Friends of Friends
California Masons are lending their expertise to expand the fraternity’s reach.
By Drea Roemer
Let me introduce you to someone I think you should meet. There may be no more quintessentially Masonic way to bring people together. It’s also how Masonic philanthropy works—not just by providing services to those in need, but by finding and matching new partners and expanding their collective reach. Here, meet a group of California Masons extending the fraternity’s charitable cable tow.
Mark McNee,
San Francisco Education Fund
Seven Hills № 881
Sonora № 887
Sons of the Desert № 226
Mark McNee was introduced to the San Francisco Education Fund through his work as a trustee of the California Masonic Foundation. Before long McNee, a real estate broker in San Francisco, was invited to serve on the fund’s board of directors, where he now works to provide literacy tutoring, identify corporate and community volunteers, and provide financial grants to educators in San Francisco Unified School District.
What does the S.F. Education Fund do well?
“The Ed Fund has identified a highly effective model that places paid tutors at schools to work one-on-one with students for five to 15 minutes at a time. These short, focused sessions emphasize foundational reading skills. Over the five-month pilot, grade-level literacy rates rose from 24 percent to 54 percent in the classrooms we worked with.”
David Prentice, The Midnight Mission
BURBANK № 406
When the Covid shutdowns swept the state in March 2020, Jonathan Gray’s division at the YMCA of Long Beach closed up shop—for all of 24 hours. One day later, they were back up and running, operating a distribution program that today provides more than eight tons of food to needy families each month. On top of that, its community development arm, for which Gray serves as associate executive director, provides those in need with access to social workers, offers digital literacy classes, runs a free program that helps teens learn about finances and other skills, and organizes summertime wilderness excursions.
What about the YMCA’s work do you most connect with?
“When most people think of the YMCA, they think of fitness facilities with pools and a gym. But Community Development is different. Being a lifelong resident of Long Beach, I cherish the work we do for residents who might not otherwise be able to afford programming. My lodge, Long Beach № 327, is immensely supportive of my work. They’ve contributed time and money and even offered us the dining room for charitable events.”
Jonathan Gray, YMCA of Long Beach
LONG BEACH № 327
When the Covid shutdowns swept the state in March 2020, Jonathan Gray’s division at the YMCA of Long Beach closed up shop—for all of 24 hours. One day later, they were back up and running, operating a distribution program that today provides more than eight tons of food to needy families each month. On top of that, its community development arm, for which Gray serves as associate executive director, provides those in need with access to social workers, offers digital literacy classes, runs a free program that helps teens learn about finances and other skills, and organizes summertime wilderness excursions.
What about the YMCA’s work do you most connect with?
“When most people think of the YMCA, they think of fitness facilities with pools and a gym. But Community Development is different. Being a lifelong resident of Long Beach, I cherish the work we do for residents who might not otherwise be able to afford programming. My lodge, Long Beach № 327, is immensely supportive of my work. They’ve contributed time and money and even offered us the dining room for charitable events.”
Carlos Diez, Jr., Operation Jump Start of Long Beach
SOLOMON’S STAIRCASE № 357
It’s fitting that Carlos Diez first met leaders from Operation Jump Start, a college readiness nonprofit serving first-generation college students from Long Beach, through the California Masonic Foundation: Convening like-minded leaders and letting the philanthropic sparks fly is more or less its central philosophy. Since then, Diez has served on the organization’s board of directors, helping shape its scholarship programs, operations, and outreach.
What is Operation Jump Start’s elevator pitch?
“Operation Jump Start helps first-gen students get in, stay in, and graduate from four-year colleges. It provides the academic support, mentoring, and real-world exposure that most of us wish we’d had at 16. Roughly 95 percent of participants go straight to college. About 85 percent earn a bachelor’s degree within six years, compared with the national average of only 9 percent. Those are life-changing outcomes for students who have the drive and just need the resources.”
more from the archives:
The Relief Corps
For more than a century, California Masons supported one another—and brothers from around the world—through a vast network of relief boards.