ST. PETERSBURG – Fleur De Lis #155 and Bethel Lodge #447 held a community back-to- school event at the James Weldon Johnson Branch Library Sat., July 25.
Bags of school supplies tailored to the specific needs of each age group were handed out to those in attendance. From Disney themed bags for elementary school children, all the way up to Nike totes for single parents currently enrolled in higher education were given away.
Some of the supplies stuffed in the totes included crayons, notebooks, color pencils, glue, hand sanitizer, lined paper, pens, flashcards, mechanical pencils and highlighters.
There was a line of children and parents out the door of the library’s community room, located at 1059 18th Ave. S. Within the first 10 minutes of opening their doors, 80 students in need were given school supplies. Melinda Brown, the head coordinator of the event, emphasized how important it is to give back to the youth of the community–especially by helping with their education.
The event was based on a quote from Nelson Mandela: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to the change the world.” Local charity events such as this one are significant in that they provide the means for education that can help change the world, even if it’s just the world of one child.
International Free & Accepted Modern Masons, Incorporation and Order of the Eastern Star is a worldwide fraternity organized in 1950. The focus was to form a Christian Fraternal Society that had very high ideals about the development of men, women and children. Their purposes are moral, financial, benevolent, and charitable leadership to serve the present age, hence Modern in the name.
