Published: April 26, 2008 10:59 pm            

Frontier Lodge gives back

Frontier Lodge 48, Stillwater, has been awarded the Masonic Information Center’s coveted Mark Twain Masonic Awareness Award in recognition of its exemplary work in constructing a positive Masonic identity within the lodge and throughout the local community.

Lodges nationwide participated in the 2007 Twain Award competition as part of the growing network of lodges that are working together brother by brother, lodge by lodge to achieve the goals expressed in the report “It’s About Time; Moving Masonry into the 21st Century.”

Richard E. Fletcher, executive secretary of the Masonic Information Center, says “The number of entries more than doubled in 2007, and the quality of the winners raised the bar for next year’s competition.” Fletcher continues, “The MIC provides Twain Award competition guidelines through its web site and through numerous publications; this year, we’ve posted online video updates at important stages of the competition.”

Frontier Lodge participated in a number of community activities this past year, including Student and Teacher of Today, a High School Essay contest and fund raisers for the Mya Gonzalez Foundation. “Our lodge and the youth group, DeMolay, have been involved with the Special Olympics for a number of years,” stated Steve Singleton, master of the lodge. “When we heard about the Mya Gonzales Foundation starting up in Stillwater, we knew it would be a worthy cause to get behind.” The Mya Gonzales Foundation is a non-profit organization created as an educational resource and support system for children with Down Syndrome and other special needs.

“Lodge by lodge, we see new levels of enthusiasm for communicating the relevance of Freemasonry to members and to our communities,” says Fletcher. “The Twain competition is just one way that our new and veteran members are working together to innovate Masonic education and communication.”

Most historians believe Freemasonry arose from stonemasons’ guilds in the Middle Ages and began to flourish in the 1700’s in Europe and the American Colonies.

Today, North America’s Masonic Fraternity provides fellowship for over 1.5 million members. Masons are known throughout their communities for their work with schools, hospitals and speech and language clinics.

Find out more by visiting the Masonic Service Association of North America (MSANA) at http://www.msana.com.

        

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