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UPDATE – August 11, 2002

In this issue - Welcome to Our Newest MAF, Music is the Best Medicine, Back to School, Grand Royal Arch Matching Grants, Color Brochures

• WELCOME TO OUR NEWEST MAF
  
  We are pleased to welcome the following new Masonic Angel Fund's:
  
  #48 Waverly Royal Arch Chapter, Melrose, MA 6/5/2002
  We note with pleasure that MAF #48 is the first Masonic Angel Fund sponsored by a Royal Arch Chapter. We remind everyone that any recognized Masonic group may sponsor a Masonic Angel Fund.
  
  
• MUSIC IS THE BEST MEDICINE!
  
  Two weeks ago Universal Lodge's Masonic Angel Fund received a request for assistance from the Academy of Performing Arts in Orleans. Readers of these broadcasts will recall that the ULMAF has an extensive history of helping students in need either commence or continue their studies at the Academy.
  
  The child in question is a twelve-year-old girl who is recovering from surgery to remove a brain tumor. Apparently the surgery was successful but this child was left with a speech impediment similar to that of a stroke victim. The rehab doctors and speech therapist recommended voice lessons as a means of extending the youngster's recovery. Prior to the surgery, this child derived great enjoyment from her singing. The medical professionals felt that the vocal music instruction might accelerate the recovery of her speech faculties.
  
  This girl's mother is a single parent who works full-time. The costs not covered by insurance during this long ordeal had already stressed the mother's finances beyond the breaking point. She could not provide the $200 necessary (after Academy scholarship assistance) to pay for her daughter's voice lessons. The Academy contacted the Universal Lodge Masonic Angel Fund to see if we could cover the mother's co-payment, which we did most eagerly!
  
  Last month we wrote about benevolences to provide summer camp experiences for children in need. We said, in effect, that summer camp is not a "vacation" for some children but an absolute necessity for their health or safety.
  
  So it is with instruction in the fine arts! Universal Lodge provides financial assistance to many children who attend various programs at the Academy of Performing Arts. Adams Lodge in Wellfleet, MA also sponsors children to the Academy, including a pair of twins suffering from Downs Syndrome. These children's attendance at the Academy is far more than a recreational experience - in each case it is in some vital way tied to their educational, social or medical progress. 
  
  On the simplest level, anybody who has had one of their own children involved with a high school band knows what we are talking about here. Some kids find themselves in athletics, some in academics or the computer room - others find their best self esteem in music and other fine arts programs. 
  
  Please consider outreach to your local fine arts organizations. Ask your school contact people to assist you by making referrals for children who need these necessary services.
  
  
• BACK TO SCHOOL!
  
  In a few short weeks school will be open! With each new school year comes a host of new principals, nurses and counselors. This means it is again time to do some outreach visits to the schools served by your Masonic Angel Fund.
  
  We suggest that you give the school staff about ten days to settle into their routine before you descend upon them. Remember to bring something with you - whether it's your local Masonic Angel Flyer, a business card or perhaps one of our new color brochures (see below). 
  
  As we have observed during the past four years, outreach is an ongoing effort. During the fall semester, we recommend you pay outreach visits in mid-September, late October and early December. The September visit is to renew the relationship or to introduce MAF to new staff members. The October visit is in anticipation of the weather turning cool. The early December visit is made to ascertain needs leading up to the holiday season.
  
  
• GRAND ROYAL ARCH MATCHING GRANTS
  
  The Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Massachusetts recently contributed $2,000 to the Foundation as a grant to underwrite matching grants of $100 each to the twenty newest Masonic Angel Funds in Massachusetts. This will be calculated from the Foundation's list of licensed MAF's as of June 30, 2002. 
  
  The Masonic Angel Funds listed below are eligible for this grant program. If you represent one of the MAF's listed please contact the foundation with a letter documenting that you have raised at least $100 since January 1, 2002 in order to qualify for this grant. The deadline for applications is August 31, 2002. Lodges not qualified by that date will be dropped and the next Lodges in precedence will become eligible. Once you are qualified, we will send a check to the Royal Arch District Deputy Grand High Priest for presentation at one of your Lodge meetings. We will not be mailing a notice - this is your only notification.
  
  If there is an asterisk (*) next to your Lodge's name it means we have received and approved your grant application.
  
  Lodges eligible for the GRAC Matching Grants:
  
  #26 Nehoiden Lodge, Needham, MA 5/15/2001 * 
  #27 Philanthropic Lodge, Marblehead, MA 6/19/2001 
  #28 Wayfarers Lodge, Swampscott, MA 6/12/01 
  #29 Orient Lodge, Norwood, MA 7/9/2001 
  #30 Washington Lodge, Lexington, MA 10/10/2001 
  #31 Hammatt-Ocean Lodge, Saugus, MA 10/8/2001 
  #33 Azure Lodge, Walpole, MA 12/19/2001 * 
  #34 Hope Lodge, Gardner, MA 12/20/2001 
  #35 Beverly Masonic Angel Fund, Beverly, MA 1/22/2002 (joint venture of Budleigh, Liberty and North Shore Daylight Lodges) 
  #36 Wamesit Lodge, Tewksbury, MA 2/4/2002 
  #37 Dalhousie Lodge, Newtonville, MA 2/13/2002 
  #38 Damascus-Mount Carmel Masonic Angel Fund, Lynn, MA 02/16/2002 
  #39 Paul Revere Lodge, Brockton, MA 03/05/2002 
  #40 Pioneer Lodge, Somerset, MA 03/04/2002 
  #41 May Flower Lodge, Middleboro, MA 04/02/2002 
  #42 John Warren Lodge, Hopkinton, MA 04/09/2002 
  #43 Manchester Lodge, Manchester, MA 12/17/01 
  #44 Phoenix Lodge, Hanover, MA 5/2/2002 * 
  #45 Meridian Lodge, Natick, MA 5/15/2002 
  #46 Star-Athol Lodge, Athol, MA 4/25/2002 *
  Please address all questions on this program to info@masonicangelfund.org
  
  
• COLOR BROCHURES ARE HERE!
  
  On June 28, 2002 we received 10,000 of the new four-color MAF brochure. You can preview this attractive publication here 
  
  These brochures are available free of charge to constituent Masonic Angel Funds in reasonable quantities. If you would like some brochures please contact info@masonicangelfund.org with the quantity desired. We do ask that you pay for the postage or UPS charges the Foundation incurs in shipping the brochures to you.
  
  We thank Citizens Bank for their generosity in underwriting this new publication. We also thank www.capecodink.com for their willingness to produce the brochures at a drastically reduced cost.
  
  
• 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 may email your questions and stories to this address. 
  
  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.