Charity
Hooton Park Lodge help our community in three ways. Firstly, we gather donations of food, personal hygiene and healthcare products kindly provided by freemasons from across the area and distribute those items through the West Cheshire Foodbank charity, to those who are in desperate need. Secondly, we raise funds that go to support good causes and local charities in our area that otherwise struggle to raise money to help those in our community who need help the most. Thirdly, our members offer their own time and labour freely to those charities and community organisations that just need a helping pair of hands.
If you too would like to help others in our community and at the same time enjoy the fellowship of similar minded people, then come and join us at Hooton Park Lodge.
West Cheshire Foodbank
West Cheshire Foodbank is a project founded in 2012 by local churches and community groups, working together towards curtailing hunger in our local area. It reaches out to people experiencing crisis and food poverty caused by unjust social and economic policies, by providing 3 days of nutritional balanced food support – our support is not intended to become embedded, rather to be a temporary stop gap whilst further help is sought.
Anyone needing help speaks to one of our trained professional referrers (from local authority staff to social workers, from Housing support officers to schoolteachers) who will assess the need and issue on online code which can be used for food at one of our sessions.
Most food distributed is donated via drop off points at supermarkets, Churches, Schools and businesses although increasingly we are having to purchase food to keep up with demand, supported by generous financial donations from local people and organisations.
Hooton Park Lodge has set up a collection point at Cheshire View, Plough Lane, Christleton near Chester, where Masons and non-masons alike can drop off donations for this worthy cause.
Freemasonry and Charity
For Freemasons, there are four important values that help define their path through life: Integrity, Friendship, Respect and Charity. In today’s world filled with uncertainty, these principles ring as true as they have at any point in the organisation’s history.
Integrity: Building good people
Freemasons are focused on building themselves as people of integrity and membership provides the structure to help achieve that goal.
Friendship: Building together
Freemasonry provides the common foundation for friendships between members, many of which will last for life.
Respect: Building unity
Freemasonry brings people together irrespective of their race, religion or any other perceived differences that can divide us as a society.
Charity: Building compassion
Kindness and charitable giving are deeply ingrained within the principles of Freemasonry and the organisation provides the structure for members to make positive contributions to their communities and various causes.
It is therefore, no surprise to find that from its earliest foundations Freemasonry supported those in need, primarily orphans, the sick and the elderly. Over the last three hundred years the charitable support provided by Freemasons has ever expanded with local, national and international charities receiving regular financial assistance.
From the moment someone joins Freemasonry he is made aware of the importance of charity and the need to support and care of those who are less fortunate than ourselves. This is evidenced by the fact that the Freemasons of England and Wales have become one of the top ten grant-making Organisations in those countries.
The money for this charitable giving is provided by members in a number of ways; a small portion of each members subscription is donated to the Masonic Charitable Foundation (the main central Masonic Charity); many members make a regular monthly donation; collections are made during lodge meeting; there may be a raffle, or similar, during the meal after a lodge meeting; and other specific fund raising events for Lodge members and their families are also held regularly.
We are one of the largest charitable givers in the country, contributing more than £48 million to deserving causes in 2018. Click here to find out more.
Below are some of the charities that have recently received support from Freemasons.
Click on the image above to view the latest figures from the MCF
Welfare
Teddies for Loving Care – TLC
Teddies for Loving Care, or TLC as it is more commonly known, is a charity set up some 16 years ago by a Freemason in Essex. On taking his wife to their local A&E Department for treatment, they both quickly realised the fear that children must go through when they have to be admitted into A&E, so they set about forming a charity to raise funds from Freemasons.
It soon gathered momentum throughout the country and is now well established in all Provinces. TLC is now able to provide Teddies to A&E Departments for the staff to give to distressed children where they feel the Teddies would relieve their stress.
To date, Cheshire Freemasons have donated more than 161,000 Teddies to the A&E Departments in all of the major hospitals throughout Cheshire.
