Freemasons open up for appeal

Charlie Windell (left) and Bob Gainsford, from Freemasons, are donating hundreds of dollars worth of goods to the Salvation Army Foodbank. Photo / Stephen Parker

It's no secret that the Freemasons are doing their part to help the Rotorua community this Christmas. The Freemasons have kicked off the Rotorua Daily Post Salvation Army Christmas Appeal by donating about $500 worth of grocery items for the Salvation Army Foodbank.

On Saturday the The Rotorua Daily Post launched its annual Christmas Appeal with the Rotorua Weekender and The Hits 97.5FM, selecting the Salvation Army Foodbank to receive donations of food and cash.

The Salvation Army provides food and assistance to hundreds of people across the Rotorua district.

Last year Freemasons' Lodge Arawa donated hundreds of dollars of food items to the worthy cause. This year is no different, with Freemasons Lodge Arawa and Lodge Rotorua encouraging members to bring canned goods to their weekly meetings.

Lodge Arawa Master of the Lodge Charlie Windell said the organisation had been collecting items for about five weeks and hoped to collect even more ahead of Christmas.

"We started collecting items in the hope that the Rotorua Daily Post would choose the Salvation Army as the recipient of the appeal. We wanted to do something to help," Mr Windell said. "This time of year, it can be hard to get by. Things can be scarce in the household and we wanted to help this great cause in trying to deal with the influx of people needing food and assistance."

Helping the community is something the Freemasons do often, with the organisation donating their time and money to help to local organisations and people in need, for example patients of Rotorua Hospital.

"We have been called a secretive society for hundreds of years, but we are now moving on into the next generation and we want to dispel the myths and raise our profile in the local community," Mr Windell said.

He said the Freemasons philosophy was to "make men better" and said giving them the chance to help the community was one way to do that.

Rotorua Lodge Master of the Lodge Bob Gainsford said he encouraged people to join the Freemasons.

"It's a great way to meet people, there's great comradeship and it gives confidence. It's a good organisation to be involved in."

Those interested in joining can email cwindell@xtra.co.nz or gainsfordrot@xtra.co.nz. -Donations to the Rotorua Daily Post Christmas Appeal for the Salvation Army foodbank can be made at our Hinemoa St office between 8am and 5pm on weekdays. People can donate money or non-perishable food items. Food donations can also be made at the Salvation Army's Community Ministries at Community House on Haupapa St.