MAPLETON – Township council has agreed to add a local Masonic Lodge to a list of service organizations to receive free rental of township halls and boardrooms for activities.
A delegation from Conestogo Lodge #295 attended the May 9 council meeting to request inclusion.
Club members noted the lodge, which has about 40 members, has been operating in Drayton for 150 years and regularly donates to the local food bank and Terry Fox Run.
On a county level, Masons provide bursaries for high school students and donations to Hope House, a Guelph-based women’s shelter.
“We offer any kind of benevolence that our community needs,” said lodge member Sean Matthews.
“Our building is small and … at least yearly, we bring a group of people in for what we call a dinner theatre, that puts money back into the community and just brings people out and puts them together. And we just can’t accommodate them and in a small space,” said Matthews.
“I would suggest that it’s an oversight that the name of your organization isn’t on this list already,” said councillor Michael Martin.
“It’s a fairly exhaustive list of a lot of local organizations that do give back to the community and I, for one, certainly support adding your name to that list.”
Councillor Marlene Ottens noted service clubs that are able to access local halls tend to hold more events “and it becomes better for the community all around.
“So I completely support this,” she stated.
Council approved a resolution to immediately add Conestoga Lodge 295 to the list of organizations that can rent Mapleton halls and boardrooms at no charge.
