Working
To Help Others
The Orange Order is deeply committed to helping those in
need.
Charitable giving is an essential part of Orangeism and it
is not insular. Certainly we have our own charities but we
have also raised large sums of money for various deserving
causes such as equipment for local hospitals, holidays for
disadvantaged children and "third-world" relief.
Of course we do not only give financially we also give of
our time and talents. It is central to our ethos that as part
of the community we provide a service to that community.
Annually the Order raises tens of thousands of pounds through
its collections at church parades and similar functions to
assist those in need.
Each year a specific cause is nominated for the Grand
Master's Charity Appeal. In 2003 the nominated charity
is Cancer Research N.I.
The Lord Enniskillen Memorial
Orange Orphan Society has a magnificent record for helping
boys and girls who have been deprived of the love and the
contribution of a parent, through death by natural causes
or as a result of continuing violence in Northern Ireland.
It is the best known Orange charity, but there are many others
such as the Sir George A.
Clark Bart Memorial Bursary Fund which assists people
through educational bursary.
The Orange Order also gives a special helping hand to families
of members through its funeral fund and, through the work
of the growing numbers of Orange Credit Unions, there is a
real incentive for families to plan to improve their homes
and amenities. The McCrea Memorial
Trust Fund provides holiday accommodation for children.
The tradition of an Orange helping hand goes back for generations.
A perusal of the papers for the troubled period 1920-22 shows
special efforts by the Orange Order to help distressed Protestants,
including many from Eire, who had lost their homes because
of the terrible strife in the country at that time.
Again, during the Ulster troubles of the past 30 years, when
many families, especially in Belfast, were dispossessed and
had to move, the Order was prominent in alleviating hardship.
All this is well documented and is recognised by many members
of the general public.
Not so well publicised are the many efforts by Orangemen
and their Lodges in helping the local community and not in
any narrow parochial sense. Bro. Brian Mitchell, from Belfast
has done magnificent work in recent years in raising funds
to provide holiday breaks for under-privileged children. District
Lodges also do fine work in helping worthy causes and an example
of this was provided in Markethill when a sponsored walk was
organised to provide money for one of the units at Craigavon
Area Hospital.
When brethren in Togo, which has a strong Orange movement,
were looking help in purchasing a vehicle to carry out social
and medical work in the interior of that country, Lodges throughout
Ireland gave generously and succeeded in purchasing a custom
built vehicle.
One could list numerous examples of our work for charity
but it is sufficient to stress that charitable giving is happening
throughout Orange Lodges in Northern Ireland and the Republic
of Ireland on a daily basis.
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