delivered 12/22/03 3:15 p.m.]
Request #3 - Esten School, Rockland, Nurse - $45 to (optometrist) eye exam for
six-year-old girl being raised by her single grandmother [request received
12/29/03 1:20 p.m. - check delivered 12/29/03 1:20 p.m. that's not a mis-print!]
Request #4 - Esten School, Rockland, Nurse - $67.50 to (optician) eyeglasses for
six-year-old girl (see above) being raised by her single grandmother [request
received 12/29/03 12:20 p.m. - check delivered 12/29/03 1:20 p.m.]
Request #5 - Esten School, Rockland, Nurse - $28 for afterschool art program for
a third grade girl. Mother is seriously ill and cannot afford program. [request
received 1/27/04 10:30 a.m. - check delivered 1/27/04 11:00 a.m.]
Request #6 - Esten School, Rockland, Nurse - $21.96 to purchase clothing for a
six-year-old girl whose mother is suffering from a serious illness. [request
received 3/1/04 11:35 a.m. - check delivered 3/1/04 12:15 p.m.]
Request #7 - Center School, Abington, Principal - $465 for driving school,
permit and license to permit parent of special needs children to transport the
kids to required appointments. [request received 3/4/04 11:30 a.m. - check
delivered 3/5/04 10:30 a.m.]
Request #8 - Esten School, Rockland, Nurse - $95.40 to purchase necessary
clothing for a first grade girl and a third grade girl. Single mother has
serious medical condition. [request received 5/7/04 3:30 p.m. - check delivered
5/10/04 9:30 a.m. weekend in between]
Request #9 - Esten School, Rockland, Nurse - $975.00 for a seven-year-old girl
and an eight-year-old girl to attend a full day summer program at Hartsuff Park
in Rockland. Mother has serious illness. [received 6/25/04 2:30 p.m. - delivered
6/28/04 11:00 a.m. weekend in between]
Request #10 - Esten School, Rockland, Nurse - $28 for afterschool art program
for a fourth grade girl whose mother is seriously ill. [received 9/23/04 9:30
a.m. - delivered 9/23/04 10:30 a.m.]
Request #11 - Jefferson School, Rockland, Nurse - $600 for six refurbished
musical instruments to be used by four nine-year-old girls, a nine-year-old boy
and an eleven-year-old girl. The instruments will remain at the school for use
by other students in future school years. [received 10/6/04 10:00 a.m. -
delivered 10/6/04 11:00 a.m.]
Request #12 - Esten School, Rockland, Nurse - $100 for refurbished trumpet to be
used by a fourth grade boy from a single parent home. [received 10/20/04 2:30
p.m. - delivered 10/21/04 9:30 a.m.]
I'm sure everyone will agree that this is a splendid first year's record for the
John Cutler Lodge MAF. We commend trustees Paul Chase, Roland Turcotte and
Irving Geary for their outstanding work. Their efforts truly reflect this year's
slogan of "Freemasonry at its Best".
System-wide, the typical MAF benevolence is about $225. John Cutler Lodge
Masonic Angel Fund exhibited an average benevolence of $133.70. (Note that one
$600 check for musical instruments counts as six benevolences of $100 each
because six children were served - always count your multi-child benevolences in
this manner.)
We also note that while JCLMAF provided many typical benevolences - clothing,
afterschool fees, eyeglasses, music-related items - they also did one "outside
the box" benevolence with the driving school for the parent of multiple special
ed children. The local trustees actually contacted the Foundation about this
one. When all of us looked at the need and the fact that the kids were being
adversely affected by mom's inability to transport them, we decided that this
was an appropriate (if unusual) MAF benevolence.
It's also pleasing to see that JCLMAF's trustees were quite efficient in
fulfilling benevolence requests. In almost every case, a check was delivered
within an hour or two of receiving the request.
The Foundation appreciates this opportunity to spotlight the work of one of our
newer Masonic Angel Funds. Let us know if you enjoy seeing this kind of material
in the broadcasts. If you do, we will try to do a few more spotlight articles
this year.
BROCHURES AND COIN CANISTERS
If you are in need of coin canisters or MAF brochures, you will be pleased to
know that both have arrived here in quantity.
Please email with your orders for brochures and coin canisters. The brochures
are free but we ask that you reimburse the Foundation for the cost of postage.
Coin canisters are $1.17 plus shipping - this reflects our cost to purchase them
in bulk.
BECOME A MEMBER OF THE MASONIC ANGEL FOUNDATION, INC.
As of a recent by-law revision, any member in good standing of a Lodge that
holds a Masonic Angel Fund License may apply for membership in the Masonic Angel
Foundation, Inc. Annual dues are $25. Members are entitled to participate in
meetings of the corporation and to attend meetings of the Board of Directors.
If you would like to become a member, please send an email to
info@masonicangelfund.org - we will email you an application form in MS Word
format. Generally, new applications for membership will be acted upon at the
next meeting of the membership held after the application is received. New
members must pass a unanimous ballot of the Foundation members present.
SHARE YOUR GOOD NEWS!
Please use our list server (angelfund@listserver.blackwidowweb.net)
to share your benevolences and news with others in Masonic Angel Fund family.
You also may email your questions and stories to
info@masonicangelfund.org
Better still, if you hold a fund raiser or do some special project in your
community send us photographs and a "press release" for the web site.
Remember, the web site and these email broadcasts are everyone's forum to share
and learn about how we all operate our Masonic Angel Funds.
We thank one and all for your outstanding support of the Masonic Angel
Foundation, Inc.
Regards to all,
Bob Fellows
Co-Founder/Board Secretary
Masonic Angel Foundation, Inc.