TLC also provides Teddies to Clatterbridge Children’s Cancer Care Unit where they are given to children who are being treated for cancer.
RMBI Care Home
The Royal Masonic Institution (now RMBI Care Co) operates 17 care homes across England & Wales. Caring has been their way of life since 1842 and they provide a home for over 1,000 people across England and Wales – while supporting many more.
Whether people need residential or nursing care, dementia support or limited sheltered accommodation, they are cared for professionally and kindly.
They treat people as individuals – and work together with everyone to design a care plan that meets their needs and allows them to experience wellbeing and meaningfulness.
Those members of the Masonic community who choose an RMBI Home have the security of knowing that they have a home for life, even if their financial circumstances change – as long as RMBI Care Co can still support their needs.
RMBI Care Co. is part of the Masonic Charitable Foundation – a new charity for Freemasons, for families, for everyone. For more information, please visit https://www.rmbi.org.uk/
PSA Testing
The simple Prostate Specific Antigen blood test (PSA) was introduced to the members of the Province in 2015 as a trial programme and is administered by Leighton Hospital Prostate Cancer Support Group, a charity concerned with men’s health.
A trial commenced in Area 2 but was very quickly taken up by the rest of the Province and has become an annual event across each of the five areas.
The number of members taking the test has grown substantially over the last 3 years and it has significantly raised their awareness in guarding themselves against Prostate Cancer.
The programme has now spread to other Masonic Provinces with a total of 12,000 members being tested to date, resulting in 750 members requiring further treatment and a further 500 being monitored.
Details of times and dates for the forthcoming year’s screening programmes can be obtained from your Area Chairman, Area Secretary or from area5secretary@cheshiremasons.co.uk
Cheshire Freemasons’ Charity also supports Leighton Hospital Prostate Cancer Support Group.
Masonic Charitable Foundation
Find out more here
The Masonic Charitable Foundation (MCF), the Freemasons’ Charity, builds better lives by encouraging opportunity, promoting independence and improving wellbeing for people across society.
Funded entirely through the generosity of Freemasons, their families and friends, the MCF is one of the largest charities in the country, providing a range of grants for charitable projects that help local communities across England and Wales, in addition to supporting individuals in need.
The MCF’s vision is that everyone has the opportunity to lead positive, active and fulfilling lives, especially those who are in need, disadvantaged or marginalised.
Supporting communities
Through the work of the MCF, Freemasonry is helping to tackle some of society’s most important issues, in particular:
- Tackling loneliness and social isolation in later life
- Providing opportunities for disadvantaged children
- Supporting bereavement projects in local hospices
To ensure Freemasonry’s funding has the greatest impact possible, the MCF awards grants to a range of local and national charities. To assist its funding, the MCF has formed partnerships with leading organisations in the charity sector, including Age UK, Hospice UK and Home-Start.
Founded in 2016, from the four long standing Freemasons’ Charities, during its first five years the MCF has awarded about £90m through more than 3,000 charitable grants – about £50,000 per day.
Responding to need
In addition, funding has been provided to 40 disaster relief appeals in England, Wales and overseas in response, to flooding, earthquakes and other natural disasters.
Freemasonry, through the MCF’s work, has continued to champion groundbreaking research and the scientists of tomorrow, by funding PhD studentships in partnership with leading charities and organisations that are creating a brighter future for many people affected by degenerative diseases.
To commemorate 300 years of Freemasonry in 2017, the MCF awarded an additional £3m to local charities in addition to its main grant-making programmes, inviting members of the public to vote on the distribution of funds.
In response to Covid-19, the MCF has worked in partnership with UGLE and local Freemasons to allocate £3.6m to projects and charities that have responded to, or been affected by, the pandemic.
Read some of the remarkable stories from across the country of how our members came together during the Covid-19 pandemic to help their communities.
Hooton Park Lodge No. 8156 