Lodge of Industry 6579; major Grant Award
The Provincial Grand Master’s Fund was created in 1986 to enable our West Riding Masonic Charity to make grants to Non Masonic Community Charitable Organisations, these grants, which were generally no more than £500 are now termed “Minor Grants” and continue to be considered quarterly.
The Major Grants scheme was introduced in 2008 with a fund of £100,000 allocated each year to enable more substantial awards to be made.
To date over 3,000 grants totalling over £3.30m have been awarded through both schemes. Unlike the Minor grants scheme, where qualifying applications are successful, the annual Major Grants are a competition , and it is not an easy task for the Provincial Grand Master Fund Committee to select the successful beneficiaries. An overriding principle is that the grant must make a significant contribution to the Organisation
High quality nominations were made by Lodges and Chapters this year and it was particularly difficult to make a final selection of 5 and inevitably many worthy applicants will be disappointed.
The Support Dogs Organisation, supply individually trained dogs to provide support to their owners, considerably enhancing their quality of life.
The three main categories are:-
Disability Assistance dogs are specially trained to give support in domestic duties such as loading and unloading washing machines, opening doors, picking up and carrying items that the owner would find difficult or even impossible to perform themselves, assistance with dressing and raising alarms, thus making a big contribution to independent living.
Seizure alert dogs have the uncanny ability to give up to 50 minutes advance notice of a seizure to their Epilepsy suffering owners, giving time to find a place of safety and privacy or call for assistance before they have a seizure. Thus giving them the confidence to live more independently with such as going to the shops, cooking, ironing, and having a bath that would previously have been hazardous
Autism Assistance Dogs assist children with Autism by providing safety and companionship and a more socially inclusive life to both the child and their families. They have been shown to:-Reduce stress for family members, promote positive changes in behaviour, provide comfort when the child is upset and suppress behavioural outbursts
An application was made by The Lodge of Industry No 6579 to fund the purchase of a specially adapted mini bus to transport equipment, dogs, wheelchairs and clients.
A grant of £14,000 was made to purchase the vehicle.
Find out more https://supportdogs.org.uk/