What We Do As Masons And Eastern Stars
Contributions to the United Negro College Fund Annually

Scholarship Program - we have provided scholarships to support those children who may not have gone to college or their families would have faced a hardship trying to pay their tuitions. This program was started in 1957 under then MWGM George Farrar with a $3,000 scholarship, today some 45 years later we have contributed over $1.3 million in scholarships to over 3,500 students. Our own brothers and sisters raised all but $25,000 donated by the Buick Corp. in 1997.

The American Red Cross- we began working with the ARC in 1952 unofficially. In 1975 under the leadership of then Most Worship Grand Master John Howard. That year we donated 1,85 pints of blood. What a way to start a blood program. To day we have at least three bloodmobiles annually and average just over 100 pints. We rank around the top of the donors list for organizations our size. This is a very important project for any organization. Many of our members and their families have benefited from blood donated by our organization. Lead for many years by the Blood Bank Chairman, PM Henry Harrison Bonner from Hiram Lodge #4 we sailed to higher heights within the Red Cross Blood program. PM Bonner would attend Red Cross classes at the Red Cross headquarters on 18th Street NW. These classes included CPR, how to take blood pressure, check a person's pulse and other important particulars regarding health. This was truly a life saving project and we continue to support these programs today.

NAACP - We started membership drives with the NAACP dated back to the early 1950s, there are some who say we started in the 1940s. We have continually held membership drives annually. If you would take the time to look on the west walls of the south hall on the fifth floor, you will see the lifetime memberships of all of the lodges in this jurisdiction.

Lombardi Cancer Center/GTU Hospital - This is a joint project started in 1999 by MWPGM Willie H. Griffin to make the brothers more aware of prostate cancer. Under the leadership of Dr. Jackson Davis III (Doric Lodge #19) and Ralph Turner, RN (Prudence Lodge #27), this program has been presented to approximately 500 brothers to date. This program has been directly accredited to saving lives of many of our brothers. At our annual Health Day Program held at the Temple, many of the brothers are voluntarily take the test for prostrate cancer.

Breast Cancer Walk - Under the direction of Grand Worthy Matron Margaret E. Anderson, the GTGC started its Breast Cancer Awareness Program in 2001. The Breast Cancer Awareness Walk was to raise funds for breast cancer research.
Information was made available on prevention and detection. This is a partnership project with the Howard University Hospital. The amount of $8,000.00 has been donated to date for research. The second Breast Cancer Walk 2002 will be held on Saturday, October 5, 2002. Donations can be made to the GTGC 5K Breast Cancer Walk.

Volunteers at Hospitals - Many of our retirees transport patients to and from the hospitals daily and weekly. Others volunteer use their 4-wheel drive vehicle during the winter when we have deep snow to carry doctors and nurses to and from area hospitals. They are not paid for this; it is a service we provide to help others to save lives.

Adopt a School Program - This program was started more than 20 years ago. One of our first schools was Garrison Elementary on 13th NW. The lodges and the chapters sponsored purchase and distribute school supplies to selected students based on the information from the schools and families. Our aim here is provide the supplies needed some of the children's families cannot afford to buy. This program can be credited with helping children from low-income families stay in school.

Clothing/Shoe Drive - Here is another program where the lodges and chapters have worked in concert over many years to provide new or clean clothes for distribution to needed children. We also raise money to purchase shoes for those needy students. In working with the students through our mentoring partnership, most students miss schools because they don't have clothes and shoes to wear. Some wear shabby or dirty clothes and badly worn out shoes and the other students make fun of them. This distracts them from their studies and makes them feel inferior to other. What we do here has a four-fold affect. By dressing better they gain personal esteem, they come to school regularly, they pay attention to the teachers and they learn more.

Bread of Life Program -Then MWGM Willie H. Griffin started this program in June of 1999. This month marks the third anniversary of this program. I along with several other brothers and sisters were selected by MWPGM Griffin to get this program started. We began by picking up the bread on Thursday evening from Noah's Ark in NE Washington. We held our first bread give away program on the north side of the Temple facing the METRO station. On that day we distributed 1,000 loaves of bread and assorted bakery goods. To get our program recognized and to get more prominence throughout the city, we moved to the Anacostia of SE area. With permission from the Honorable S.C. Madison, leader of the United House of Prayer for All People, we distributed bread from the UHOPFAP church located on Howard Road S.E. adjacent to the Anacostia METRO Station. We distributed flyers to people at the METRO station let them know of our bread give-away prior to our going over there. On that same Saturday we had brothers and sisters distribute bread from the Ambassador Baptist Church at Minn. Ave & Good Hope Road, SE. Needless to say, we (the Masons) made a big impression on the people in the far southeast area. On the following Saturday with the asking, the MWGM Willie Griffin along with Rev. Settles, the pastor of Ambassador Baptist Church put together a grand opening program. This too was very successful, many people came out and we had a picture taking session with Rev. Settles. On the preceding Saturday we moved to Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church located at Alabama Ave. and Naylor Road at the request of Rev. Leon Lipscomb, the pastor.

We certainly owe a lot of thanks to those churches and their pastors for their support of this worthwhile project. George Ford and Bro. Rodney Lattisaw from the UHOPFAP, along with Rev. Settles and Rev Limpscomb worked along with us to get the programs started in their churches. The UHOPFAP location was used to get people aware that we were giving away bread in that area. Since that time we are still distributing from Ambassador and Allen Chapel Churches in the far southeast area. Last year we started delivery to a nursing home in the far southeast.

