Archived Charity News Nov - Dec 09

 

The Freemasons’ Grand Charity distributes funds for Hospices

 

Continuing an annual programme of support, The Freemasons’ Grand Charity is donating £500,000 to hospices across England and Wales.  The money is an important contribution towards the millions of pounds needed each and every year to ensure these respected services can continue providing free physical, emotional, social and spiritual care to patients and their families.  In total 225 services will receive a grant. In addition to this grant £150,000 was awarded to Lifelites, to provide educational and recreation technology for children in hospices.

Freemasons have been dedicated in their support for hospices across England and Wales for the past 25 years, and this year takes the total donations to the sector to more than £8 million, complementing the generosity Provincial and individual Masonic Lodges regularly show for their local services. 

see the list of Hospice Grants: CLICK HERE

Visit The Freemasons’ Grand Charity website at www.grandcharity.org

 

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25th November 2009

£10,000 FOR CUMBRIAN FLOOD RELIEF EFFORTS

 

 

In response to the extreme flooding which has taken place in Cumbria, the President of The Freemasons’ Grand Charity has approved an emergency grant of £10,000 to the Provincial Grand Lodge of Cumberland and Westmorland who are directing the funds to the Cumbria Community Foundation.

It has been estimated that 1,300 homes across Cumbria have been affected by flooding, with several hundred people displaced and more than 1,000 households left without power
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Environment Secretary, Hilary Benn, told the Commons "I saw for myself on Friday and Saturday in Cockermouth just what an effect the torrent of water had on homes, businesses and communities. It is utterly devastating."

Founded in 1999 by Cumbria Council, the Cumbria Community Foundation remains dedicated to improving the lives of disadvantaged people in Cumbria. The Cumbria Flood Recovery Fund has been set up to provide financial help for people who have been affected. The first phase of grant making will concentrate on the elderly, disabled and families with children under five years old. The Fund will also assist community groups that are helping out with advice, information, counselling, and activities for children and young people. In 2005 The Freemasons’ Grand Charity sent £5,000 in emergency funds to the Cumbria Community Foundation in response to the previous Cumbrian floods.

In parallel with support for wider relief efforts, The Freemasons’ Grand Charity will be assisting individual Masons and their dependants, who have been affected by these events, through Masonic Relief Grants which are given to relieve hardship.

Notes:

For further information regarding the Flood Relief Appeal please go to http://www.cumbwestmasons.co.uk/ or contact Siobhan McCarthy at The Freemasons’ Grand Charity on 020 7395 9385.

Visit The Freemasons’ Grand Charity website at www.grandcharity.org

 

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Flood Relief: Southern India - £25,000 - Oct 09

The President of The Freemasons' Grand Charity has approved an emergency grant of £25,000 to Save the Children, following the Kirshna River bursting its banks flooding 5 districts in India.  The grant will help 20 of the worst affected villages in Southern India by providing them with essential and life-saving relief, as many families were unable to salvage even basic hygiene materials, cooking utensils or dry clothes.

To date, nearly two million people have been affected by the severe flooding which has caused destruction to homes, agricultural land and livelihoods. Tragically, the disaster has claimed over 300 lives and more than 70,000 homes have been severely damaged, resulting in half a million people being displaced to relief camps in Andhra Pradesh and a further 650,000 people are in temporary shelter in Karnataka.

The money given to Save the Children will supply 30,000 people with use of water pumps, household kits, educational kits and child friendly spaces where children can go to receive a meal each day and access clean water. There is particular concern that the 800,000 and more children affected are vulnerable to malnutrition and waterborne illnesses which could easily increase the death toll.

For further information about the grant please contact Katrina Baker on 020 7395 9314

 

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From the Central Masonic Charities

Please find attached the second of the new quarterly reports which show the value of grants made by the four central Masonic Charities (The Freemasons’ Grand Charity, Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys, Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution and the Masonic Samaritan Fund).  The report shows the values of the grants made and the number of beneficiaries for each charity by Province over the last 12 months.  It also shows the total value of the grants for the past 5 years.
 
