The following letter was received by our lodge secretary and is offered here as an example of what masonry is about and what masons do.

My name is Stacy Howell, Deputy with Catawba County and School Resource Officer for Arndt Middle School. I am writing to let you know about two outstanding members of your lodge.

I run an at-risk teen program at my school every spring for children who need assistance in several areas such as anger management, self-esteem and problem solving in order to steer them back on the right track in life. The program is called W3 and it's a mixture of boot camp and mentoring. The program runs every Wednesday for seven weeks. Everything is paid for by donations and fundraising that I do every year. However, the instructors and myself are not paid, we are all volunteers. As you know, our economy is sluggish right now in this area and fundraising is not doing well. The program almost did not happen this year. However, I am a strong believer in prayer and God did come through for us. I am required to have each participant to have a current physical. Many of these kids come from families who are struggling financially and so I provide the money for the physicals through the program. I also try to save as much money as possible to provide for other needs throughout the program year.

I was given the name of Jeff Walker (a mason in your lodge) to contact for help in getting a doctor to do our physicals for us. Jeff contacted Dr. Goodin (member of Catawba Lodge #248) and not only did he assist for a fair price, but did not charge anything for his services. He even brought his own lollipops to give the kids for being good. This small act of kindness with the kids went a long way. They were touched that someone cared enough to give them something for nothing and then tell them they were good. He and Jeff were so gentle and encouraging with them that I cannot say how just how impressed I was with them both and thankful for their encouragement. As for the free of charge, they made it possible for the kids to receive trophies at awards day for finishing the program successfully and to have a graduation pizza party. The satisfaction of a successful completion of this program will enable these kids to receive their awards in front of the student body and build their self esteem. Also by participating in this program they learn hoe to deal with confrontations without resorting to violence and that may save their life one day.

Another member of your lodge that has been invaluable to my program is Deputy Paul Hedrick. He has been with us from the very beginning of the idea of the program. He assisted me in getting the legal and financial red tape out of the way so that the program became a reality. Words are not enough to express how thankful I have been to have him on our team and how many kids he has helped.

So please accept this letter of gratitude and praise for both of your members they serve their community well and represent your lodge with true professionalism and compassion for others. Please be very proud of them, we are.

Thank you very much.
Stacy B. Howell
Deputy, Catawba County Sheriff's Office