THE VA CHAPEL PROJECT
The VA Chapel Project or many years the Masons of the District of Columbia have assisted in transporting patients in the nursing home at the Washington, D.C. Veterans Hospital to their worship services on Sunday mornings. Each week one of our Lodges visits the hospital and assists wheelchair bound veterans make their way to religious services offered in the “All Faiths Chapel.” In the past the Masons of this jurisdiction have contributed a piano and an organ to this Chapel, as well as a bus to the nursing home.
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Now there is another need, one to which we can respond, and one which has commanded the attention of our Grand Master. The Chapel is undergoing renovation to provide more space for wheel-chair bound worshippers. Associated with this renovation effort will be a necessary reconfiguration of the pews used by ambulatory patients. The Grand Master has received an appeal to provide funds for the purchase and installation of new pews in the Chapel. Seeing an opportunity for Masons of the jurisdiction to express their concern for ill veteran’s, he has launched a campaign to raise $28,000 for this cause. This drive is, in fact, his benevolent objective for the year. All donations will certainly be appreciated and donors are urged to send their tax-deducible contributions to the
Jesse Villarreal Junior Grand Deacon Masonic Foundation of D.C., 5428 MacArthur Blvd., N.W., Washington, D.C., 20016-2524. Checks thus submitted should indicate that they are earmarked for “the VA Project.” Further, all donations will be recognized. It is the Grand Master’s hope that every D.C. Mason will elect to play a role in achieving the goal he seeks. It is also his hope that lodges having a flexible charitable budget, will want to consider purchasing a dedicated pew. They may do so at a cost of $1,500 per pew. On pews thus purchased, by lodges or individuals, memorial plates will be affixed. It is the hope of the Grand Master that this project will be successfully concluded in ample time to permit interested Masons to join him in making a presentation of our collected funds on Veteran’s Day on November 11th of this year. Won’t you accept the challenge and do your part to make his planned presentation a reality? Remember, my brethren, that every human being has a claim on your kind offices; do good unto all, more especially to the household of the faithful. We are, after all, our brother’s keeper.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS July – December 2006
The Voice of Freemasonry
26
July 4
Palisades Parade and Picnic
August 20
Grand Lodge Officers visit Veterans Hospital
September 15–16
Fall Leadership Conference at the 4-H Center in Front Royal, Virginia
October 20–21
Grand Master’s Class at Scottish Rite Temple
November 4
Lodge and Family Visitation of the Grand Lodge
December 9
Grand Lodge Annual Communication
December 16
Third Communication of the Grand Lodge; Installation of Officers