As explained when the first report was issued in July, the move of the four charities has prompted us to review many ways in which the charities can work together to provide a better service to the Provinces. The flow of information from the charities to the Provinces is one area which would benefit from a more co-ordinated approach. We intend to provide you with a report on a quarterly basis on what each of the charities is doing for Freemasons and their dependants within the Provinces. It is also hoped that the information will be made available on the Provincial Information Officers’ website.

In deciding what information should be provided in the report, we have considered our responsibilities under the Data Protection Act 1998 and our responsibilities to safeguard the children and vulnerable adults we deal with. This has resulted in the decision that some of the more detailed personal information (such as names of beneficiaries or dates of birth) which the charities might have provided in the past will no longer be available
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We hope this information will be useful for Provincial year-books, and will substitute many of the individual requests for information each of the charities receives on a regular basis. We also hope that it will assist you, both in fundraising, and in demonstrating the support which is available from the central Masonic charities.

The Freemasons’ Grand Charity will be back in touch with you again in January with the next update. In the meantime, we welcome any feedback you would like to give on the quarterly report. Please contact the individual charity concerned for any statistics enquiries.

Yours faithfully,
Sent on behalf of the four central Masonic Charities

SEE THE REPORT HERE

 

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Non-Masonic charities awarded nearly £400,000

 

Projects supporting people living with disabilities and research into the cause and treatment of illness and disease are amongst the latest beneficiaries of grants to non-Masonic charities.  In total, £397,500 will be shared between eleven national charities bringing many positive benefits to the wider community.

A grant of £50,000 was approved for Calibre, a charity that provides a library of recorded books for people with disabilities.  The grant will fund a project to update from audio cassettes to CDs.  £75,000 was approved for Cancer Research UK to help fund a trial for treating pancreatic cancer.  The Leonard Cheshire Foundation will receive £40,000 to help fund the building of a high dependency unit.  Scope, the charity that supports disabled people, particularly those with cerebral palsy, has had approval for a grant of £50,000 over two years, to fund a volunteer befriending service.

All of the grants are part of The Freemasons’ Grand Charity’s programme of support for non-Masonic charities that reflect issues of interest, concern and relevance to Masons and their families.

Major grants approved at the General Meeting of The Grand Charity

VULNERABLE PEOPLE

CALIBRE AUDIO LIBRARY.  A grant of £50,000 to Calibre Audio Library to fund the conversion of the existing library from cassette tape into MP3 format and the production of new digital audio books was approved.  Calibre Audio Library provides a free postal library service to over 19,200 members who are unable to read print as a result of a physical disability, visual impairment or dyslexia.  The library has over 8,000 adult titles and 1,400 children’s books.

GUIDEPOSTS TRUST.  A grant of £12,000 to Guideposts to fund an employment training and work experience scheme in Hertfordshire for people with learning difficulties was approved.  Guideposts provides direct services for people with dementia, learning disabilities and mental health problems across England including vocational training, help at home, befriending schemes and community activities.

LEONARD CHESHIRE DISABILITY.  A grant of £40,000 to fund a new high dependency unit in Bedfordshire providing palliative care for people with severe physical disabilities was approved.   The unit will be located alongside an existing residential service and will provide specialist care and become a centre of excellence in end of life care for severely disabled people.   Leonard Cheshire provides support for about 20,000 disabled people through more than 200 services including 80 residential homes.

NATIONAL STAR COLLEGE.  A grant of £20,000 to the National Star College to fund a studio flat within a new student residence for use by severely disabled young people to practise independent living skills was approved.  National Star College provides specialist further education, therapy and independence training at a college in Gloucestershire for young people with severe physical disabilities or acquired brain injuries.

RAINBOW CHILDREN’S TRUST.  A grant of £25,000 to the Rainbow Children’s Trust to fund a family support worker in Manchester was approved.  The charity provides emotional and practical support to families who have a child with a life-threatening or terminal illness through personal home-based and community care and respite breaks.  Family support workers provide family care for 24 hours a day giving support to the child and advice and practical help to the family.

