Deal Masons in Freemasonry Today

Monday, 15 February 2021

Deal Freemasons funding free cooked meals for those in need

1 / 1 You often get more done if you pool resources. Back in April last year, Colin Tonks, Almoner and Charity Steward of the Wellington Lodge in Deal, Kent was thinking along those lines. The COVID-19 pandemic was creating difficulty and hardship in the area and demands on the local food bank were growing fast. The food bank was providing tins of food and other ingredients, but more was needed. People wanted ready meals.

'What if we all got together and got something going for local people?' thought Colin.

Freemasons in Deal and Sandwich were contacted and responded immediately. Caterers at Masonic Centres were feeling the pinch under COVID-19 restrictions, but Deal’s Terry Price, Catering Manager at River Catering, was ready to cook and was provided with the necessary funds. Local farmers C J Bean & Sons were happy to supply vegetables for free. The Deal food bank initiative was born. Twenty nourishing meals of bangers & mash and cottage pie, each with a healthy dollop of vegetables, were cooked, frozen, packaged up and delivered to Deal Food Bank twice a week from April to October.

Following their success, in the autumn Deal Freemasons dug deep into their pockets again and turned their attention to Linwood Under Fives Playgroup, Victoria Memorial Hospital and local charity United Families, funding and providing frozen ready meals to all three organisations – and they still do so today.

Says Colin, 'We are particularly keen to see that children are well provided for and we will continue to give as much as we can and obtain extra funding if possible to help us meet our goal.'