A Secret Worth Sharing

By Joseph Ferrell

My name is Right Worshipful Brother Joseph Ferrell, and I have a valuable secret to share with you. I have the honor of serving the Grand Lodge of Illinois A. F. & A. M. as its Junior Grand Warden. One of the duties of my office is to serve on the IMSAP Board of Managers, a Grand Lodge Committee. IMSAP is short for the Illinois Masonic Student Assistance Program which is one of our premier Illinois Masonic Charities. From its name, you might assume that this program might offer academic scholarships, grants or various forms of tutoring services to young people; however, that assumption would be incorrect. Here is where I begin to “spill the beans” to share a secret about the amazing work that this program does for the school districts and students across Illinois.

Let’s go back to the beginning. IMSAP started as a project generated from the Conference of Grand Masters of North America in which several grand jurisdictions, like the Grand Lodge of Illinois, agreed to participate. The Illinois Masonic Foundation for the Prevention of Drug and Alcohol Abuse was the first implementation of this project. As you can imagine, the program focused on drug and alcohol abuse prevention work; however, it was not tackled in the same way that similarly named efforts exist in the broader world. Though the fundamental mission of the program has remained the same, the program’s name was eventually changed to IMSAP. So, what does IMSAP do? The program provides professional training to teachers and school administrators. That training provides valuable information and skill development to help identify and appropriately deal with several behavioral challenges that can negatively impact students — preventing them from achieving their highest potential and growing into productive adults.

The IMSAP training experiences are tailored to specific topics, behaviors, and intervention techniques. In the initial version of the program, the training events were designed to help teachers and school administrators understand and identify the early signs of juvenile drug and alcohol abuse which provided opportunities for early positive intervention. From that initial focus of this professional training work, IMSAP has expanded the scope and number of training topics delivered to teachers and school administrators located in school districts across the state of Illinois. The catalogue of IMSAP training experiences has grown to more than 20 topics that are relevant to the challenges that young people face today as they learn, grow and develop.

Some of the topics include:

• The Art of Communication: Body Language and Other Essential Skills

• Courage to Lead: Integrity, Authenticity and Vulnerability

• Depression and Suicide Prevention Training

• Leveraging Cultural Differences to Promote Diversity and Equality

• Stressed Brains Can’t Learn

• Understanding and Teaching Children Affected by Poverty

The IMSAP training events are available at no cost to any school district in the state of Illinois. Realizing that it can be a challenge to free up teachers to attend IMSAP training events, the program provides financial support to schools (through the program’s expense reimbursement activities) which can offset the additional expense of securing substitute teachers.

Now that you have the secret revealed, how can you get more information and get your local school districts involved with IMSAP?

Contact Jennifer Ryle who is our IMSAP Coordinator in the Grand Lodge Office at 217-529-8900 ext. 219 or via email at imsap@ilmason.org. She works closely with the IMSAP Board of Managers, especially Right Worshipful Brother Angelo Deserio who serves as its Chairman. Through their combined talents and efforts (along with the support of Brethren throughout the state), we are proud to report that IMSAP has grown from delivering 8 training events per year to more than 30 training events planned during the 2021 fiscal year.

Here is where I ask you for something — Yes, you probably saw this coming. IMSAP truly has the potential to save lives and provide more adults to our communities who can positively contribute. As Freemasons, we advocate for and support the needs of young people because we know that they are literally the future of our communities. More specifically, with many of our Lodges throughout Illinois being greater than 150 years old, we know what the word “legacy” means, and the positive impact that freemasonry makes in our local communities. I encourage you to learn more about IMSAP, and if you know of a teacher or school administrator who would be interested in learning more about this valuable program, then pass along the website, www.IMSAP.org and connect them with Jennifer.

Lastly, I sincerely hope that this article has provided a more accurate understanding of IMSAP, this impactful charitable program that our fraternity provides to serve the communities across Illinois. Of course, you have my permission to share this wonderful secret with our local Brethren, along with your family, friends, and neighbors. v

Right Worshipful Brother Joseph Ferrell, Junior Grand Warden Grand Lodge of Illinois A.F. & A.M.