Food for the Soul

From the time he was a child, Trent Rosenlieb was drawn to Freemasonry for its esoteric intrigue—the symbols, the secrets, the mystique. However, what’s kept him involved in the fraternity all these years later is something else entirely: manning the counter once a month at the local soup kitchen. 

His experience isn’t uncommon. Because while Freemasonry is known primarily for the secrecy that surrounds its rituals, the reality is that for real-life Masons, the most important element of their membership is service to others, according to extensive surveying. For all the fascination with what goes on inside a Masonic lodge room, what’s far more meaningful is what members do outside it. 

For Rosenlieb and many other members of his lodge, Saddleback Laguna № 672, that’s found behind the scenes at the Someone Cares Soup Kitchen in Costa Mesa. There, several times each year, members of the lodge volunteer by preparing and serving food to the homeless, seniors, unemployed, and other needy groups—and then sticking around to help clean up. “It’s the time I feel most like a Mason,” Rosenlieb says. That’s precisely the idea behind one of the pillars of the Keystone Initiative, a new road map issued by the Grand Lodge intended to guide the state’s fraternity into the next decade. In addition to improving the way lodges meet and function, the plan emphasizes getting Masons into their immediate communities. In that way, it envisions each of the state’s 340-plus lodges serving as a local, boots-on-the-ground hub for community service. “By connecting our local lodges with opportunities to give back, we’re not only strengthening our own neighborhoods, we’re also giving our members what they want,” says Grand Master Garrett Chan. 

That’s true: According to the Grand Lodge’s recent member survey, the most common reason for joining the fraternity among prospects is “to make a positive difference in society.” In addition, the most commonly cited change that members hope to see in the future is an increase in community involvement.

Many lodges already have robust and meaningful philanthropic programs like Saddleback Laguna’s. But for many others, lodge leaders have trouble either finding worthy programs or sustaining the momentum to keep those partnerships alive. The Keystone Initiative, introduced this fall at Annual Communication, aims to solve those problems. One of its most ambitious goals is to develop a statewide mechanism that local lodges can tap into to find opportunities to give back in their own area. Doug Ismail, president of the California Masonic Foundation, points to groups like the California Association of Food Banks, Habitat for Humanity, and the Alzheimer’s Association as examples of large charities with opportunities for volunteers throughout the state. “The idea is to have a playbook that any lodge in the state can use to get involved in meaningful local service opportunities,” Ismail says.

That work is ongoing; Ismail predicts it will be ready to roll out by mid-2026. Later in the timeline, the Grand Lodge and the Masonic Homes plan to develop an online volunteer platform where members and lodges can post service projects that interested Masons can participate in.

None of that work is meant to take the place of the community service individual members and lodges already do. That’s good news for Rosenlieb and the rest of the gang at Someone Cares Soup Kitchen. “I’ll keep on showing up here as long as I can,” he says. “It feels good to give back.”