Colorado Child ID Program

The Worst happens more often than you think

• More than 14,000 Colorado children are abducted each year, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
• If something happens, such as abduction, the faster you can provide accurate and complete information to the authorities, the better the chances are of a happy ending.
• Local Masonic lodges are helping families prepare child “ID” information in case the worst happens to them.
• Parents bring their children to local events, where a computer software program captures digital fingerprints, and photographs of their children. A paper copy is printed for the parents for them to record vital information on their Child. A plastic bag is also included for the child’s DNA sample.
• The parents leave with three documents; Personal Safety information page, ID Cards and the Main ID page.
• These printouts can supply the police with the information they need in the case of abduction.
• The software is designed not to keep any digital trace of the captured information in the system. It supplies a hard copy only.
• The process is meant to be completely confidential!
• The parents and children go through the whole process together, showing the kids that there is nothing to worry about and this is being done to help keep them safe.
• You should update your child’s “ID” information, including a photograph, every six months. Children’s appearances change that quickly. That’s why programs like this are so helpful. Read more

Scottish Rite Foundation of Colorado – RiteCare

The highest calling for a Freemason is to help others regardless of race, creed, color, religion, gender, or Masonic affiliation. Ever since the Fraternity came to these shores from Great Britain during the colonial period of American history, Masons have sought to provide relief and assistance for those in need.

True to this calling, the Scottish Rite Foundation of Colorado was created in 1953 by Scottish Rite Masons in Denver. Its work is known as the RiteCare Childhood Language Program. It helps enable Colorado families obtain the highest quality of speech-language therapy services for their children with language disorders. Read more

Colorado Teacher Of The Year

Beginning in 1998, the Grand Lodge with the assistance of the Public Schools Committee has honored the Colorado Teacher of the Year. Since 1963 the Colorado State Board of Education (Board) and the Colorado Department of Education (Department) have selected one teacher to represent all Colorado teachers as the Colorado Teacher of the Year.

Beginning in 1998, a Mason and member of the Public Schools Committee, has sat on the Teacher of the Year Selection Committee along with educators and other education professionals. In addition to participation in the selection process, the Grand Lodge awards a $2,500 grant to the Colorado Teacher of the Year to help defray expenses associated with travel and work in conjunction with this office. No funding is provided by the State to support the teacher’s work as Teacher of the Year.
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Colorado Masonic Band Camp

Every year during the July 4th Holiday, the Grand Lodge of Colorado sponsors the Colorado High School Masonic Band camp on the University of Nothern Colorado campus in Greeley.

The Colorado Masonic High School Band Camp is open to all interested high school band students 9th, 10th or 11th grades statewide with who play at least one marching band instrument. High School Band Instructors are urged to select three of thier most promising students who play different instruments, for consideration.

The Masonic High School Band Camp is free of charge to the students who attend, but it is not free. The cost of each student to attend is $300.00 and is funded through scholarships by Masonic Lodges, other Masonic Family groups, and interested individuals. The Colorado Masonic Band Camp ia a 501(c)(3) corportation under Colorado Law, which means all donations made to sponser students are tax deductible.
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Colorado Masons Benevolent Fund Scholarship Committee

The Colorado Masons’ Benevolent Fund Scholarship Committee was established in 1966. Scholarships amounting to over $8.5 million have been awarded to over 700 students to attend institutions of higher learning in Colorado. The scholarships are for up to $7000 per year, renewable for four years for a total of $28,000 and are awarded primarily for leadership, maturity, need, and scholastic ability without reference to race, creed, color, sex, or Masonic relationship. The only requirements are that an applicant be a graduating senior in a public high school in Colorado and the he or she attend an institution of higher learning within the state of Colorado. Read more

Involvement in Colorado

Although Masonic ritual varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, a consistent message conveyed to every candidate is that charity is an essential part of Freemasonry. In some rituals, in fact, reference is made to the wide-breadth of the star-decked canopy of Heaven and that a Mason’s charity should be equally extensive. This concept has remained throughout the centuries of Freemasonry’s existence.

“To relieve the distressed is a duty incumbent on all men, but particularly on Freemasons, who are linked together by an indissoluble chain of sincere affection. To soothe the unhappy, to sympathize with their misfortunes, to compassionate their miseries, and to restore peace to their troubled minds, is the great aim we have in view. On this basis we form our friendships and establish our connections.

[ Illustrations of Masonry, p. 72 William Preston, Printed 1772 ]

From this philosophy comes much of a ‘”Mason’s work,” given freely and willingly. Charity comes in many forms, both large and small. Whether it’s something as simple as a holiday basket delivered to a shut-in by local lodge officers, something much larger such as a donation of funds to support a community project or an on-going program such as the Grand Lodge of Colorado Benevolent Scholarships, or something as enormous as a chain of 22 hospitals which provide totally free care to burned and crippled children, Masons regularly engage in charitable work as part of their Masonic membership. No web site could fully and completely list all of the charitable work done by Freemasons. There are many which are local and private. In fact, much Masonic charity occurs in this quiet way. Other activities, however, are so broad that they cannot be hidden and we’ll point you to some of them right here.

Masonic charity has often been ‘quiet’ as compared to civic charities whose presence is flouted in order to garner additional contributions. Thus a researcher can only capture the data from formally organized and public Masonic activities and even this doesn’t tell the whole story. For example, the Masonic Service Association quietly oversees a Hospital Visitation Program with a goal that every Veteran’s Administration Hospital in the United States have a Masonic volunteer working with patients. How can a value be placed on the more than 500,000 hours a year spent on this work?

In 2006 American Masonic Philanthropy was $525 million or $1.4 million per day.

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