Eight Yorkshire charities – including two from Harrogate – are to be the financial winners when Freemasons nationally celebrate the fraternity’s 300th anniversary.
To celebrate the Tercentenary of the first Grand Lodge, the Masonic Charitable Foundation (MCF) has pledged to give £3m to 300 organisations nationwide, with the Province of Yorkshire West Riding – which incorporates West, South, and parts of North and East, Yorkshire – being earmarked to receive £79,000.
And, for the first time in the MCF’s history, the size of the grant given to the shortlisted eight will be determined by a public vote, with the winners being announced in the summer.
Those from the region that have been selected for a grant are:
- Vision Support Harrogate District
- Paperworks (Harrogate) Limited
- Leeds based Learning Partnerships
- Selby District Peter Pan Nursery
- Halifax based Skillshop Limited
- Motive8 Bradford Ltd
- Aurora Wellbeing Centre in Mexborough
- Autism Plus in Sheffield and Thorne
The regional charity that receives the most votes will be awarded £25k, whilst two will receive £15k each, two £6k each and three £4k each.
Rt W Bro David S Pratt, Provincial Grand Master of the Province of Yorkshire West Riding, said: Charitable giving has been at the very heart of Freemasonry since the formation of the first Grand Lodge of England 300 years ago.
As one of the many ways in which we are marking this significant milestone, the Masonic Charitable Foundation is making £3m available to 300 charities.
I’m delighted to say that eight charities from within our Province will benefit financially from this fantastic community awards initiative.
Through these grants we hope we will achieve our core charitable aims of relieving sickness and poverty, advancing education and supporting the most disadvantaged within our communities.
This year, our own Province is also marking its bicentenary, and we are increasing the annual amount we award to charities via the Provincial Grand Master’s Fund from £200,000 to £300,000.
Again, this will benefit a huge number of organisations doing wonderful work across our Province.
To vote for a charity, and to find out more about the MCF, members of the public are asked to visit https://mcf.org.uk/vote/ and register.
The voting process opens today (Monday, 12 June 2017) and closes on Monday, 31 July 2017.
