Cortland Lodge #529 is raising the bar to a whole new level when it comes to community involvement.
Since 2019, Cortland Lodge has held a fundraising breakfast on the first Saturday of every month. The thought of a fundraising breakfast is not earth shattering, but how they get the community involved is. They team up with a different local nonprofit organization each month, inviting them to attend and help if they’d like. The money they earn from the breakfast is then donated to the organization! This gets more community involvement, and at the same time promotes Freemasonry in the Cortland community, by working together with other organizations. Here are some of the organizations Cortland Lodge has teamed up with: many different Boy Scout packs, Cortland Little Bulldogs, Rainbow Girls, Cortland Garden Club, M.S. Soldiers, and TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return). As of January 2022, Cortland Lodge has raised over $13,000 for these local organizations.
Cortland Lodge also holds a blood drive in tandem with the Red Cross every other month – and has been doing so for the
past 20 years!
Finally, Cortland Lodge spearheaded fundraising events that raised more than $165,000 to build a Veteran’s Memorial in the center of Cortland. The opening of the memorial was attended by many Brothers, Boy Scouts, community members, and veterans, with news coverage from across the area! The memorial was officially opened on Sunday, May 30th, 2021. Cortland Lodge also actively participates in the Memorial Day and Veterans Day events held at the memorial.
The beauty of what Cortland Lodge is doing is serving multiple purposes. They are raising funds for wonderful organizations across the city to help them continue their good services. They are also working in tandem with these organizations to broaden the amount of people they can serve and help. Lastly, they are showing the community of Cortland what the tenets of Freemasonry are all about.
