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Early in February, I was contacted as Master of the Lodge by the Muscular Dystrophy Association. The MDA was calling on community and business leaders in the San Carlos / Belmont area to help them with a specific project, the Summer Camp program.
Simply putting it, the goal was to raise $1,600 or enough to send 2 children with MDA within our local community to Summer Camp in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
After discussing the matter with the Charity Committee and the Wardens, it was decided it was a good idea to participate. For multiple reasons, this project was the spark Peninsula Masonic Lodge #168 needed to raise its profile in the local community.
Beside helping children for a worthy cause, it was also putting the name of the Lodge and Freemasonry in a good and charitable light in our community. If you think hard, this is exactly the purpose of the lodge in the outside or profane world. The Brethren know the duty of the lodge towards them when we are in a tiled meeting but outside of the lodge, we still need to be active in our community, as individual or as a group of members of the lodge. What a better way to do both in one time?
The negative side? I will have to go to jail for that one except if I could raise my bail which was fixed at $1,600. What a convenient number.
So here we were. Starting on a complete new path that hasn’t been done in many years in our community. While the request was done right after the Stated Meeting, we still started pushing the information out to the memberships. The first ones to contribute without asking any question were Marianne and Tauno Somppi. It was a good start less than 1 day after the announcement. Taking the opportunity of the Family Dinner more funds were raised. Then a little war of who bids more starting to happen on the MDA website which in the end saw your Worshipful Master prevailed... (at least up to the day of the deadline which was February 28th).
Over the next few weeks, a lot of energy was poured in to keep the memberships to contribute. The Scottish Rite Valley of Burlingame generously contributed the largest amount to the bail “to keep me in jail” and brethren from other lodges started to also contribute. To all of them and you know who you area -
THANK YOU!
Then, Worshipful Larry Pogreba gave me a check, very discreetly and quietly as usual. To my surprise, his generous contribution got us actually to pass the $1,600 mark. I knew then that I was going to be able to pay my bail but more importantly, look at the child acting as a judge (and suffering from MDA) for the MDA event and knowing in my heart that we made a difference. I was proud of my Brethren, friends and family.
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