Support for
charities
Fund raising
By British standards funds are raised on a greater scale per capita. Recently a brother in his mid-forties suffered a stroke and requires physiotherapy abroad. A barbecue afternoon was staged at which in excess of five thousand pounds sterling was raised with pledges of more from absent brethren. Over one hundred and fifty attended at relatively short notice. Not everyone were freemasons but almost all of the brothers of the host lodge attended with their families and friends.
Any fine, warm, sunny
afternoon is a material blessing likely to encourage a good turn out. But it
is noticeable that good weather or bad most functions are well supported
attaining the aims of the organisers. The evident camaraderie of freemasons is
apparent and encouraging.
Jamaican
freemasons support many charities Island-wide. An ex-soldiers home hit hard
times. One or two lodges decided to “adopt” the cause. In addition to
financial help, physical help has been given too. Numerous charities have been
helped on a continuous basis, some homes for children enjoying days out with
visits to the homes of brethren. Old folks are not neglected although much of
the charitable aid is directed towards the needs of young persons.
Ups and downs
While Jamaican freemasonry is buoyant it has not always been so. Less than twenty years ago South Carolina (IC) answered a plea from Moore Keys Lodge (EC), a military lodge, to assist it maintain its numbers when it was in danger of contemplating surrendering its warrant. Members of South Carolina affiliated with Moore Keys enabling it to restore its Masonic health. Lodge St. John (SC) faced a similar crisis in the early seventies. Sister lodges rallied to its aid returning it to viability and its present vibrancy. The present inter-lodge memberships owe a lot to the actions of those saviours in the mid-seventies and eighties.
The ease in which all Jamaican freemasons and
visitors to Jamaican fraternal meetings move is proof positive that there is no
disharmony, racism, prejudice or the other demeaning characteristics of modern
society which plague the world in general. The evident pleasure the brethren
have in meeting each other spills over into the streets and by-ways of Jamaica.
Jamaican freemasons meet and talk freely in every place. Invariably it is with a
laugh and a smile.
