Disabled students raise funds by collecting pop-tops, delivering them to Shriners Hospital

Published: Friday, Jan. 13, 2012                      + - 

Jeff Haney

Jordan Valley student T.J. Kirkpatrick, right, with school aide Mark Reusch and his classroom teacher, Kat Winch, give pop-tops to Mike Babcock, PR director at Shriners Hospital in Salt Lake City, January 13, 2012. The students have been collecting the pull-tabs, which the hospital then recycles for cash, since the beginning of the year to help raise funds.

Shriner's Hospital is the beneficiary of a fund-raising effort by severely disabled students in Canyons District.
Ten students at Jordan Valley School, the majority of them in wheelchairs and unable to communicate without electronic devices, on Friday, Jan. 13 will visit Shriners, a hospital that focuses on helping children with orthopedic conditions, to deliver 30 pounds of pop tops they have collected at home and school.
The school bus, equipped with a wheelchair lift and other safety devices for the District?s special-education students, will arrive at the hospital at 10:45 a.m. The students have been collecting the pull-tabs, which the hospital then recycles for cash, since the beginning of the year.
Throughout the project, the students have participated as much as they are able, given their physical abilities and limitations. A lot of the pull-tabs have come from such products as Ensure, which the students are given for nutrition.

Masonic Symbol on Sign Links Masons to Shriners Hospital

IT IS NO SECRET that Shriners and Shriners Hospitals for Children are steeped in tradition. Symbols of the fraternity and traditions that built the World’s Greatest Philanthropy are proudly displayed on the sign that stands on the corner in front of Shriners Hospitals for Children – Northern California. These symbols – the Square & Compass and the Silent Messenger – serve as reminders that the spirit of Shriners Hospitals for Children is rooted deeply in our social fabric. 

Square & Compass 

The Square & Compass that appears on the base of the hospital sign is the Masonic symbol. The Board of Governors at Shriners Hospitals for Children – Northern California added the Masonic Symbol to the hospital sign in 2011 to show the link between Shriners and Masons. All Shriners are Masons, thereby members of the world’s oldest and largest fraternity. Many of our nation’s founding fathers, including George Washington, were Masons. The Masonic Order began in Europe, when Masons were organized in lodges or guilds and were taught to use tools to work in stone for construction, and evolved into an international fraternity devoted to building a better society. The Square symbolizes the belief that Masons should meet all brothers on the square – treating all alike with trustworthiness, honest and fairness. The Compass represents the Masons’ belief that it is important to define limits or circumscribe their desires. The Square & Compass symbolize tenets that transcend time and cultures. 

Silent Messenger 

In 1870, a group of Masons in New York City decided to expand their fraternity to include a special club devoted to fun and philanthropy. That group is now known as the Shriners. In 1920, the Shriners voted to focus all their philanthropic efforts on providing children with polio and other orthopaedic problems access to the finest medical care. The Shriner walking with a child in his arms is the Silent Messenger, and it symbolizes the Shriners’ desire to make a difference in the lives of children through expert medical care. While the image of the Silent Messenger can be found at all 22 Shriners Hospitals, its meaning goes beyond the work takes place inside Shriners Hospitals for Children. When all is said and done, the Silent Messenger stands as a symbol of shared hope and the universal desire to make the world a better place by transforming the lives of children. 

Together and as one the Masons and the Shriners are working to build caring communities. 

Pictured Above: Known as the Silent Messenger, the statue of the Shriner walking with a child stands above the Square & Compass, the Masonic Symbol, at Shriners Hospitals for Children – Northern California. 

Shriners Hospital for Children to hold Clinic

OGDEN — Children with bone, muscle or joint problems are invited to participate in a Shriners Hospitals for Children screening clinic to evaluate services for which they may qualify.

The clinic will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Ogden Masonic Temple, 1240 20th St.

The hospital lists a number of conditions they target for helping children. They include brittle bones, cerebral palsy, clubfoot, hip conditions, rheumatoid arthritis, limb deformities and length differences, neurological disorders, rickets, scar revisions, scoliosis, specialized plastic surgery, spina bifida, spine conditions, sports injuries and stuff joints.

According to information released by the hospital, children are eligible to receive care if they are younger than 18 years and have a treatable orthopedic condition.

Income, financial status and/or insurance coverage has no impact on eligibility for services.

For information, call Jim Sweet at 801-791-5564 or Carl Fauver at 801-266-0315.

By Staff

Standard-ExaminerContributed

Sun, 01/15/2012 - 9:50pm

Book on Masonic history in Taft now on sale

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Photos

Doug Keeler/Midway Driller

Ken Cooper talks about his book a the Chamber of Commerce Sit 'n Sip. Ken Anderson is in the background.

