On the 15th October, Mark Hilder of the Lodge of Welcome No. 5664, accompanied by Rob Tattersall, the Lodge’s Almoner, visited the Leicester Royal Infirmary Neonatal Unit to present a cheque for £2,000 for the purchase of a specialist electric adjustable cot.
The money was raised by the Lodge over the last 12 months during Mark’s leadership. This rounded off a successful year for Mark and the Lodge of Welcome with an excess of £4,000 being donated to local charities and good causes. A big thank you must go out to the Charity Steward, Simon Pegg, for his hard work throughout the year.
After Covid, the charity function of the Lodge of Welcome was completely revitalised and is now in form. When Simon became Charity Steward, his ambition was to create a charitable environment within the Lodge and to ensure that the Lodge made a real difference to the local community. The Lodge efforts extended to support The Baldwin Trust, the Air Ambulance, Kaleidoscope, and the brethren from Devonshire Court invited annually to a Christmas Lodge. The latter has proved very popular with the members of Devonshire Court, and the Lodge prides itself on ensuring they have a great time. This incentive is driven by W. Bro John Pinnock and financed by the Lodge Charity fund.
He created a ‘Lodge Charity Committee’ and encouraged brethren to commit to a lodge standing order of £5 per month (some did more, while others donated a one-off amount). He also raised some extraordinary raffles, competitions, and various other incentives. One particular Christmas Lodge night raised £1,000 in cash for charity; a great achievement.
Once the Lodge had raised their money, the challenge was set to nominate suitable charities and good causes to donate to in order to make the greatest impact. As a result of this strategy, over the past twelve months, the Lodge of Welcome has donated over £6,000 to local charities. Their latest high-profile donation was the purchase of a "height adjustable cot" for the neo-natal unit at the Leicester Royal Infirmary.
Related Posts
