Focus - January 2007

Twain Award Winners

THE MASONIC INFORMATION CENTER ANNOUNCES THE 2006 WINNERS OF THE TWAIN AWARD FOR INCREASING COMMUNITY AWARENESS OF FREEMASONRY

Contact: Richard Fletcher, Executive Secretary, Masonic Information Center
301-588-4010, msana@ix.netcom.com

Silver Spring, MD, March 12, 2007 – Eleven Masonic lodges located throughout the United States have been awarded the Masonic Information Center’s prestigious Mark Twain Masonic Awareness Award for their exemplary work in constructing a positive Masonic identity within the lodge and throughout the local community.

Dick Fletcher of the MSANA congratulates the winners of the 2006 Twain Award:

Dick Fletcher of the MSANA welcomes the participants for the 2007 Twain Award:

Lodges nationwide participated in the 2006 Twain Award competition as part of the growing network of lodges that are working together brother by brother, lodge by lodge to achieve the goals expressed in the report, It’s About Time; Moving Masonry into the 21st Century. The network includes a dedicated Website, listserv, blog, and teamboard.
 
“The Mark Twain Award celebrates a new enthusiasm among Masonic lodges to reclaim our prominent place within our communities,” says Richard E. Fletcher, Executive Secretary of the Masonic Information Center, “The Twain Award winners and all the other lodges who entered the competition are to be applauded for raising their own personal standards of performance and for reaching out into their communities to broaden and strengthen the identity of Freemasons. Their activities and energy demonstrate a new commitment to self-improvement and education that is sweeping through lodges across the country.”

“As we demonstrate the relevance of Masonic values to ourselves and our community, we just naturally create a positive environment for personal growth,” says Fletcher. “It’s an exciting time for us.”

Most historians believe Freemasonry arose from stonemasons’ guilds in the Middle Ages and began to flourish in the 1700’s in Europe and the American Colonies. Many of our nation’s founders were Masons, including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Paul Revere. They helped spread the ideals of the Enlightenment such as the dignity of the individual and public education. Today North America’s Masonic Fraternity provides fellowship for over 1.5 million members. Masons are known throughout their communities for their work with schools, hospitals and speech and language clinics.

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If your Lodge is interested in participating in the 2007 Twain Awards, download a participation confirmation. For more information about the Twain Award, visit their website.