For one bay area school, a chamber of quietude

Before a candidate receives the degrees of Masonry, he sits in a hushed and darkened space to settle his mind.

For Mark Whatley and his fellow members of Mosaic № 218 in Livermore, that’s a practice that has benefits outside the lodge as well. in fact, last fall Mosaic donated $4,000 to fund a new “sensory room” at Jackson Avenue Elementary School, designed for students who have special needs or are on the autism spectrum. The space, which opened this spring, includes several seating and play areas with textured rugs, dimmable lights, calming color schemes, and tactile elements to help kids with anxiety or other behavioral issues return to a calm state so they can rejoin their classroom. it’s expected that approximately 150 of the school’s 400 students will regularly utilize the facility, although Whatley points out that it ultimately benefits all students.

“We knew from older members that the lodge used to make small dona- tions to the schools, but that had mostly ended,” he says. “So when i came across this need, i thought, Who better to ask? i knew the lodge has been looking to do something like this, and we have the funds allocated for things of this nature. But nobody had come forward.”

The effort was approved unanimously, and in addition to providing the school with an important new space, the donation also helped light a spark within the lodge. “it kind of recharged a lot of people’s batteries,” Whatley says. “This is what we’re all about. Now the question we’re all asking is, What else can we do?”