By Doug Keeler

Taft Midway Driller

Posted Jan 12, 2012 @ 02:43 PM

Last update Jan 12, 2012 @ 04:25 PM

Copyright 2012 Taft Midway Driller. Some rights reservedTaft, Calif. —

It started out as a historical project for the Taft-Midway Masonic Lodge's 100th centennial, but it turned into a much bigger project for Mason and historian Kenneth Cooper.
It turned into a huge book chronicling 266 total years of history for four lodges in the Taft area and with it, a huge piece of the history of Taft, the Westside and the oilfields.
Cooper's work is published in a book called “Freemasons in the Oilpatch, the Collective Histories of Four Masonic Lodges Chartered within Taft-Midway Lodge No. 426 Free&Accepted Masons.”
Cooper presented a program on the history at the centennial celebraion on Oct. 25.
A first printing of 250 numbered copies has been completed and the book is on sale for $30 at the Taft District Chamber of Commerce office, K.C. Photography and the West Kern Oil Museum.
Cooper spoke about the work Wednesday morning at the Chamber of Commerce Sit n' Sip.
After he started, he saw the scope of the work that laid ahead.
“I  told my wife 'What have I done,” he said. “I started it so I've got to finish it.”
Cooper has strong ties to the community. He was born here in 1947 and lived here until he moved in the 1950s. He is the nephew of McKittrick rancher Stanley Cooper.
“I have very fond memories of Taft,” he said. “I put some of those in this book.”
Kenneth Cooper has experience as a Masonic historian. He chronicled a similar history for the Maricopa lodge, which grew out of the great California Gold Rush in the 19th century.
He drew parallels between Maricopa and Taft.
“There were two great epochs for California – the gold rush and the oil boom,” he said.
Taft was incorporated in 1910.
The first Masonic Lodge, Midway Lodge No. 426, was chartered  the next year, and celebrated its anniversary in October,
As Taft grew, so did the Masonic brotherhood.
Before long, there were four lodges in the area – Maricopa, the Temblor Lodge in Fellows, the Midway Lodge and the Taft Lodge.
All four have since merged into one.
By the1920s, the Masonic Lodges were the center of social life.
Fraternal organizations were popular in the early 20th century, and the Masons and their related organizations – The Order of Eastern Star, Demolays, and Job's Daughters –  served as a center for social life for many residents.
The list of Masonic officers in the local lodge reads like a who's who of Taft as the lodges and community flourished.
People like Milton Grant Ross, Walter Wahl, Robert Abner Smith, Weldon Jones, George Henry Stewart and Pete Gianopulos served as worshipful masters of the lodges.
They were also leaders in Taft's business, schools and local government.
“The lodge and the community fed off each other,” Cooper said. “The community gave it the members, and the lodges gave back to the community in the form of leaders.”
Cooper's book is an exhaustive history of Masonry in the area, with membership lists, photographs and photos of lodge leadership.
It also carries accounts of some of the the biggest events in the 100 years of Masonry in Taft, including a visit by state worshipful Grand Master Earl Warren in 1936. Warren went on to be governor of California later Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
In 1940, a Masonic ceremony held at Mt. Abel drew 1,500 Masons to the mountains south of Taft.
 

 San Jacinto Masonic Lodge No. 338

/CONTRIBUTED IMAGE

The San Jacinto Masonic Lodge No. 338 collected gifts for families of children at Megan Cope Elementary School in San Jacinto this winter. From left, Megan Cope nurse Beth Johnson, Masons John Allen, Megan Cope Principal Juan Penaloza and Mason Bob Snyder.

BY HOPE PIERSON, CORRESPONDENT    news@pe.com

Published: 12 January 2012 10:45 PM

Name of club: San Jacinto Masonic Lodge No. 33

When formed: 1899

Current president: The current Master is Jim Ridley.

Number of members: 110

Club’s mission: The mission of Freemasonry in California is brotherhood, community involvement and self-improvement through education, family values, moral standards and charity. Masons invest in children, our neighborhoods and our future.

Area served: This lodge shares the San Jacinto Valley with the Hemet Lodge, but its membership is open to any qualified male.

Meeting time and place: Monthly dinner and business meetings are held at 6 p.m. the first Wednesday of the month at 131 E. Main St., San Jacinto.

Current projects: The lodge has adopted Megan Cope Elementary School to provide some of the essentials that the teachers need after the state cut back its funding. The lodge also has joined with the Grand Lodge of California in a special project to provide books to children in the first through third grades.

Notable accomplishments: The lodge has shipped more than 600 care packages to U.S. troops overseas in the war zone. Each year the lodge provides up to three $500 scholarships to local students. Proceeds from its annual golf tournament are used to help needy families during Christmas. Each year, more than 1,000 children are processed through the lodge’s child ID program where they are fingerprinted and their photos taken in case some sort of emergency arises.

Quote: “I consider myself a lucky man to have joined this fraternity when I did. It has added that elusive element to my life that had been missing,” said Bob Snyder, past master,

Information: 951-654-7958

If you have an idea for a Club Corner profile, contact Assistant Metro Editor Nikie Johnson at 951-763-3461 or njohnson@PE.com

Racers & Shriners can't wait for summer

Racers, Fans Gear Up For Ice Cold Shriners Bowl At Lanier

BY 

BRANDON REED

 – JANUARY 5, 2012POSTED IN: SHORT TRACK, STOCK CARS

The fifth annual Ice Cold Shriners Bowl will be held this weekend, Jan. 7-8, at Lanier National Speedway in Braselton, GA. Photo courtesy Lanier National Speedway

For the fifth straight year, Lanier National Speedway in Braselton, Georgia will play host to the Ice Cold Shriners Bowl, headlined by a 100-lap Pro Late Model feature, on Sunday, Jan. 8.

Despite the event’s name, forecasters are calling for temperatures in the low to mid 60s for the race weekend, as area race fans get the chance to see the first racing in North Georgia of the year.

Also on the line for Sunday’s competitors is a track provisional for the Pro Late Modle portion of the upcoming CRA SpeedFest event slated for later this month at LNS.

Rose Parade Pictures