TLC Appeal - Teddies for Loving Care

Fund raising for the supply of Cuddly Toys to Hospital A & E units for Children in Severe Distress

Every year Freemasons help thousands of people in need.
~ How? ~
By donating millions of pounds to charitable causes.

The Lodge of Amity and Rossendale Forest No.283 supports Masonic and Non-Masonic Charities alike and is:

• Grand Patron Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys
• Patron New Samaritan Fund
• Grand Patron RMBI 2015 Festival
• Grand Patron East Lancashire Masonic Charity 2020/21

From its earliest days, Freemasonry has been concerned with the care of orphans, the sick and the aged. This work continues today. In addition, large sums are given to national and local charities.

Freemasons are taught to practise charity and to care - not only for their own - but also for the community as a whole, both by charitable giving and by voluntary efforts and works as individuals.

Freemasons donate individually and collectively to Masonic Charities and indeed to Non-Masonic Charities also.

Grants are frequently made from Masonic Charities to help:

• Local: such as Hospices, Air Ambulance etc.
• National: such as RNLI, Help for Heroes, Parkinson's UK, Medical Research etc., and
• International appeals: such as Earthquakes, Floods and Famine Relief etc.

The East Lancashire Masonic Charity (ELMC) is here to care for and to afford charitable assistance to needy Freemasons or their widows or to any of their dependent relatives, and to reach out to others in the communities in which we live who are deserving of our charitable support.

Support for those less fortunate than ourselves has long been a feature of our Masonic activity throughout the history of this Province. In the eighteenth century, charity was disbursed by individual Lodges on behalf of their members. In 1815, Grand Lodge ordained that a Province could establish a Local fund for charitable and other Masonic purposes, and then, in 1853, a meeting of Provincial Grand Lodge in Blackburn established a Fund of Benevolence (known as the East Lancashire Masonic Benevolence Institution [ELMBI], but now known as ELMC). Eventually a Committee was formed to promote the interests of charity.

This Committee included one representative from each Lodge in the Province. This was the origin of the Lodge Charity representative, now known as the Lodge Charity Steward.

Lodge Charity Steward

Freemasonry in the Community

The Community Fund (East Lancahire) Supporting the Local Community.

Other Grants made from the Community Fund

Further information on these charities and the purpose they serve (many of which are for the benefit of non-Masonic Charities and organisations, such as the RNLI) can be obtained by using the above internet links.

East Lancashire Masonic Charity (Vice Patron)
Grants to the Local Community.

Freemasonry is thought to have its origins in the guilds of the middle ages, which were set up to regulate standards of training and workmanship in the building trades, and to provide comfort and relief for those who were injured, or too old or ill to continue working. As such they were a form of 'benefit society' for the less fortunate members of the trade guild. Nowadays, with a modern welfare state, there is little need for such societies and much of the fund raising carried out by Freemasons now supports the Masonic Charitable Foundation, Provincial Masonic Charity and local Charities at District and Lodge level.

ELMC £50,000 donation funds Patient Information Zone in new Diabetes Centre at the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust

The £50,000 donation will help make a difference to diabetes patients from across the North West of England. The donation in support of Manchester Royal Infirmary Charity's Diabetes Appeal will help the hospital to relocate its Diabetes Centre into a more vibrant and spacious patient-friendly building and continue to be a leading centre for Diabetes care. [ Read more ]