And it is a great and wonderful thing that Freemasonry has the resources to assist our Brothers when and if they fall on hard times. That we can provide relief so that they can get restarted financially after a stumble is a tremendous service that our Lodges, Grand Lodges, and other Masonic organizations provide.
I do sometimes worry that we may be so concerned about our large Masonic charitable endeavors that we might forget the Mason in need sitting with us in our Lodge, but on the whole, I think that we do our best to assist our Brothers, and that we are impactful when we do.
But, I think, that there is the key for this to work.
Masonic relief exists in order to assist a Brother who has met financial disaster because something happened in his life.
It doesn’t exist in order to assist a Brother on a continual basis because is own poor decision making or actions put him in the hole over and over again. That isn’t relief, that is enablement.
And I do fear that relief can, in some cases, turn into enablement. I imagine that all of us who have been active Freemasons long enough have seen that happen.
So that’s what I’m hopeful we can discuss today.
When we receive a request for Masonic relief, how can we best discern if granting that relief will serve to help the Brother past his temporary difficulty, instead of enabling poor decision making and actions into the future?
Let’s chat about it…
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I'm of the thought that part of the entire reason why our fraternity exists is that we're supposed to look after each other, and that includes passing a few bucks when needed. I know myself I have benefited from such generosity when I was a new mason and struggling financially. More than one brother would buy me dinner, or slip me a $20 dollar bill under the table. We had lost our restaurant to a devastating fire and suddenly a good money stream vanished in an instant. I was suddenly faced with the issue of supporting the family on my salary alone, which was tough. There were days I couldn't even go to work, having to take a vacation or sick day because I couldn't afford the two dollars in bus fare. I had to sell some of my things just to pay the mortgage.
Eventually I was able to dig myself out of the hole and I'm doing much better financially, but there were times when things were hard, and part of how I got through it all was a few brothers who lent a helping hand.
The lodges I've been associated with have WM discretionary funds, to dole out as he sees fit. Unfortunately, it normally only amounts to maybe a couple hundred bucks. Maybe 50 years ago that was a princely sum, but by todays standards, it won't even buy a weeks groceries, let alone the catastrophic events you're describing. There was one time I went around during dinner passing a hat to raise money to help send a brother to see his daughter's graduation in Florida. We raised $400 dollars, enough to buy his plane tickets and a couple nights in a hotel. But the WM funds budgeted for that wouldn't even come close to it.
Lodges need to rethink those types of funds, and make sure it's budgeted for a much more realistic number. Yes, there are other avenues to get relief as well, but the lodge should be the best place for help.
And it needs to be kept anonymous. I've been in lodges where the secretary read off the check and who it was paid to and from what funds. That's a serious no-no. Why embarrass a brother like that in open lodge?
I wholeheartedly agree with helping a Brother when he needs help. The issue that I and I’m sure a lot of brothers have is overcoming our pride and asking for the help. Unless it’s common knowledge, like WB Glenn’s fire, most of us would never know if a Brother is struggling. This is just another example of why we need to be doing more than reading the minutes.
That happened in my lodge two months ago. We had a brother that need help and he was given all that he needed at the time. However he asked for more and didn't make any attempt to do anything to help himself so the lodge enacted a tough love policy and told him he had to make changes in his life to better himself. He hasn't done so and we returned the money back into our brotherhood account.
There was a lot of soul searching done and we came to the conclusion that he had to make an effort to help himself to receive any from the lodge.
I personally think it's a very good idea and wholeheartedly support all such initiatives and ideas.
Fortunately, this did not happen to me, and as far as I know, there has never been a case like this in my lodge. But unfortunately, I consider it a very realistic situation, for which I think every lodge should develop some kind of "scenario" according to its possibilities.
What I also find important is that in these cases, I think it's not a bad idea if the person who is in trouble talk about it, but at least partially shares their story. I think this simply because it is possible that some kind of "idea exchange" will start and together we will be able to find an even more effective solution.
Okay, of course, for this I think the lodge must have such an atmosphere and the members of the lodge must have such a relationship with each other. A recent story reminds me of this. A few weeks ago, one of our brothers said the following after finishing work. "Guys, I had a very, very s..t day today. But as soon as I arrived at the lodge, I somehow forgot all my worries and problems". Sometimes maybe this is just enough and we can face any problem with renewed energy.
