Fraternal greetings to each and every one of you. I hope this message finds you both safe and well and that you’re coping with the strange and often distressing circumstances we find ourselves in.
COVID 19- The reponse from UGLE and Province of East Kent.
Doubtless you’ll have seen the flurry of emails both from UGLE and from Province relating to action being taken to combat Covid-19.
At a provincial level, the Cornwallis Charity has made £57,000 available to East Kent to distribute to local good causes who are effected by, or are helping towards, tackling this dreadful pandemic. £17,000 of this is ring-fenced to go towards food banks, the remaining £40,000 is to be divided into the eight areas in East Kent.
If anyone is aware of any group or individual who may benefit from a slice of this funding please let me know as much information as possible and I’ll feed it back to Province.
Secondly, the MCF have created a Covid-19 Relief Chest to assist with projects on a wider scale. For this we are part of a wider area consisting of East Kent, West Kent, Surrey and Sussex.
How you can help……
I would like to canvass support and donations for this initiative and would ask you dig deep. In missing our April meeting alone each and everyone of us has NOT spent £15 on dining, has not dropped a few quid into the temple collection and has not bought a brown envelope or raffle tickets (although these last two should be dealt with separately.)
I am not so insensitive as to realise that some are self employed, and that this request for donations may appear inappropriate.
This is not mandatory, it genuinely is a case of “if you can, would you?”
Any donations towards the Covid-19 relief chest will go towards our 2025 target and more importantly, will offer support and assistance to those affected by the situation that Coronavirus has bought upon us.
For those that can, could i ask you to consider donating. This can be done is a variety of ways:
Online: to the 2025 festival. Ensuring your name and lodge number by CLICKING HERE
Bank Transfer: There is no suggested amount, but please give what you can using you name as reference. Please contact me for our bank details.
Cheques: For those that do not have online or telephone banking, would you please either send me a cheque made payable to “The Royal Navy Lodge” or email me with a pledge that I can collect once we return (I will pay these pledges on your behalf and recoup in October).
In the meantime, please take of yourselves and those closest to you. For those that are appropriately equipped, there is now an active whatsapp group, if you’re not involved and would like to be, please email me your mobile telephone number and we’ll get you added. And finally, there are a number of us who are happy to go shopping for those of you who are “shielded”. If any of you need anything, please reply to this and I’ll make it happen.
Please keep safe and well and I look forward to seeing you all again as soon as is practical.
S&F
Nigel
