North Carolina Mason
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The BoTTom Line By Dalton W. Mayo Grand Master Charity extends beyond the grave On May 9, a group of us visited God's Half Acre following the quarterly board meeting of the Masonic Home for Chil- dren in Oxford. God's Half Acre is a cemetery on the campus primarily for children who died while a resident of what has been variously known under such names as asylum, orphanage, or children's home. ese graves go back to the latter part of the 1800s. Some cannot be identified. When you go to this place, you cannot help but feel that you are on hallowed ground. Most of us have never visited a children's cemetery. For some in our group on that Friday afternoon, it was their first time. We could not help but think about the circumstances that brought each child to us, what malady had taken their young lives, and how they came to rest in this small cemetery rather than nearer to their place of birth. e purpose of our visit on this occasion was to see the improvements that had been made to the cemetery, in- cluding the addition of a new fence surrounding it. Although they are not seeking recognition, I do want to tell you that Past Grand Master and Mrs. Dewey Preslar are the donors of the fence. If you don't already know, they have a very special place in their hearts for our Home for Children. Although there is little that we can do for those children now, we can provide them a place to rest in peace, protected from the interruption of unwelcome intruders. But, there is much we can do for those who are presently in our care. My thanks go to all the lodges and individuals who give of their resources and continue to make the Masonic Home for Chil- dren a place of refuge for those who are not as fortunate as we may have been. If you have not been to our home in Oxford, please make it a point to go. Brother Kevin Otis, adminis- trator, his assistant Brother Chris Richardson, and the entire staff have made it a wonderful place to live and to visit. It will make you proud to be a Mason. We now turn our attention to WhiteStone, our Masonic and Eastern Star Home in Greensboro. WhiteStone turned 100 years old last year. It has been substantially renovated and now is a true showplace. e next time you are in the area, please stop by and take a look around. It will give you a wonderful feeling to see what your donations are supporting. Historically, it was our intention to admit only those residents who had Masonic connections. We were able to make this model work until about eight years ago when we ran into severe funding problems and almost lost our home. When you admit someone into our home and promise them a lifetime of care regardless of their ability to pay, you have done a wonderful thing, but it has to be paid for. We reached the point that our income was not suf- ficient to do this, and we either had to change our way of doing business or we had to shut our doors. By admitting those who were able to pay, regardless of whether they had Masonic affilia- tions or not, we were able to cover our bills and keep our home in operation. is was a drastic move, but I hope you understand that it was absolutely necessary. We have about 45 residents with Masonic connections who were admitted to WhiteStone over the years whose expenses are being supplemented or completely paid for by your donations. When you plan your charitable fundraisers or personal donations, please keep these residents in mind. ey are still depending on us to maintain the level of support we promised when they entered our home. Brother Mark Kolada, administrator of WhiteStone, told us about the late Mable Baker when he made his report at our district meetings. Mrs. Baker was one our residents that we sup- ported during the thirteen years she spent at the home. She kept a diary in which she disclosed that she never imagined she would be able to live at such a place as WhiteStone. It was a dream come true for her and she was full of gratitude to us for making her stay at such a wonderful place possible. ere are more Mable Bakers out there who need our support and who are depending on us to make it possible to spend their last years in dignity and security. We ought not to forget them. I am happy to tell you that, thanks to the hard work of Brother Mark Kolada and his staff, and Past Grand Master Gene Jernigan, chairman of the Board at WhiteStone and his dedicated board members, we have reached the point that we can accept a lim- ited number of residents with Masonic connections who cannot afford to pay the full costs of living there. We are hoping that this is just the beginning of our return to those days when char- ity was our byword. To make this dream a reality, a foundation has been established called the Masonic and Eastern Star Home LLC. Donations to this foundation made out to MESH Founda- tion LLC will guarantee that these funds will go to support only Masonically connected residents. Our third charity, the Masonic Foundation, doesn't get much publicity, but it is doing a wonderful job of supporting our other two charities. Its annual contributions to each of them are made possible by earnings on investments and by your donations. I can- not overstate what a great job the Masonic Foundation has done for us over the years. I'm using this public forum to offer my sin- cere thanks to the members of the Foundation Board for all they do to support Masonic charity in North Carolina. My thanks also go out to all of you who remember the foundation when you dis- tribute your charitable donations. In closing, I leave you with this quote from Albert Pike, who many of you recognize as a famous Masonic scholar: "What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal." see FISH, page 4 The Mason NORTH CAROLINA Official Publication of e Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of North Carolina Volume 139 Number 3 Oxford, North Carolina May/June 2014 ROXBORO — Shortly after Person 113 moved into its newly completed temple in 1964, the members sold plates of fried fish as a way of raising money for the Masonic Home for Children in Oxford and WhiteStone, the Masonic and Eastern Star Home in Greens- boro. e next year they did the same thing. And the next — and the next. ey plowed some funds back into their cooking equipment and supplies. us began a partnership of Per- son Lodge and their community that has en- dured and grown for 50 years. Early on Friday, May 2, with temperatures in the 50s, a crew of lodge members, their fam- ilies, and community volunteers began light- ing burners, preparing flounder, stirring hush puppy batter, and packing cole slaw cups. Just a couple of hours later with opening time ap- proaching, a light breeze carried tantalizing aromas from the outdoor cooking pavilion throughout the grounds as workers toted large trays of sizzling flounder and hush puppies to the dining room and shuttled packaged to-go dinners to the road crew in front of the temple. Fifty years of fish in Roxboro By Anderson White At 11:00 a.m., cars that had queued on Leas- burg Road began moving, and diners in a grow- ing line waiting for the doors to open took their seats in the dining room. e Annual Fish Fry had begun — for the 50 th time. Planning began in January when new of- ficers assumed their stations, and the lodge's yearly calendar took shape. e prices of qual- ity flounder filets as well as cooking oil and pro- pane vary from year to year, and lately, the trend has been up. "Unless there's a last-minute price change from our vendors, we know the cost of a plate of fish and trimmings almost down to the dime," said Michael Day, senior warden of Per- son Lodge. "at lets us set the ticket price early so we can go forward with our advertising and get tickets printed. Our goals are to sell a fish dinner that's a good value for our friends in the community and still lets us maintain our level of giving to the Masonic Charities." "e Roxboro and Person County commu- nity as well as our Eastern Star really does turn