Bancroft Masonic Lodge donates $2,000 to Maggie’s

By Michael Riley

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Bancroft Masonic Lodge No. 482 donated $2,000 to Maggie's Resource Centre North Hastings on Sept. 6. The donation, according to Kim McMunn, executive director of Maggie's, will be used to expand their programming offerings. McMunn and Lodge member Barry Brenham comment on this donation.
Brenham told Bancroft This Week on Sept. 5 that for about 25 years, except during COVID-19, visiting Masons from anywhere and their guests have met for coffee and doughnuts at their Lodge building on Friday mornings. He said that attendees need not be Masons and spouses and partners are encouraged to join them.  
“Like any coffee club discussions are varied and are meant to solve the problems of the world but have yet to succeed with that task. We are all there for a good time and enjoy each other's company. [Fellow Lodge member] Eric Mueller and I are the unpaid staff and keep the operation going. No money is charged of the attendees and we exist in donations which, after expenses, we use for worthwhile programs after it accumulates sufficiently,” he says.  
Brenham said that they believe Maggie's is a very worthwhile program in the community.
“We are proud to be able to donate this sum to support them in this very necessary program which supports vulnerable women and children in our community,” he says.
The Bancroft Masonic Lodge No. 482 is part of the Freemasonry network of lodges around the world. It is where Freemasons meet and hold their meetings. The earliest masonic texts date back to the late 14th century, while the first Grand Lodge was established in 1717. The Bancroft Masonic Lodge was established in 1905 and has been in its current building since 1910. They regularly raise money through donations and give to worthy causes every year.
Maggie's Resource Centre is a community based not for profit agency that provides a wide range of services from a feminist perspective to rural women in North Hastings. They provide crisis counselling, information and advocacy, transportation to a safe environment, referral to community services, court support, a counselling program to support and empower women, twenty-four-hour access to emergency support services, access to resource material and community education on issues of violence against women, men and children, including violence prevention. For more information, go to www.maggiesresourcecentre.com.
McMunn told Bancroft This Week the donation from the Bancroft Masonic Lodge was quite a surprise and they didn't know it was coming.
“It's not something that was solicited,” she says. “So, to hear from members of the community, just out of the blue that they'd like to support our organization, it was quite thrilling!”