HEALING CRIPPLED HEARTS
by Lawrence Chisholm, Exec. Director, National Masonic Foundation for
Children
In 1984, Juvenile Court Judge and Brother Maurice Cohill said in a speech to
the Conference of Grand Masters:
The young people of this country are our most precious asset.... numbers of
them are being victimized by drugs, pimps, pornographers and, yes, in some cases
by their own parents. In my opinion, substance abuse--the use of drugs and
alcohol by children and young adults--is the primary cause of the wave of crime
which has swept through this country.
Much has been written and spoken about the impact of drugs in our society. So
far as I'm concerned, the public, and particularly young people, are still
essentially unaware of this menace. Despite the publicity, the problem has still
been understated.
The Conference took Brother Cohill's words to heart. At the most recent 1996
Conference of Grand Masters, the National Masonic Foundation for Children
celebrated its tenth year of work to improve children's lives. It can be said
now that the Foundation has developed the most effective drug prevention program
in America, beneficially affecting hundreds of thousands of children's lives.
The Foundation works with educators throughout the country to reach out to
children who are in pain, to help their families, and to work with their
communities.
When we began ten years ago, there was no clear direction from our
government, from private institutions, or from our media, indeed, from any
segment of our society, as to what solution might work to prevent drug and
alcohol abuse among children and to help children avoid the startling new
epidemics associated with that abuse: adolescent depression and suicide, birth
defects, teen violence, adolescent pregnancy, child abuse--all the many
indications that our country's future was being destroyed before our eyes.
We analyzed where we might most effectively apply the Masonic Foundation's
resources. Our conclusion can be most briefly characterized by a quote from an
Independent Charities of America publication: "Treatment programs can help those
who have fallen off the edge, enforcement can try to hold back the tide, and
information can inform, but only prevention programs that help children can
create change. The Masonic Foundation for Children brings help to children in
pain to prevent addiction before it starts."
The 'flagship' prevention program of the Foundation is called "Masonic Model"
Student Assistance Training. The "Masonic Model" typically trains ten Core Teams
(from ten school buildings) of 5 to 7 educators (e.g., teachers, an
administrator, school nurse, guidance counselor) for one training week. The
training covers many subjects but the two most critical are: (1) How to identify
the children who are most likely to head toward addiction--before they begin
using, and (2) once the identification occurs, what are the most appropriate
ways to intervene in, and interrupt, the addictive cycle.
Our method of proceeding, once a Grand Lodge has committed to involvement, is
to first contact a given educational jurisdiction, then to identify the specific
school buildings to be involved, then organize the initial training and contract
with and schedule the training teams (still largely made up today of the
training personnel who designed the original "Masonic Model" training in
Pennsylvania).
Freemasonry today can be especially proud of what it is doing in our
country's schools to help children meet the modern challenges they face and to
grow up to become useful and productive members of society. The "Masonic Model"
trains teachers and administrators to identify children who are heading for
trouble. This identification is made through heeding school-based concerns,
namely, Academics, Behavior, Health, and Attendance. Tracking performance
through specific, descriptive observations of these four areas can serve as a
remarkably accurate barometer of what special early, preventive attention may be
needed. The school Core Teams are trained to work with these four
characteristics in a systematic way to head off difficulties before they begin.
Let me mention the work of some of the Grand Lodges that have undertaken this
program.
As indicated, the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania has been involved the longest,
their work to prevent addiction among youth even pre-dating the establishment of
this Foundation. Pennsylvania today has a "Masonic Model" trained Core Team in
every educational jurisdiction throughout the State. Over 9000 educators have
been trained. For the most recent fully reported school year (1994-5), Core
Teams throughout the State received and handled 71,617 referrals; and bear in
mind that each of those referrals represent a child in pain, a child headed for
trouble. To date, 86% of those referrals have been fully successful, with no
further problem. Hard evidence that prevention works.
The Grand Lodge of Maryland began its "Masonic Model" training in 1987 and
when Maryland's Governor began seeing its results in the following year he
committed the authority of his office to seeing a trained Core Team in every
educational jurisdiction within five years and the goal was reached.
