Over one hundred Masons were present for the celebration of the end of this year’s Have-a-Heart campaign at the Damascus Shrine Center in Webster on Saturday, March 31. It was highlighted by the presentation of a check for $12,800 from Gary Sanford, District Deputy Grand Master of The Grand Lodge F.&A.M., the Illustrious John W. McNaughton, Sovereign Grand Commander, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction and The Most Worshipful Neil L. Bidnik, Grand Master of Masons in the State of New York to Judie Griffin, director of the Ronald McDonald House on Westmoreland Drive in Rochester. This brings the grand total raised, since 1988, to approximately $212,000. This year’s campaign was headed by Mason George Foehner and, for the first time, it included efforts on the part of many Masonic organizations outside of Monroe County. It is the biggest community project in which local Masons and their Concordant Bodies in Western New York are involved. In accepting the check, Judie Griffin said that the Masons laid the cornerstone of the Westmoreland Home, which opened in 1990. She added that, in 2005, a second Ronald McDonald house was opened on the second floor of the Golisano Children’s Hospital wing at Strong Memorial Hospital and the Masons were involved with that program. “The Masons have been very consistent in their support of our efforts,” she noted. “It is a tribute that the Masons gave support to having families nearby to their critically ill children,” she said. According to Mason Frank Sassone, a Hamlin resident and member of Clio Lodge in Hilton, 14 Masonic Lodges ran their annual Have-a-Heart campaign in February, in their first collective endeavor involving lodges in and outside Monroe County. They set up booths in shopping malls and other locations providing a paper heart, for a donation, on which a person could write a loved one’s name and post it on the booth. The total of $12,800 included over $1,000 raised by the Clio Lodge in Hilton, with the help of the Order of the Eastern Star, Leah Chapter #183, the largest amount raised by any of the 14 lodges. Every penny is donated to the cause; the Masons absorb any associated costs, according to members. As indicated in the April issue of the “Masonic Times”: All Monroe District Lodges participated, as did members and families of the Eastern Star, Scottish Rite, Damascus Shriners, Shrine Clowns, Grotto, Brothers from Eureka Lodge, Prince Hall and Sisters from Estella Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star (PHA). The Brothers who participated outside of Monroe County included: Yates Lodge and Kendall Social from Niagara-Orleans District, Triluminar Lodge and Hesperus Lodge of the Genesee-Wyoming District, Genesee Lodge, Dansville Lodge, Nunda Station Lodge, Eunice Lodge and Union Lodge from Livingston District, Drumlin Square and Wayne Lodge of Wayne District, and Milnor Lodge and Eagle Lodge of Ontario/Seneca/Yates District. Corporate sponsors included: The Mall at Greece Ridge Center, Marketplace Mall and Eastview Mall, the Riverside Group for the donation of the die-cut paper hearts, Label World for the donation of the 20,000 Heart Stickers and Entercom Rochester Inc. for radio advertising. Contributors were also thanked. April 8, 2007 |
Have-a-Heart donation - At right, Gary Sanford, District Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge F.&A.M., The Illustrious John W. McNaughton, Sovereign Grand Commander, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction and Neil Bidnick, the Most Worshipful Grand Master of Masons in the State of New York, talk with Judie Griffin, executive director of the Ronald McDonald House in Rochester, who holds a check for $12,800. At the presentation on March 31, George Foehner explained what went into the effort to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House on Westmoreland Drive in Rochester before a ceremony where a check was presented. Foehner is the chairman of the Have-a-Heart campaign that started in 1988, the big community project for the Masons in this area. “This is the first year that the western New York Freemasons have collaborated on this program,” he said. “We’ll form a permanent committee (of these groups) to run things from here on out.” Photographs by Walter Horylev.