REPORT OF THE DISTRICT BOARD OF BENEVOLENCE TO THE

 

ANNUAL COMMUNICATION

 

 OF THE DISTRICT GRAND LODGE OF GUYANA

 

Saturday, 21th March 2009.

 

Rt. Worshipful Dist. Grand Master, Deputy Dist. Grand Master; Assistant Dist. Grand Master & Brethren all.

 

Following the Half- Yearly Communication on the 27th September, 2008 the Board held three meetings during the reporting period of October 2008 to March 2009. The first meeting was held in November 2008, the second meeting was held in December 2008 & the third meeting was held on February 2009. At the meeting held in November 2008, the programme of work for the remainder of the Board’s year was discussed and finalized, in addition, the meeting was used to update the members of the Board on the financial status of our fundraising activity; a financial report was presented by the Vice- President of the Board, W. Bro. Victor I. Hopkinson.

 

The work programme as outlined, agreed that the District Board of Benevolence, would continue to persist in the effort previously made to contact the Lodges in the District, in an attempt to be more proactive in addressing the needs of our less fortunate Brethren by communicating with the Secretary and Almoner of the Lodges to solicit their assistance in identifying those Brethren who are in need of assistance; in attempting to achieve this goal the Board invited the Almoner of the Lodges to some of our meetings.

 

Brethren, it is felt in some quarters that benevolence could be defined as a process where one feels much for others, and little for ourselves, to restrain our selfish, and exercise our benevolent affections, constitutes the perfection of human nature, therefore in this world it is not what we take up but what we give up that makes us rich.

 

Hence, the highlight of the reporting period was the ability of the Board to positively respond in a timely manner to requests for assistance from our less fortunate Brethren; in so doing the Board received requests for and disbursed the sum of $735,000.00 to the Brethren of the Lodges in the District. The Board was also able to provide cheer to our widows by disbursing the sum of $240,000.00 towards the Widows Appreciation Programme; 12 widows were the recipients of the Christmas Cheer. Three of the recipients were in fact widows of Brethren who were members of the Scottish Constitution. The reaction of the recipients on receiving the gifts, the thank you cards received and also from the expressions of appreciation, clearly indicated that  benevolent feelings ennobles the most trifling actions,  this annual feature was certainly a worthwhile gesture.

 

The fund raising activity (The Guyanese Lunch) which was held on 5th October 2008, was a success and was well supported by the members of the various Lodges, the activity raised the sum of  $730,639.00. The board acknowledges the support it received from some 12 companies & 6 individuals. The money accrued from this activity was used for the benevolent activities during the reporting period.

 

As part of the work programme for the year 2008- 2009, the Board also worked with the Dist. Grand Charity Steward & his committee to identify 10 charitable organizations, each charitable organization receiving $100,000.00, and the disbursement was done at a simple but impressive ceremony at Freemason’s Hall,   Company Path.

 

Additionally, the polo shirts which are being sold as part of our fund raising activity are presently on sale and could be bought after this meeting. The shirts carry a Masonic logo with the wording “Friends of Benevolence, Guyana”, and the colours of the shirts are blue, white and maroon, the cost per shirt is $3000.00. These shirts are being sold as part of the fund raising activities of the Board for 2009.

 

Some additional information has been received pertaining to the Provident Fund, copies of the Constitution and Rules of the Trinidad and Tobago Masonic Charitable Organization were given to Members of the Board of Benevolence for their comments and suggestions. Copies were to be sent to the District Grand Master and the District Grand Charity Steward.

 

The Board was represented at the meetings of the Board of General purposes where the work plan of the Board of Benevolence was discussed & updated and the Board of General Purposes made suggestions re: The Improvement of the Board’s Work.

 

The Board at it’s meeting on the 14th February, 2009 decided that the fund raising activity (The Guyanese Lunch) will be held on Sunday, 27th September, 2009 at the Georgetown Cricket Club (G.C.C); Bourda. It is our hope that the softball cricket match will be played between representatives of the Scottish & English Constitutions; that is if the Scottish Constitution accepts the challenge.

 

Finally, I want to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to those Brethren who served on the Board during the last Masonic year for their cooperation and support. Thanks to W .Bro. Victor I. Hopkinson, who was elected as the Vice President of the Board, W. Bro. R. Nigel Cumberbatch who was elected as the secretary, W. Bro. Michael McLean Davis, W. Bro. Wilfred Lee, W. Bro. John Ramotar, W. Bro. Ronald Reece, W. Bro Dr. Roger Viapree and W .Bro. Richard Hing, and special mention must be made of the assistance the Board received from the Deputy District Grand Master, Wor. Bro. Doodnauth Persaud &.  District Grand Secretary, W. Bro Ivor O’Brien and it would be remiss of me if I did not express my appreciation to those Brethren and friends who assisted in making our fund raising event and indeed the other activities of the Board such a huge success.

 

Report submitted by

 

Wor. Bro. Dunstan Barrow

President

District Board of Benevolence

 21th March 2009