FREEMASONRY AND CHARITY

By Wor. Bro. Rajeev Khandelwal

Charity is an essential and distinguishing character stick of every Freemason’s heart. Freemasons all over the world share one common social purpose and that is to help and assist the needy, without any discrimination. "To relieve the distressed is a duty incumbent on all men, but particularly on Freemasons, who are linked together by an indissoluble chain of sincere affection. To soothe the unhappy, to sympathize with their misfortunes, to compassionate their miseries, and to restore peace to their troubled minds, is the great aim we always have in view. On this basis we form our friendships and establish our connections." Since the time this great Institution came into being, masons have been involved in Charity in some form or the other, none more than Speculative Masons.

In ancient times and even as late as the nineties, Masonic Charities have been a secret affair, without any publicity, because essentially it was believed that Charity is done to satisfy one’s own internal needs. As Professor Lipson observed, "Masonic charity was secret unlike civic charity whose administration made the entire town privy to the needs of each recipient." Thus very little public record existed about the Charities of Free Masons and a researcher can only capture the data from formally organized and public Masonic activities, but even this doesn't tell the whole story.

For example, the Masonic Service Association quietly oversees a Hospital Visitation Program with a goal that every Hospital in the United States have a Masonic volunteer working with patients. How can a value be placed on the more than 500,000 hours a year spent on this work? It just can't be done! The best that can be achieved is to catalog that fraction of Masonic philanthropy that happens to be administered on a formal basis and to rest content in the knowledge that Masons today, as always, are seeking to provide relief for suffering humanity.

In 1990 American Masonic Philanthropy was $525 million or $1.4 million per day. It has been estimated that for 2000, formal American Masonic Philanthropy will probably exceed $2.00 million per day!

Charity for the society is the only way of our communication with the society. There is no better way of eradicating our age old concept of Bhoot Bangla than to reach out to the society and come in open about our philanthropic work. Our meetings are a very internal and personal affair and inter action with the society is negligible. Thus there is no better way to propagate our lofty goals and ideas, than through service to mankind. Undoubtedly service to Society is the best work of life for a mason, and should not only be done, but should be seen to be done.

 An old saying--so often repeated it has become a platitude--is that if you give a man a fish you feed him for one day, but if you teach him how to fish, you feed him for life. Let us examine for a moment the possible implications, from our Masonic perspective, of the idea behind that venerable truism.

 Masons individually, and Masonic institutions collectively, make donations of millions of dollars every day, throughout the world, to many worthy causes. Whether hospitals for children, medical research, old-age homes, there is practically no area of service to the needy, the aged and the infirm which has not become the recipient of Masonic generosity.

 All this no doubt is praiseworthy and deserving. And yet, one cannot avoid a nagging feeling that perhaps the allocation of our limited resources could be improved, giving more weight to those programs oriented towards future improvement at the individual and the community level rather than trying to solve immediate problems, however urgent they may be.

From this standpoint, at least, an honest evaluation of present policies and habits is long overdue. In any institution, there is a natural tendency to follow the path of least resistance, to continue doing what has been done in the past, and to perpetuate the same programs from one year to the next. And yet, the world is changing, whether we like it or not. The needs of our grandchildren are vastly different from those of our fathers. To give just one example, it is more important for a child's future to be given a computer and taught how to use it than to get a new bike. Unfortunately, such traits as fraternity and tolerance are not built into our genes. They must be cultivated and developed, if we want to counteract the negative influences of prejudice, fanaticism, and egoism. The naïve illusion that in time all men will naturally acknowledge the essential unity of the human race and become good to one another has been proven wrong time and again.

 Of course we would like to eradicate disease, and alleviate suffering. But if we are to be true to our basic tenet: building a better world (the spiritual Temple) through better human beings (the polished ashlars), we should consider how to invest in the most useful manner our charitable funds. Clearly, our contribution to the development of education must take a greater share of our resources than it does at present. Supporting education, in all forms, at all levels is investment in the future rather than problem solving at a given moment. As Masons, we should put education at the head of our order of priorities. Many Lodges have seriously undertaken this social cause as is evident from the following charities. For Example:

With the help of the California Masonic Foundation, the dream of a college education has become a reality for many high school seniors throughout California. In the past four years, the California Masonic Foundation has awarded over $4 million in scholarships, enabling hundreds of students to pursue a college education. Individual lodges throughout California provide an additional $300,000 in scholarships each year. Scholarship winners are selected based on academic achievement and community service, as well as financial need. In our own Country we have a few Charities, which are exclusively marked for Education, and these must be increased. Once we attempt to impart basic education to all, the society benefits and ultimately we would get better members, who must come from the Future Society, we build today.

In these times and in the Western Countries it is rather easy for kids to get lost. When a child is in pain, it is easy to turn to drugs, alcohol, depression or gangs as a way to ease the pain. And when that happens, everyone loses - kids, families, schools, and the community.

Because Masons care about kids, they offer a free workshop for California state educators, administrators, and support staff in schools from kindergarten through high school. Called the Masonic Student Assistance Program - MSAP - this three-day workshop teaches participants how to identify kids at risk and help them on the road to a successful life.

A core team from each participating school, consisting of an administrator, teachers, and other support staff members, attend the seminar. MSAP teaches each core team how to work with other personnel at their school to identify kids at risk, gather the necessary information about the child, and then develop a school-based action plan appropriate to the specific needs of each child. MSAP then provides specific strategies for identification and intervention in the areas of academics, health, behavior, and attendance. Travel expenses such as air fare, the seminar, all materials, food, and lodging are provided free of charge by California State Masons. The only cost to participating schools is to provide substitute coverage where necessary.

The California Masonic Foundation started sponsoring these MSAP workshops in 1994 with 5 classes for the 1994-1995 school year. It has since grown to 12 classes for the 2000-2001 school year, with additional booster classes added for those schools actively using the MSAP program in their schools. Thus some work has certainly been done in this field, but a lot requires to be done still.

We are all aware that the basic tenets of Masonry are Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth. Relief means charity. Masons and Masonic Lodges raise large amounts of money for charity, almost all from donations by individual Masons. This is different from Rotary, Lions, etc. who tend to run fund raising events to get money from the general public. Masons expect to raise money from their own pockets. This feeling of giving is imbibed in every Free Mason, right on the day of his initiation. He is made to understand that Giving is Divine and is God’s way of working through him. After all everything  he owns in this life is, but God’s Charity. Blessed are those who get the opportunity to do His Deeds.

 Some of the money raised goes to purely Masonic charities: for instance for Masons in severe distress almost invariably caused by incapacitating illness, but most goes to the charities that the general public donate to. For instance recently, £405,000 to CRISIS (homeless people), £500,000 to Colo-rectal Cancer Understanding and Screening, £446,000 to Sergeant Cancer Care for Children, £400,000 to Help the Aged, £25,000 to British Red Cross for Turkish earthquake victims. These are the tip of the iceberg

I have attempted to find some of the Outstanding Charity work done in the World, through the Internet and have edited the vast details into the following outstanding work, as I saw it. May be some work was even better, but has not found a place here, purely because of my perception, and not because those work was anyway inferior to the list, I have downloaded from the various sites on the net which are not copy right protected and were free for reading and reproducing. In finishing the list below, I find myself overwhelmed with the size of the list, so I will summarize it first. If you need help or knowledge in any of the following areas, then I suggest that you go through the net for any assistance or help.