Masonic Charities

Irish Masonic Charities

The Grand Masters Festival is now finished with £600,000 going to the chosen
charities, the laura lynn foundation, the samaritans, and the Northern ireland childrens hospice.

the short description is for those not familiar with our charities.

There are approximately 180 Lodges within the Masonic Province of Down making it the second largest Province in the Irish Constitution. The Province is divided into 9 Districts, three within the Parliamentary Borough of Belfast and six in the rest of the Province.

There are 43 halls in the Province of Down, each of the 9 districts have a Provincial Grand Steward of Charities, and Provincial Grand Almoner, they ensure information is passed down from the District Charity Committees, and then onto the Lodge representitives, they have many varied tasks including overseeing the Gift Aid Scheme( This is a Government iniative on our donations for paying the tax back to registered charities, currently 25 pence in the pound) and dealing with the Lodge donations to our charities, they are very involved positions requiring a lot of effort and committment, and we are lucky to have Brothers of this quality in all our Provinces.

The Lodge Steward of Charities and Almoner are responsible for their widows and distressed Brethren, to call on the sick and/or needy, and to report on their work to the Lodge, it is they who visit the widows to see if she would qualify for aid or assistance, like the Provincial Officers there are many other facets to these offices but these are the main points, they have to fill in the initial paperwork and present it to the Charity District for evaluation.
They then have to visit the Widows through the year to ascertain their circumstance are still the same, to check that they are coping and deal with any problems they may have, it is an Office particularly suitable for older Brethren, as the widow may feel more comfortable in the company of senior members, this helps the widow to settle down as many are nervous of opening up to someone they do not know.
They are required to visit the sick Brethren and to keep the Lodge up to date with the details of treatment and prognosis, they attend the various Charity meetings and report to the Lodge the agenda of the meeting. it is desirable that Officers in these posts, are in them long term, as a relationship with dependants is built on trust,? many widows are too
proud to disclose financial details and often reassure us they are fine, when in reality they are finding it difficult to cope, time spent chatting is
essential as it settles them down and makes them more receptive to the idea
that the information given is personal and will not be discussed outside the
committee.

It is to be noted that although we have many dependant charities in our Province, all donations are collected from Masons alone, we never ask the public for charity donations, nor do we use any for administrative costs, a pound donated is a pound given, not fifty pence, or eighty pence, it's the full donation, not all of our Charities are mentioned here.

The main Masonic Charities supported by the Province of Down

Belfast Masonic Charity Fund.
To assist deserving and destitute Freemasons or their families.

Belfast Masonic Widows Fund.
To assist widows and families of deceased Freemasons from Lodges within a 6 mile radius of Belfast or anywhere in the Province of Antrim and subscribing to the fund.

Down Masonic Widows Fund.
To assist deserving, destitute or indigent Widows and families of Freemasons who have been subscribing members of Lodges in the Province of Down but outside a 6 miles radius of Belfast.

Masonic Boys Benefit Fund.
Give provision for the cost of maintenance, education, advancement and benefit of sons of deceased Freemasons or financially distressed Freemasons.

Masonic Girls Benefit Fund.
Give provision for the cost of maintenance, education, advancement and benefit of daughters of deceased Freemasons or financially distressed Freemasons.

Masonic Welfare Fund.
For Brethren and Dependents in need whose circumstances prevent them being helped under other Masonic Charities.

Victoria Jubilee Masonic Benevolent Fund.
For distressed Freemasons, their spouses and/or widows.

Masonic Orphans’ Welfare Fund. provides grants to the children of Freemasons to assist with educational expenses.

Margaret Elizabeth Daniel Respite Fund; established in 2007, to provide assistance towards the cost of temporary respite care, for Freemasons or their immediate family members.

We now have the nine funds specific to down, the Margaret Elizabeth Daniel
fund have only limited resources and do require the assistance of Lodges in
maintaining their financial ability to offer much needed respite for carers,
I am pleased to say my own Lodge did donate to the fund this year.

our widows are reviewed to ensure they are claiming those to which they are entitled to, and if the widow requires further assistance to call out a government officer to help them, as i have mentioned these are only a small percentage of the charities Irish Freemasons donate to, and are mainly specific to Belfast and County Down.