Masons from around the region donate $11,000 to RR Hosp.

By Jack Elliott
Correspondent

This past Saturday, the Ionic Lodge of Rainy River, hosted the Western District meeting of the Masonic Lodge of Ontario.
The Western District is composed of ten local Masonic Lodges including Ionic 461, Rainy River, Keewatin 417, Pequonga 414, and Lake of the Woods, 445, all of Kenora, Sioux Lookout 518, Golden Star 484 of Dryden, Granite 445 of Fort Frances, Atikokan 668, Manitou 631 of Emo, and Chukuni 660 of Red Lake.
The Masonic Lodge is an inclusive worldwide fraternal organization open to men regardless of their religious affiliation. In Ontario there are 640 Lodges with over 70,000 members. One focus of the Masons’ is public and private charitable works.
A tradition of the Western District of the Masons each year is to designate a charity in the District Deputy Grand Master’s home lodge as a beneficiary. In past years the Kenora Hospital received funding for its CAT Scan unit, and Sioux Lookout targeted funding to its Special Olympics. With this past year’s DDGM being Dan Johnson of Rainy River’s Ionic Lodge, the recipient was the Rainy River Hospital. Over 40 Western District Masons were on hand Saturday to present a cheque for $11,000 to Tammy McNally, Nurse Manager of the Rainy River Hospital.
On hand for the presentation was Clinton Park, 104, a resident of the Long Term wing of the Rainy River Health Care Centre, which is attached to Rainy River Hospital. Park, frail, but still sharp as a tack, has been a Mason for 79 years and was Master of the local Ionic Lodge in 1936
This contribution to the Rainy River Hospital from the Western District Lodges is “all done from within,” explained Johnson. The monies are from member donations, not from fundraising activities like raffles etc.
DDGM for the coming year is Bob Cox from Atikokan, but no word yet on what lucky organization in that community will be the recipient of the Masons’ generosity.