Recently, a young couple began a new chapter in their lives. Having secured new jobs, they loaded up a moving van, hitched their car to the back, and left northwest Ohio for Tucson, Arizona. Things went well until they reached Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they stopped overnight. They awoke the next morning to discover that their moving van and car had disappeared.
They called the local police to report the theft and then the young man’s mother and stepfather back in Ohio. Everything they had was in that van and car, but they had insurance. They needed to get to Tucson for work, so they rented a car and headed on down the highway.
The police found their car and van. The car’s rear window was smashed in and both were empty of their belongings. The couple was at a loss as to what they were going to do once they got to Tucson. They had neither friends nor family there, neither did they know how long it would take for the insurance company to respond.
The young man’s stepfather is a Freemason - Master of his lodge in fact. So he called the Grand Lodge office late on Friday afternoon asking for help. In turn, a call was placed to the Grand Secretary and then to the Junior Grand Deacon of Arizona, who resides in Tucson. Within an hour of the young couple arriving at their new apartment that same day, the Freemasons of Tucson arrived with an air mattress, sheets, towels, pots, pans, dishes, kitchen table with chairs and a TV.
Freemasonry is very much an extended family.
