Over 150 children and teens hunted approximately 3,400 eggs during an egg hunt co-sponsored by Bethel No. 1, Pennsylvania Job’s Daughters; Riverside Chapter, Pennsylvania DeMolay; and York Forest Tall Cedars. (Thanks to York Lodge No. 266 and Zeredatha-White Rose Lodge No. 451 for contributing donations to this event.)

The Masonic Youth Foundation provides resources, training, conferences and adult leadership to a variety of Pennsylvania Masonic sponsored youth groups and the greater community.

Masonic youth organizations supported by the foundation include DeMolay, Job’s Daughters, Knights of Pythagoras, Rainbow Girls and Ruth Mitchell Tucker Girls Youth Department, which foster the values of Freemasonry and give youth a place to develop and succeed.

Community Support & Donations

All youth organizations embrace the importance of community service and charitable outreach. Community service efforts in 2024 included:

• DeMolays from the Elizabethtown Chapter helped with the coat check and collecting trash during the Taste of Lancaster County, a fundraiser for the Elizabethtown Public Library.
• Steel City Chapter, Coraopolis, partnered with Zerubbabel Duquesne Royal Arch Chapter No. 162 to prepare and deliver meals to families staying at a local Ronald McDonald House.
• Centennial Chapter, Downingtown, worked with the Masonic lodges in District 5 to collect canned goods for the Lord’s Pantry, a non-profit organization that supports Chester County families in need.
• William C. Graham Squires Manor (an appendant organization for younger youth, ages 9-11, associated with Lorraine DeMolay Chapter in Butler) raised over $1,600 for the Butler County Children and Youth Services through a spaghetti dinner.
• Members of Pennsylvania DeMolay assembled care kits for distribution to the homeless. This community outreach is an initiative developed and organized by the active DeMolays who serve as Pennsylvania DeMolay State Officers.
• In 2023-2024, Pennsylvania Rainbow Girls raised over $3,000 for their state charity, My Stuff Bags Foundation, and almost $7,000 for Grand Worthy Advisor’s charity of choice, NAMI, a grassroots organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness.

Educational Opportunities

Through the Masonic Youth Foundation’s Educational Institute, 1,690 individuals attended 36 virtual and in-person workshops. Educators, human service professionals and school administrators across the Commonwealth have access to these sessions free of charge, with more than 100 hours of total training provided. The workshops cover a multitude of topics, from “Creating Emotional Well-being in the Digital World” to “Bullying, Trauma and the Brain.”

The foundation covers the costs of the workshops, which are $1,000 per session, for a total of $36,000. The in-person workshops were held at the Masonic Conference Center in Elizabethtown and included a continental breakfast and catered lunch at a cost of $1,733.

In 2024, $150,000 in scholarships were given to 52 young adults to support them in their pursuit of higher education.

“Everyone knows that the cost of a college is incredibly expensive and continues to rise having alternative ways to fund our education is really important and especially for me in nursing school. Balancing a job with schoolwork and my clinical schedule can be incredibly challenging. I was incredibly grateful when I found out the Masonic Youth Foundation had awarded me scholarships. It’s definitely worth it to not have to worry so much about the cost of education so I can really focus on my studies as I enter my last year of nursing school.”

Libby Heaton, nursing major, Wilson College