Encouraging Local Volunteerism In Your Masonic Lodge

by Christopher Hodapp

Are members of your lodge especially active in volunteering in your community? Or are you looking for ways to get your lodge involved in local volunteer programs to help your town or neighborhood? For many years, Americorps and the Points of Light global network have jointly awarded the President's Volunteer Service Awards to hundreds of individuals and organizations all over the U.S. in recognition of their dedication and service to local communities. Masons and Masonic lodges are among the different types of civic, social, religious and non-profit organizations that qualify for the award.

From the program's website:

In 2003, the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation founded the President’s Volunteer Service Award to recognize the important role of volunteers in America’s strength and national identity. This award honors individuals whose service positively impacts communities in every corner of the nation and inspires those around them to take action, too.

The PVSA has continued under each administration since that time, honoring the volunteers who are using their time and talents to solve some of the toughest challenges facing our nation. Led by the AmeriCorps and managed in partnership with Points of Light, this program allows Certifying Organizations to recognize their most exceptional volunteers.

In order for a lodge to participate and make its members eligible, it must become a Certifying Organization by filling out an application and taking a short quiz to be sure you understand the program's requirements.

A Certifying Organization is an organization that has been granted authority through an application and review process to give out the PVSA to volunteers. Certifying Organizations verify and certify that a volunteer has met the requirements to receive a PVSA within a 12 month period specified by the Certifying Organization. Only Certifying Organizations can certify volunteers’ eligibility for the PVSA and order awards.

Certifying Organizations must be established and operate in the United States, its territories (Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Northern Mariana Islands), or on overseas U.S. military and state installations. Additionally, Certifying Organizations must receive or facilitate volunteer service.

The award has several different levels, depending upon how many hours in a 12-month period are provided by an individual or (Bronze, Silver, Gold and Lifetime) for "unpaid acts of volunteer service benefitting others." 

In the agreement, your lodge becomes a certifying organization that keeps careful track of how many hours are volunteered, who performed that service, and reporting them to the awards program. The lodge also agrees to cover the cost of the award package itself, which, if you go whole hog on the options, costs less than $30. The award can include the official President’s Volunteer Service Award pin, coin, or medallion; a personalized certificate of achievement; and letter signed by the President.

There is a detailed FAQ about eligibility requirements HERE.

Once the proper level of hours is reached, the lodge nominates that member for the award, and confers it when it arrives. The award is also accompanied by a congratulatory letter from the sitting President of the United States. Before anyone starts caterwauling about presidential politics, understand that every president since George W. Bush has supported this program. It is a completely non-partisan program designed to recognize and reward volunteerism, and Americorps relies on you as their certifying organization to tabulate the hours and apply for the awards.

Root around on the awards website HERE for lots more information about it. 

Also have a look at the Points Of Light Global Network website for ways to get your local lodge involved in civic volunteerism. Groups like United Way work with churches, lodges and other similar groups to pair volunteers with programs in the community.

The COVID Lull: What Is Your Lodge Doing?

by Christopher Hodapp

How is your Masonic lodge responding to the almost nationwide shutdown of group activities as the coronavirus restrictions roll along?

Here in my own jurisdiction, my Mother lodge wasted no time in organizing a "virtual refreshment" Thursday night. Brethren connected via the Jitsu.org internet platform with their webcams and smartphones because Broad Ripple Lodge wouldn't be complete without a Thursday night meetup. I'm sure countless other Masonic lodges around the world are attempting something similar using Zoom, Skype, Teams, or other group video chatting and meeting solutions. If you are new to the idea, here's a list of some of the more common systems available.

Masonic education committees and just individual brethren everywhere are busily working on creating online video, audio or PowerPoint programs. Meanwhile, vast numbers of brethren are taking this golden opportunity to learn new parts of their ritual, or reacquaint themselves with old ones. 

If you're a lodge Master, consider this little addition. Earlier this week I mentioned a Closing Charge for Master Mason lodges that many jurisdictions require, but others don't. Some states, like my own, permit this to be done by the Master as an option, and print it in their Monitor. It's been around for over 200 years in the U.S. The Brethren of Waco Lodge No. 92 in Texas posted this image from Jeremy Cross' True Masonic Chart in 1819. All of our brethren should take it to heart, and it's an important reminder to our members worth repeating after every meeting. 