SCOPE.  A grant of £50,000 over 2 years to Scope to fund the Face2Face Befriending Service was approved.  Face2Face provides a trained volunteer to befriend a family whose child is newly diagnosed with a disability and the network is expanding to include a web-based, online service.   Each volunteer is also a parent of a disabled child and so has a unique understanding of the issues and is well-placed to offer emotional and practical support.  Scope supports more than 20,000 disabled people through schools, colleges, employment services and residential homes.

SOUNDABOUT.  A grant of £10,500 to Soundabout to fund an outreach service providing training in specialist schools to enable profoundly disabled children to communicate and interact with the world around them using music and sound was approved.  The outreach programme includes taster days and intensive training in using sound to stimulate movement and expression for children with complex disabilities who are unable to communicate verbally.

ACORNS CHILDREN’S HOSPICES. In memory of a past member of the Council, WBro Rodney Pitham, PSGD, who died since its last meeting, the Council recommends that a sum of £100,000 be placed at its disposal for a project in support of the Acorns Children’s Hospice Trust.  The late Brother Pitham, who had been a member of the Council for the past four years, three of which he had been Chairman of the Non-Masonic Grants Committee, was also a trustee of the Acorns Children’s Hospice Trust.  The Trust operates three hospices in Selly Oak, Walsall and Worcester.  The Council will determine a suitable project and will report further at a later date.

YOUTH OPPORTUNITIES

TRAIL-BLAZERS.  A grant of £10,000 to fund a mentoring project for young people at Brinsford Young Offenders Institution in Wolverhampton was approved.  The charity recruits, trains and supervises volunteers to become mentors to young offenders aged 15 to 21 for six months pre-release and nine months post release.

MEDICAL RESEARCH

CANCER RESEARCH UK.  A grant of £75,000 to Cancer Research UK to fund a research project on pancreatic cancer led by Professor Neoptolemos at Liverpool University was approved.  The TeloVac trial for people with advanced pancreatic cancer will add a new vaccine to standard chemotherapy and thereby the researchers hope to create a new standard of care for the disease.

RELIGIOUS BUILDINGS

EXETER CATHEDRAL.  A grant of £5,000 to contribute to the Third Millennium Campaign to support repairs and renovations to the Cathedral. 

 

Visit The Freemasons’ Grand Charity website at www.grandcharity.org

 

For further information contact Michael Montagu on 020 7395 3296 or by email mmontagu@The-grand-charity.org.

 

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The Freemasons' Grand Charity continues to support
air ambulances in 2009     

 

The Freemasons' Grand Charity is pleased to continue its support for the potentially life-saving services provided nationally by eighteen air ambulance charities, with a further grant of £180,000.

As in 2008, Provincial and Metropolitan Grand Lodges were invited to nominate a service to receive a £4,000 share of the total grant.  During the summer, representatives of the Provincial Grand Lodges have been visiting their local helipads, meeting the air ambulance crews and presenting cheques for the donations. For example see the Presentation by Cheshire, East Lancashire and West Lancashire HERE.

See how the grant of £180,000 has been shared between the air ambulance charities on the Freemasons' Grand Charity air ambulances page.

 

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Grand Charity Information Release - 14 August 2009

 

National charities receive £15,500 from The Freemasons’ Grand Charity

The latest grants announced by The Freemasons’ Grand Charity will benefit seven charities active in the area of vulnerable people.  In total more than £15,500 is to be distributed to the organisations through The Freemasons’ Grand Charity’s Minor Grants Scheme.

For further information contact:
Katrina Baker on 020 7395 9314 or Natasha Treweek on 020 7395 9394.
Visit The Freemasons’ Grand Charity’s website at www.grandcharity.org

 

Visit The Freemasons’ Grand Charity website HERE

Also see previous news:

CLICK HERE and HERE