Honoring Essential Workers

In the Grand Lodge e-Newsletter for May 2020, we issued the following invitation: If you’re an essential worker or know a Brother who is that continues to show up and work so that the rest of us remain safe, fed, and healthy, we want to know. Please consider sharing your story with us.

We have published two blog-posts on Freemason.com with several stories and featured essential workers on our Facebook and Twitter pages. They represent but a small sample of the submissions. We also were surprised, however, to have several members respond that we should not be talking about ourselves – we were bragging or not practicing humility.

Brethren, if we don’t tell our own story, who will? We are an organization known to the world by the actions of our members. Names are not important. But Masons working every day in the face of great risk is a story that deserves to be told. Therefore, with the names left off in the interest of humility, here is a sample of our Masonic essential workers, identified by their Lodge affiliation.

• Steubenville No. 45, Grocery Store worker
• Milford No. 54, Supply chain management (5 members)
• Lancaster No. 57, (2) Auto Mechanic for dealership and EMTs
• Tiffin No. 77, Electrician / Plumber
• Dresden No. 103, Police K9 Officer
• Farmers No. 153, Dairy farmer
• Yeatman No. 162, UPS Hazmat worker, loader, sanitizer
• Lithopolis No. 169, EMT
• Flushing No. 298, Paramedic
• Wadsworth No. 385, Security employee, checking temperatures and masks
• Muskingum No. 368, 911 Dispatcher and Firefighter
• New Home No. 338, EMT and Firefighter
• Hudson No. 510, Volunteer working the Food Bank in Medina
• York No. 563, Hospital Chaplain
• Brookville No. 596, Dayton VA Hospital Diagnostic Imaging
• Hugh L. Bates No. 686, (2) Water Department worker and Truck Driver
• University Heights No. 738, Cashier in a Grocery Store
• Arts & Sciences No. 792, Volunteer bus driver picking up other essential health workers

At the time of this writing, almost 9000 Ohio citizens have been hospitalized during the pandemic and over 3000 have died. The Hospital Chaplain from York Lodge wrote, “One of the hardest things…is that people end up in the hospital in isolation and unable to be close to their loved ones and many die completely alone…We hospital chaplains have become a much needed source of hope and solace in this time of extreme loneliness…a major support to other hospital staff as much as to our patients and families. I pray for all brothers and their loved ones to stay well and healthy in this time of trial and hardship of the pandemic!”

The Grand Master, MWB Keith Newton, shares this prayer and wishes to express his thanks to all Masons who serve as essential workers to keep our families safe and our communities thriving in the face of a challenge unlike any we have known in our lifetime. We may not know all of your names, but they are known to the Great Architect, and we honor you for your labors.