Huntington's Masonic Lodge Exceeds Goals For Sunrise Camps

The third annual Jephtha Masonic Lodge charity walk benefiting Sunrise Day Camps completed its most successful fundraising drive in 2021, despite the challenges faced during the global pandemic.

The Sunrise Association Day Camps in Wyandanch provides children ages 3½ to 16 struggling with cancer, and the difficult treatments associated with it, with activity filled summers at outdoor day camps free of charge. The struggling children’s months of isolation is broken with a few weeks of sunshine and fun at the day camp, without rescheduling any medical treatments since the children return home at night. The program also includes siblings to help the children with cancer be more comfortable at camp and less lonely.

The global pandemic forced the Sunrise Day Camp to go virtual during 2020, limiting all activities to virtual only events with counselors, games and recreation on June 26, 2020. With COVID-19 still a threat, the Sunrise Association Day Camps has developed new protocols for the summer of 2021 to keep the children battling cancer, who are at a much higher risk of contracting the virus, in a safe environment.

Masonic lodges throughout New York were also shut down in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, preventing any in-person meetings. The Masonic primary function of charity could have been severely hindered due to these unforeseen circumstances, but the lodge in Huntington once again rose to the test.

The members of Jephtha Lodge No. 494 in Huntington and their family members recognized these challenges. Spearheaded by the Jephtha Lodge Benevolence Committee, Chairman Bill Fenty III organized the “Masons for Sunrise” team to meet its primary objective - to cover the $6,000 cost to send one child to camp this summer.

The Committee exceeded its expectations, once again raising the bar for future fundraisers.

With the annual Sunrise Charity Walks cancelled once more due to the pandemic, on June 5, 2021, 55 people, including Jephtha Lodge Brother Masons, members of Truth Triangle No. 31, Knights of Antiquity DeMolay, New York Squires and their families attended their own walk in Huntington Village. The group walked from the lodge to Heckscher Park and back while completing one round of the pond on a hot, humid Saturday morning.

The charity walk was the conclusion of a series of fundraisers the lodge held for Sunrise Camps. On April 24th, Jephtha Lodge Brothers assembled for an online cocktail event, including trivia and other activities. Brother William Friedman provided metal for Brothers Matt and Chris Tomasino to design and create new masonic key chains and one large Masonic Square and Compasses to be raffled for the Sunrise Walks fundraising. Brother Paul Levy won the large Masonic symbol and promptly donated the impressive design to the recently named private, lodge bar, The Quarry, where it is proudly displayed. For the second year, brother Friedman supplied dozens of new T-shirts emblazoned with "Masons for Sunrise" to be distributed to the walkers.

Jephtha Lodge raised over $6,500 in its recent 2021 drive, an impressive increase from the $4400 in 2020, making “Masons for Sunrise” one of the top-15 fundraisers out of over 100 teams at this year’s Sunrise Walk events on Long Island. The goal will be higher for 2022, a challenge one of the fastest growing Masonic lodges in New York is prepared to meet.