The Sussex Lodge, one entity in The Busselton Freemasonry family, continued their current charity drive by holding a morning tea for representatives of seven community organisations.
The event was held to present each with financial assistance in their quest to ease the burdens afflicting various section of the community.
"Freemasons in Western Australia donate considerable funds to various charities throughout the State with Bushfire and Flood appeals in the past two years high on the list," Sussex Master Tarek Rajendram said.
"But last year the members of Sussex decided to focus much of their attention on the local areas that need assistance to continue their valuable work for the community.
"Twice a year we will provide finance to the following associations:
- Busselton Man's Walk
- Mary Cliffs Kitchen St Mary's Community Care
- Royal Flying Doctor Service Busselton
- Busselton Hospice Care Inc.
- St Georges Community Care Kitchen
- Busselton Hospice Care Inc.
- South West Women's Health and Information Centre
- Busselton Uniting Outreach Followers' Inn."
For some considerable time, the Sussex Lodge has concentrated much of their charity work on the youth of the district providing support for youngsters during their high school years.
The Lodge relies on the teaching staff to select the recipients for the grants using various criteria to guide them to a final choice. It is a choice that will benefit the student for the six years of high school.
This means that each year Sussex is providing students with the means to afford fees and material required to meet their financial obligations to the school.
A new youth project, introduce by Grand Lodge three years ago, is called "The Speak-up Award" to encourage schools in the South West to organise students into teams to travel to Busselton to take part in a speaking competition.
The students, with the help of teachers from various schools, hopefully will develop their speaking skills and encourage them to formulate tactics when entering debating programs.
"Freemasons throughout the State - in fact throughout the World, including Australia, are engaged in similar projects to help their communities regardless of the political and economic conditions that prevail," Sussex Master Tarek Rajendram said.
At the last meeting of the Sussex Lodge, the members voted to send an financial contribution to Ukraine.