Charity
Remembering that moment when we were received, poor and penneyless into the Lodge.
The Masonic Charitable Foundation(MCF) is one of the largest UK charities, making grants of over £48.1 million to both Masonic and non Masonic causes. The 2017/18 impact report can be found here which details how the money was distributed.
For example, in the year 2017/18 £450,000 was distributed to 253 hospices throughout the UK, grants totalling £7.5 million were made to local charities (click here to view the report), 24 air ambulances and rescue services were funded across England and Wales, and £155,000 was provided to support disaster relief programmes in the UK, Sri Lanka and the Caribbean.
In addition to the MCF , Provinces make charitable donations on behalf of their lodges, as the Province of Surrey does with its “Surrey for Surrey Scheme” along with individual charitable donations from Lodge relief chests or from the proceeds of specific events throughout the year, such as an annual Ladies Night.
The Charity Steward
The Charity Steward within the Lodge can be readily identified by the trowel suspended from his collar.
He has an important role to play both within the Lodge and also within Province, a brief guide can be found to the right and downloaded in pdf format by clicking on the image of the guide.
Each year one of the Provinces is selected to host a festival in aid of the central Masonic charities.
The Province of Surrey held the 2019 Festival, and it’s Lodges ad Chapters raised over £3.25 million for the RMBI.
The Albert Edward Lodge No. 1714 was the 4th largest contributor in the Province, raising and donating a total of £50,247 during the course of the festival, earning the lodge “Silver Award” status.