We are now providing bread and other bakery goods to needy families, Nursing homes, senior citizens homes and to many churches. Our distribution is throughout the city and the Maryland suburbs of Prince Georges County. To date we have distributed over 1 million loaves of bread and other bakery products.

Redecoration/Renovation Fund - MWGM John Ellington, Jr. initiated this volunteer fund raiser in May of 2001 to raise money to redecorate and renovate the Masonic Temple. To date we have raise a total of $30, 366.88. This money will be used to upgrade our AC and heating units, renovate restrooms, paint, replace light fixtures, renovate our kitchens on the 2nd and 4th floors and other items as the fund increases. One of our major projects will be to replace the old elevators that were installed in the early sixties. This is an ongoing fund that has not really gotten off the ground. We currently have 309 brothers and sister who have donated to this project. If we are to get the things done mentioned, we must all contribute.

Senior Citizens Home - We are currently working with the DC Government to start construction of a senior citizens home at Fort Lincoln New Town. This will be a major accomplishment for MWPHGL of DC. We started this project in 1997 under then MWGM Warren R. Whitely. Delays in this project are due to water levels in the area from the adjacent Anacostia River. DC Government is working to correct this problem.

Youth Fraternities - We also have our own children groups, the Knights of Pythagoras and the Phyllis S. Byrd Youth Fraternity. The Phyllis S. Byrd Youth Fraternity O.E.S., P.H.A. was formally organized with 25 members in 1956 by PIGM Phyllis S. Byrd of Queen Esther Chapter #1. In 1990 and thereafter, yearly contributions of $1,500 or more have been made to the DC Boarder Babies project. Barbara Wells is the current directress of the girls, Phyllis S. Byrd Youth Fraternity.

The Knights of Pythagoras was organized in 1977 by then MWGM Edward E.
Marshall, Jr. (6) and rejuvenation by then MWGM Roland D. Williams. The
Knights of Pythagoras is an organization of youths, who are supervised by Master Masons. The primary objective is the development of our youth spiritually, mentally and physically. It is because our youth are our future, that we must invest in them. The boys do community outreach programs like visiting and taking Christmas Baskets to the Hospital for Cripple Children, assist in packaging and delivery of food baskets to needy families during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. The boys hold their Encampment in July of each year. There is a picnic and an awards program to honor those boys who have made achievements. The PSBYF has an awards program also.

Junior Achievement Program - From 1993 - 1994 the MWPGHL did a pilot project with the Junior Achievement. This was a two year program to teach our youth fraternity how to run a business. The WSGD Willie H. Griffin and ten (10) brothers and sisters of the craft worked with this group girls and boys from the PSBYF and KOP to develop a plan to sell items to make money for their little business. This program was a great success and the Junior Achievement's Corporate Headquarters in Kensington, MD honored us. Our group of youth received awards and certificates for the efforts.

MWPHGL College of Masonry

Established in 2000 under the leadership of Grand Master Willie H. Griffin. This is currently a four college course covering all aspects of Masonry. The course study includes classes on budget and administrative management. The Dean of the college is Most Worshipful Past Grand Master Roland D. Williams and associate deans Past Grand Worthy Matron Jane Robinson-Levant and Right Worshipful Grand Trustee William Q. Taylor. The instructors are brothers and sisters of the craft who have the skills to teach certain subjects. This college is in its four year and we have brothers and sisters graduating this year.

Our latest Community Outreach Project- Mentoring/Tutoring - The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Washington partnered with Experience Corps headquartered at 1726 12th Street, NW in the Thurgood Marshall Building. The parent company, Ameri Corp is headquartered in San Francisco, CA. This partnership was to assist in helping young boys in the 5th and 6th grades with their studies and to provide mentoring. Most of the boys we tutor and mentor do not have fathers or coming from a drug crashed family. By taking the time to work with these boys, we can keep them going to a world of crime. We currently have 10 members serving as mentors, 2 of which are part-time volunteers (15 hours per week) at the James G. Birney Elementary School in the Barry Farms area of southeast DC. One of the key principles of our organization is service to the community and we have found that Experience Corps affords us an excellent opportunity to fulfill our mission.

Some of our accomplishments with the James G. Birney Elementary and Experience Corp Project:

Taken Classes on Field trips - Our group has planned and taken trips to the Air and Space Museum, MLK Library, National Museum of African Arts, Natl.
Zoo, visited the slave ship AMISTAD when it was docked at the DC Waterfront. To close out the school year we sponsored a cookout/picnic for one of the 5th grade classes.

Helping Students for the Spelling Bee - Our mentees finished 1, 3, 4, and 5 in the Birney Elementary Spelling Bee. The 1st and 3rd place winners went to the regional finals at Eastern High School.

Helping Students for the Science Fair Projects - One of our mentees finished 2nd in the Birney Elementary School Science Fair Project.

Mentor/Tutoring Cross-pollination - our group of men at Birney Elementary have a close bond, much like the plants. We call it cross- pollination, where we share information with our mentees based on our life experiences. This enables us to keep the mentees attention.

We can't forget the outstanding manner in which Leroy Owens, the principal, James Webb, the assistant principal and the teachers of Birney Elementary School have supported our efforts.

PM James Short(L-24) - an assistant fire chief and Bro. Donald Edwards (24) a former DC Fire Chief and many of the firemen have contributed much to the success of the MWPHGL accomplishments with the children.

We look forward to increasing our staff by 10 men the next year. We are actively recruiting. This program is mentioned at every monthly meeting of the GL Officers.

In closing my Brothers please remember, to realize the beauty of the principles of our time-honored institution, not only while in the Lodge, but also abroad in the world. Subdue every discordant passion within us. May we love one another in the bonds of union and friendship.