The Givers

When he was first looking ahead to his year as master of San Fernando № 343, Benedict Tanjutco wanted what many lodges strive for but not all achieve: “To be more than just that big build-ing everyone drives by” on Maclay Avenue, he says.

But sometimes breaking out of the box people put you in is tough.

Tanjutco, committed to kicking off a year of public service, started by reaching out to a nearby elementary school to gauge interest in coordinating a supply drive for teachers. The response?

Who are you again?

Not a great start. “So I had to spend the first 10 minutes of the conversation with the principal convincing him that we were serious,” Tanjutco says. Things clicked when Tanjutco brought up the lodge hall. Oh, you’re that group in that big building!

With introductions out of the way, the lodge was able to organize a successful first event, which yielded a truckload of supplies for the school. That, in turn, helped the group get its charitable footing.

During the L.A. wildfires in early 2025, the lodge partnered with the Filipino American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Los Angeles and became a center for the organization’s donations and relief efforts. It reached out to other nearby lodges and, with their help, distributed supplies throughout the region. Following the fire, the lodge hosted the local fire-station staff for a stated meeting dinner. To cap it off, members gave a sizable contribution to the Grand Lodge’s fire relief drive.

Those efforts helped establish a reputation for benevolence in the area. And unlike that first phone call with the school, groups now know that they can come directly to the lodge for help. Recently, that included the local police department reaching out to help organize a holiday toy drive.

Tanjutco says the increased visibility is a good thing for the lodge, but that isn’t the primary goal of its altruism. Rather, it’s about living up to their Masonic ideals. “Freemasonry isn’t something we just attend each month,” he says. “It’s something we live each day.”