By way of sharing a different angle on this, I am familiar with a Lodge that is wealthy enough to provide significant relief, should it choose. It struggles to do so, however, due to disharmony over spending policies.
One pattern which has emerged from discussions, over time, relates to how differently "wealth" is viewed by those who built their financial lives using 1970 to 2000 dollars vs those attempting to do the same using post-2000 dollars.
Younger Brothers face a fundamentally harsher economy than that which was enjoyed by many living elders. I believe it is important for an intergenerational institution, such as Masonry, to be aware and mindful that - for the first time in American history - coming generations are financially worse off than all those before.
I'm of the thought that part of the entire reason why our fraternity exists is that we're supposed to look after each other, and that includes passing a few bucks when needed. I know myself I have benefited from such generosity when I was a new mason and struggling financially. More than one brother would buy me dinner, or slip me a $20 dollar bill under the table. We had lost our restaurant to a devastating fire and suddenly a good money stream vanished in an instant. I was suddenly faced with the issue of supporting the family on my salary alone, which was tough. There were days I couldn't even go to work, having to take a vacation or sick day because I couldn't afford the two dollars in bus fare. I had to sell some of my things just to pay the mortgage.
Eventually I was able to dig myself out of the hole and I'm doing much better financially, but there were times when things were hard, and part of how I got through it all was a few brothers who lent a helping hand.
The lodges I've been associated with have WM discretionary funds, to dole out as he sees fit. Unfortunately, it normally only amounts to maybe a couple hundred bucks. Maybe 50 years ago that was a princely sum, but by todays standards, it won't even buy a weeks groceries, let alone the catastrophic events you're describing. There was one time I went around during dinner passing a hat to raise money to help send a brother to see his daughter's graduation in Florida. We raised $400 dollars, enough to buy his plane tickets and a couple nights in a hotel. But the WM funds budgeted for that wouldn't even come close to it.
Lodges need to rethink those types of funds, and make sure it's budgeted for a much more realistic number. Yes, there are other avenues to get relief as well, but the lodge should be the best place for help.
And it needs to be kept anonymous. I've been in lodges where the secretary read off the check and who it was paid to and from what funds. That's a serious no-no. Why embarrass a brother like that in open lodge?
I wholeheartedly agree with helping a Brother when he needs help. The issue that I and I’m sure a lot of brothers have is overcoming our pride and asking for the help. Unless it’s common knowledge, like WB Glenn’s fire, most of us would never know if a Brother is struggling. This is just another example of why we need to be doing more than reading the minutes.
That happened in my lodge two months ago. We had a brother that need help and he was given all that he needed at the time. However he asked for more and didn't make any attempt to do anything to help himself so the lodge enacted a tough love policy and told him he had to make changes in his life to better himself. He hasn't done so and we returned the money back into our brotherhood account.
There was a lot of soul searching done and we came to the conclusion that he had to make an effort to help himself to receive any from the lodge.
I personally think it's a very good idea and wholeheartedly support all such initiatives and ideas.
Fortunately, this did not happen to me, and as far as I know, there has never been a case like this in my lodge. But unfortunately, I consider it a very realistic situation, for which I think every lodge should develop some kind of "scenario" according to its possibilities.
What I also find important is that in these cases, I think it's not a bad idea if the person who is in trouble talk about it, but at least partially shares their story. I think this simply because it is possible that some kind of "idea exchange" will start and together we will be able to find an even more effective solution.
Okay, of course, for this I think the lodge must have such an atmosphere and the members of the lodge must have such a relationship with each other. A recent story reminds me of this. A few weeks ago, one of our brothers said the following after finishing work. "Guys, I had a very, very s..t day today. But as soon as I arrived at the lodge, I somehow forgot all my worries and problems". Sometimes maybe this is just enough and we can face any problem with renewed energy.
By way of sharing a different angle on this, I am familiar with a Lodge that is wealthy enough to provide significant relief, should it choose. It struggles to do so, however, due to disharmony over spending policies.
One pattern which has emerged from discussions, over time, relates to how differently "wealth" is viewed by those who built their financial lives using 1970 to 2000 dollars vs those attempting to do the same using post-2000 dollars.
Younger Brothers face a fundamentally harsher economy than that which was enjoyed by many living elders. I believe it is important for an intergenerational institution, such as Masonry, to be aware and mindful that - for the first time in American history - coming generations are financially worse off than all those before.