Looking around right now there is no shortage of groups who need a helping hand and we know that hundreds, maybe thousands, of families in Leeds are struggling. One of The Lodge of Dawn’s newest brethren, Bro Eóin Byrne, saw this situation and wanted to use the power of Freemasonry to make a difference. He suggested that we, as a lodge, should start a monthly collection for a local food bank.
Eóin put together a proposal, and a draft plan as to how he saw this working, and this was put forward to the lodge committee. This was immediately approved and lodge committee gave it their full blessing and Eoin started to get the ball rolling.
The food bank that the Lodge of Dawn chose to work with is Let’s Eat, based in Chapeltown and run by CFYDC, for whom the lodge previously secured a grant for, in order to build an all-weather sports pitch. Once contact was made with CYDC, their Service Manager, Will Bowler, was more than happy to let us trial our donations. They sent the lodge a shopping list of the key items that they needed which was passed on to the brethren.
Usually running a collection like this you would assume it would go somewhat under the radar and that items might arrive in dribs and drabs. That was certainly not the case with the brethren at The Lodge of Dawn !!
The first drop off collection was agreed for the regular December ceremony, 21st. However upon the announcement of the scheme, before the in-person collection was due to take place, brethren were emailing or texting pledging and donating cash towards the fund and within three days almost £600 had been collected. Knowing that CFYDC’s final food collection of the year was the day after the proposed drop off collection, it was decided to make sure that supplies were with them as soon as possible so they could start getting food parcels together. Eoin shopped around a number of wholesalers and supermarkets to find where the lodge could get the most value for money and an order was placed which arrived at the end of the first week of the initiative. On Friday 16th December, before the in-lodge collection had even begun, the first batch was delivered to CFYDC. The delivery totalled 24 crates of food, pictured below.
In total the delivery consisted of;
- 192 tins of soup
- 96 ready meals
- 96 tins of beans
- 60kg of pasta
- 48 packets of biscuits
- 34 boxes of cereal
- 25 jars of pasta sauce
- 24 tins of peas
- 24 tins of spaghetti
Upon receipt of the goods, Let’s Eat sent over a message saying, “I am amazed at the value of this delivery. Truly, truly thankful. Many thanks to you and all your members for the donation. Much appreciated. God Bless You All.”
But that wasn’t all. At the collection at the lodge meeting on Tuesday 20th December many brethren arrived carrying bags and boxes of items to donate on top of everything they had given before. The few crates that had been purchased to store the foodstuff were soon overflowing and it took more than a few trips to stow everything securely.
The food was dropped off to CFYDC the following day to make sure that every last item could be made available before the food bank closed over Christmas.
Eóin said, “It was genuinely overwhelming to see the selflessness and generosity of the brethren over the last few weeks as we started our partnership with CFYDC.”
He continued, “It’s our plan for this to be the beginning of a relationship that lasts until banks like this are no longer needed. But in the meantime we’ll do what we can every month to make sure that the people of Chapeltown who might fall on hard times have a little less to worry about.”
Charitable giving is a key part of masonic life. You can read more about The Lodge of Dawn’s charitable activity here.
If you are a Leeds-based charity and are interested in applying for a grant, please see our simple guide here.
Joining The Lodge of Dawn
If you are not a Freemason and, having read the above, would like to find out more, read our Seven Reason to Join The Freemasons, our guide on ‘How to join The Freemasons‘ or our simple ‘What is Freemasonry?’ page.
And if you would like to join The Lodge of Dawn in Leeds, please feel free to get in touch via our ‘Contact Us’ page.