No time like the present to learn it, if it's not required in your neck of the Masonic woods.

Many grand masters have encouraged their area Masons to reach out and connect with their fellow brethren to be sure anyone needing assistance can get it, especially during this extraordinary and bizarre moment in time when enforced physical isolation is the rule almost everywhere. We should all be doing that without being reminded. If you have a lodge Brother who is currently bedridden at home or in the hospital, see if he has a smartphone, tablet or laptop and maybe include him in your virtual meetups. Or just check on his condition and cheer him up by utilizing Facetime or other video application.

Don't forget your lodge's widows at this time, too. Pay special attention to members and widows who are living alone right now. Everybody is using food delivery services to pick up dinner from their favorite local restaurants. Nothing prevents any of us from doing just that ourselves and delivering dinner occasionally to our shut-in members, as long as you wear gloves and use recommended hygiene practices.

But what about the wider communities in which we reside? What can Masons do to help our neighborhoods?

Masons in Belfast, Northern Ireland are delivering 300 'Rescue Packs' to the elderly that include eight rolls of toilet paper. Hard to believe that toilet paper would become such a vital and weak link in this crazy situation, but it has. Brethren at Belfast's Crumlin Masonic Hall have taken on the problem.

Brethren of Iowa's Mahaska lodge in pre-COVID days

Brethren of Mahaska Lodge 644 in Oskaloosa, Iowa made their offer to the community a simple one: the lodge announced that Freemasonry is filled with young, healthy men that are ready and willing to assist with running general errands, like picking up groceries or prescriptions. All anyone needs to do is contact the lodge and they'll come running. 

This Alameda, California food bank normally needs a hundred
volunteers a day to operate under normal circumstances

While most cities and states are requesting or demanding groups avoid social gathering, that hasn't negated the need for warm bodies to volunteer to distribute supplies all over the country. Many church congregations have stepped up in some cases, and there's no reason why Masons cannot or should not be doing it, too. 

Case in point: stories are appearing all across the country that food banks are being especially hard hit because their normal volunteer partner groups are staying home. In many populated areas, the bigger food pantries require a hundred or more volunteers every day just to deal with the demands of sorting, packing and stocking food and supplies. But volunteers (who are traditionally retirees and now the most at-risk members of the population) are staying home, and donations of both money and food are drying up.

A story from San Francisco reported Thursday that nineteen food pantries in the Silicon Valley which normally serve 2,400 households or more a week in usual circumstances have already shut down, with more expected to close by this weekend. In San Francisco, the number of pantries that had closed jumped from thirteen on Wednesday to nearly thirty on Thursday, out of a total of about 200. (Colorado had a similar story on Wednesday So did Iowa and countless others - it's the same all over the country.)

Drive-thru food bank at a church in Oregon

It's harder now than ever for families and individuals who rely on food pantries, as hoarding, panic buying, and distribution chain disruptions have decimated grocery stores and old reliables like Walmart and Sam's Club. In response to the volunteer shortages, some food banks have started pop-up, drive-thru food pantries in parking lots in areas where central distribution sites have closed. In areas with fewer services than urban areas, families may have nowhere else to turn. Churches have been stepping in at many locations. Masonic lodges might consider this, as well.

The largest food bank in Indiana, Gleanor's in Indianapolis, was just supported with a major donation by Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay. He announced via the local newspaper that he would kick in a million dollars to Gleanor's if citizens first raised $200,000. Donations poured in and hit over $300,000 in less than a day. Not every city or town has a local millionaire to do this sort of thing. Perhaps grand lodges or Scottish Rite valleys might consider a similar kind of challenge grant to help their communities and to remind citizens that we are still alive and well and vital to them.

It's the sort of thing we Masons used to do in an earlier time.

Has your lodge, chapter, valley or grand lodge come up with its own unique program to help your town or city during the COVID pandemic? Share your ideas with me and I'll be happy to pass along what you're doing here. Send me your stories at hodapp@aol.com or comment at the link below.

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