Office of the Mayor

Proclamation

Lawrence, Kansas

WHEREAS:   The Masonic Fraternity has been active within the United States since before 1731 and its philosophies formed the political beliefs of many of our leaders during the Revolutionary War, including Washington, Franklin, Hancock, and Revere; and

WHEREAS:   Masonry has been continually active as a civic fraternity in Lawrence since 1885, and survived the Quantrill Raid of 1863 when nine Masons were murdered and the lodge destroyed by fire; and

WHEREAS:   The Masonic bodies resident in Lawrence have been active contributors to the needs of the less fortunate in the community for more than a century by making anonymous donations to individuals and organizations serving the indigent; and

WHEREAS:   The Masonic fraternity has supported the Boys and Girls Club by sponsoring and hosting a Thanksgiving Dinner for several hundred children on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving every year for more than a decade; and

WHEREAS:   Freemasonry nationally contributes more than $2 million annually to charitable purposes through its sponsorships of hospitals, language clinics, eye-care clinics, and within Kansas, has contributed more than $20 million to the University of Kansas Cancer Center at the KU Med Center;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Mike Amyx, Mayor of the City of Lawrence, Kansas, do hereby proclaim Saturday, October 2, and Sunday, October 3, 2010 as

“Freemasonry Weekend”

and urge all citizens to take proper cognizance thereof.

                                                          Mike Amyx, Mayor

September 28, 2010