North Carolina Mason
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/5195
September/October 2009 The North Carolina Mason Page 7
MiLepoSTS
Senior MomenTS
Outreach programs introduced
By Mark Kolada
Administrator
WhiteStone
Let me help Masonry's charities
❍ e North Carolina Masonic Foundation
❍ WhiteStone (MESH)
❍ e Masonic Home for Children
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Mail to e Grand Lodge of North Carolina,
PO Box 6506, Raleigh, NC 27628.
"Find out how much God has given you and from it take what
you need; the remainder is needed by others." — Saint Augustine
Recently the Board of Directors of WhiteStone, residents,
staff, and members of Life Care Services, came together to
participate in a strategic planning session that discussed cer-
tain initiatives for WhiteStone to work on over the next sev-
eral years. Out of this productive workshop, four priorities for
the future emerged:
• Continuing to build our financial endowment with increased
efforts to fundraise and increase donations, gifts, and endowments
• Staying on top of the advances in technology and ensuring
that WhiteStone stay informed of industry changes and how to
best utilize advances to make our residents lives better and our
employees more efficient
• Continue to focus on improving the high quality of services
and care for our residents
• Develop WhiteStone as an outreach hub that provides charity
and services to those fraternal members and their families in need
off campus. is last priority is one that WhiteStone has already
begun to implement and represents the future of WhiteStone's
fraternal charity in North Carolina.
One of the challenges WhiteStone has faced has been to figure
out how best to provide financially sustainable charity. e reality
was that for many years, the community did a lot more charity
than it could afford. Recently, difficult decisions were made by the
Board of Directors to help make the amount of charity more in
line with the amount of financial support given by the fraternities.
I am pleased to report that as of today, WhiteStone has made sig-
nificant progress towards this goal and, as a result, has stabilized
its finances and is improving. As we plan for the future of our
charity though, the question has been posed, "Where do we go
from here, and how do we continue to best carry out our mission
of providing assistance to elderly members in need?"
One of the areas that WhiteStone is exploring is a more out-
reached base charity program, where assistance comes to the in-
dividual in need, rather than the person going to the source of
assistance (in this case WhiteStone in Greensboro). In learning
more about Masonic outreach programs in other states such as
Tennessee, Missouri, and Connecticut, we learned that White-
Stone could potentially help more members and expand services
offered. We can do this and be more cost-effective in our charity.
So as a result, I am pleased to announce the addition of two new
services that we hope will help provide support for those in need
throughout the whole state.
e first program that is now available is the Medical Equip-
ment Loan Program. WhiteStone currently has more medical
equipment than its existing residents can use. Right now, in stor-
age at WhiteStone are wheelchairs, scooters, electric wheelchairs,
walkers, and so on that are not being used. is equipment is in
excellent condition, and could be of use to someone within the
fraternity. e idea of the program is that if you or someone you
know needs a piece of medical equipment, you can call White-
Stone and request a loan of equipment needed at no cost. When
the person is done with the equipment, they simply will return it
to WhiteStone so that someone else may use it. WhiteStone staff
and volunteers will even deliver the equipment to you or ship it if
necessary, all at no cost.
e second program that is now available through our out-
reach program is a case management hotline that will help frater-
nal members and their families access health and social services in
their respective community. Our staff at WhiteStone has experi-
ence helping residents access government programs such as Med-
icaid, Medicare, and veteran benefits. ey can help find afford-
able housing, and they can do the same things for you or someone
you know. While our staff may not have all the answers you need,
they will be able to put you in contact with someone who can and
help you navigate the bureaucracy when needed.
In the coming weeks, each Masonic lodge and Eastern Star
chapter will be receiving a poster to place in the lodge to get the
word out about these two programs. e toll-free number to call
to access either medical equipment loan program or to access the
case management services is (877) 784-9309. We hope members
will find both programs valuable and that it will help a brother
or family member in need. Also, note that if you have a piece
of medical equipment that you would like to donate, please give
us a call and we will be happy to add to our inventory. It is our
hope that while we continue to do charity work on our campus
in Greensboro, that these outreach programs are a start of a new
era of assistance that will hopefully help more members in need
throughout the state.
As always, if you have any questions or need more information
about the community, feel free to call me at (336) 547-2992 or
email me at