The Following report was presented to the World Conference of Grand Lodges 
held in Madrid, Spain on May 25, 2001 by Most Worshipful Brother Paul N. Cross, Grand Master.

THE MICHIGAN MASONS BEACON PROJECT   

Paul N. Cross, MWGM
Robert P. Conley, PGM

The Grand Lodge of Michigan has, for many years, had an increasingly active Renewal Program, which seeks to increase the meaningful activities of the Lodges, particularly in the areas of community Relations and Community Involvement.  This push to become relevant within our society was given a significant boost in May of 2000, when then Grand Master Conley unveiled to the Grand Lodge session a plan to place thousands of Masonic volunteers within the Public Schools of the state, assisting children with their reading, other studies, and with such other activities as the schools may determine.

A project of this scope needs wide-ranging support to work, and that support can be gained more easily through the use of recognizable symbols to fire the imagination and focus the effort.  Michigan has one of the longest shorelines in the United States, dotted with lighthouses, or beacons, reminiscent of the day when electronic navigational aids were not even dreams.  The purpose of the lighthouse was to provide advance warning of a dangerous condition, and help a ship steer clear of it before it was too late.  Studies have given us the advanced warning of a dangerous situation, illiteracy. This project seeks to help the schools steer the students clear of that danger, and into the deep waters of knowledge.  Thus it was named the Beacon Project, and took as its symbol, the lighthouse.

In order to make the project known, the Grand Master and Grand Lodge Officers held a Press Conference with the Lt. Governor of the State, at which it was announced that the Masons of Michigan have promised to provide the gift of our time, in the amount of 200,000 volunteer hours over the next three years.  The Gift was formally presented the same day to the Governor of the State.  These hours will be spent in our public schools, making the lives of our children better, and more profitable, through the power of literacy.  By doing this, we also help to ensure the future of our state and our nation.

No society can succeed whose citizens lack basic skills.  Of the basic skills, reading must be considered pre-eminent.  A person, who can read and write well, has the ability to teach themselves other skills through research.  However, even those who can read cannot, and will not succeed, if they lack the self-esteem to push themselves beyond their perceived limitations.  By working closely with our children, by helping them to overcome the difficulties they encounter in their studies, and helping them to see themselves in a more positive light, they gain the confidence needed to push themselves beyond the limits that low self-esteem imposes.  They begin to see that they can reach beyond their grasp, and by doing so, grab and hold success.

Confidence in ones own abilities is the foundation stone upon which all success is built.  When we have confidence in ourselves, we are willing to take risks, secure in the knowledge that if you fail, that failure is not a failure of self, but simply a learning process, by which all great things are accomplished.

Let’s look at history.  What would the world be like if the Wright Brothers and other aviation pioneers had not had the confidence to continue trying, even after their initial failures.  What about Ford, Edison, Marconi, and others?  If they had not had confidence in their abilities, they would never have continued, and air travel, the production line, radio, phonograph, telephone, and other everyday items either never have been completed, or have been delayed for untold periods.  Without confidence, would Balboa or Columbus have ventured out to sea?  The progress of the entire world would have shuddered to a halt, simply because of a lack of confidence.

Some time ago the Grand Lodge Officers became aware that many school children, lacking the close individual attention that they needed to improve their education, were falling by the wayside.  A number of programs exist to help them in their studies, but all of these programs rely exclusively on volunteers to provide the individual mentoring which alone can make the programs successful.  It was at this point that the Masons of Michigan offered to help.  Being the only organization with members living in every county of the state, we were in the best position to work for our children’s future.  The timing was providential.  The State Department of Education was desperately seeking some means of finding enough volunteers to fill their needs, and had little hope left.  When the Officers of the Grand Lodge asked if they would be willing to accept the gift of 200,000 volunteer hours, the Department eagerly agreed.  Since that time, with the full cooperation and assistance of the State Department of Education, the acknowledgement and support of the Governor and Lt. Governor of Michigan, with the recognition of such national organizations as America’s Promise and the National Masonic Foundation for Children, the Masons of Michigan have moved forward with their plan.  The program has rapidly expanded from helping with reading skills to include such diverse areas as providing chaperones on school field trips, supervision at school athletic events, help with building and grounds maintenance, and any number of other activities in and around the schools.  Masonic Volunteers are also sharing life experiences, talking to the kids about a variety of subjects, and most importantly, listening.  These children are beginning to see the Masons as a caring and benevolent group of men, who think enough of them to give of their time to help them at school.  For many of these children, this may be their first positive contact with an adult male, and they begin to see that the Masons are not a cult, or a secret society, but rather men in whom they can place their trust, and who will be there to help them, or even just to talk to them.

Second only to confidence, literacy is the key to success in life.  No one can improve themselves unless they are able to study available material, and learn on their own.  The reason that society has improved so much in the last centuries is that the knowledge of one generation can be passed on to the next through the print media.  By being able to access that knowledge, we can improve ourselves, and our society as a result.  Any effort that we, as Masons or as individuals, can put into assisting future generations to use this vast amount of information, is an investment in our future, and the future of the world.  By becoming involved visibly as Masons, we also make an investment in the future of the Craft.  As the upcoming generations see that Masons care enough to give of their time, our one major non-renewable resource, then they see us as an organization in which they would like to be involved when they come of age themselves.

This program will take time to achieve its results.  No great undertaking has ever achieved worthwhile results quickly.  We anticipate that this program will require a minimum of five to seven years to begin to show verifiable results.  To achieve this, the Grand Lodge Officers have committed to maintaining this program for a minimum of seven years.

It is the hope of the Masons of Michigan that within that seven-year period, every child will leave third grade with the ability to read.  The benefit to society as a whole is clear.  A literate society is better able to move forward and improve the lot of all of its citizens.  In addition, the effect of these children having had a positive interaction with the members of the Fraternity will result in an improved impression of Masonry, and increased desire to associate with Masons in both the child as he grows to adulthood, and in the fathers of these children who see that the Masonic Fraternity is committed to the principles which they espouse.

The benefits to society have been made clear, but how does this benefit Masonry?  Masonry, in North America at any rate, has suffered nearly fifty years of steadily declining membership.  At one time, we were well known in our communities as a society of good men, interested in the welfare of the community and of people in general.  Over time, we began to withdraw from society, closing our doors to the community, and advising all inquirers that the organization was ‘secret’.  As a result, society moved on, and left the Craft behind.  We became an irrelevant relic of a by-gone era.  The organization that ‘my Grandfather’ belonged to is not one that the grandson would consider joining.

The Beacon Project, as part of Michigan Masonic Renewal, pushes the Craft back into society.  We must, in order to participate, become an integral part of our schools, and through the schools, known in the homes of the students, and known in a beneficial manner.  Then, Masonry will find a new beginning, and like the phoenix of legend, rise from the ashes of its own destruction to find a newer and better existence.