The Grand Lodge of Vermont sent a team to study Maryland's program and then
established in 1989 their C. A. R. E. program which has since received the
Governor's highest award for a community program and the 1993 Achievement Award
from the State Board of Education. The State legislature has mandated the
training throughout Vermont.
The Grand Lodge of Illinois began "Masonic Model" training in 1989 in the
very southernmost part of the State and today has trained more than 500 Core
Teams, representing more than 3000 educators throughout North, Central, and
Southern Illinois educational jurisdictions. These Core Teams to date have
helped more than 30,000 children who otherwise would have been headed toward
trouble in their lives.
The Grand Lodge of California began its "Masonic Model" training in 1993 by
creating a Training Center at the Masonic Home and campus in Covina. From that
ground zero beginning, California Freemasons have established one of the finest
Masonic programs in America. There are now eight scheduled "Masonic Model"
trainings each year through 1998--and all are full and there is a waiting list.
One of the most rewarding developments as this national program has grown is
where local Lodge contact with the local Core Team has been emphasized. The
Grand Lodge of Arizona has done an especially good job of this, even having the
name of the local Lodge on the name badges of the respective Core Team members
during training ! By emphasizing this Lodge-to-Core Team connection, local Lodge
financial sponsorship has been so generous that Grand Lodge expenses for the
program have been virtually non-existent! From Grand Lodge of Vermont trainings,
Core Teams write 'thank you' letters to individual sponsoring Lodges. In many
cases where Lodge-and-School contacts are established, Core Team members have
visited with the Lodge on meeting nights; the value to the community of this
kind of contact is invaluable, not to mention what it does to revitalize the
Lodge.
The significance of the growing development of Lodge-and-School contact is
that there are nearly 14,000 individual Lodges throughout the United
States--virtually one in every educational jurisdiction-each Lodge typically
containing some key leaders from that community. Whatever ultimately solves the
problem of youthful addiction, a community-based approach will be part of it.
When a Grand Lodge commits to this program, we urge that one of the first
moves is to, in turn, enlist support of the individual Lodges. In the best case
scenario that has evolved in several jurisdictions community and financial
support is directly linked between the formed Core Team and the local Lodge. It
is not an exaggeration to say that, in some cases, a virtual community
revitalization has resulted from this effort.
When all is said and done, everything we do and hope for in this program all
comes down to the individual child, the child in pain, the child in trouble. We
never know as we go about our work, which child saved will be the child that
will grow to save others.
The Grand Lodge of Michigan was conducting one of its "Masonic Model'
trainings recently when the trainers received a phone call from a young high
school student named Bill. He asked for and was granted permission to come and
say a few. words to the Core Teams being trained. No one had any idea what Bill
wanted to say and he began haltingly, but firmly, to tell them that they had
saved his life. He had reached the bottom and had planned his suicide day. But
several teachers, trained to recognize subtle but definite signs, had intervened
with Bill, talked with him, encouraged him, and offered their continuing help.
With tears in his eyes, Bill told them, I heard you were here, and I just wanted
to come over and thank you and urge you to keep doing the work you are doing. It
is very important! I am living proof of that.
The late Past Grand Master of Pennsylvania, Right Worshipful Brother Carl
Stenberg, was, to those who were fortunate enough to have known him, a most
wonderful Brother and man. Writing in a 1987 Short Talk Bulletin titled "Masons
Care About Children", Brother Carl said: We can . . . say with little
reservation in regard to another great foundation that as much as the Shrine
helped create the crippled children's hospitals, the crippled children's
hospitals have helped the Shrine. Perhaps one of the great needs of the Masonic
fraternity has been a national cause to unite our efforts. Some day we hope it
may be said that not only did Freemasonry inspire the National Foundation but
that the National Foundation has given inspiration to Freemasonry.
Brother Carl, thanks to the efforts of you and others like you, Freemasons
today are helping to Heal Crippled Hearts through the National Masonic
Foundation for Children.
For a set of publications describing its work, write the National Masonic
Foundation for Children, P.O. Box 28000, Washington, DC 20038-8000. The
telephone number is 1-202-331-1933.
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