By Parker McKenzie
The Monash Gully Free Masons chapter has raised $45,000 dollars for Interchange Outer East, a charity the chapter has supported for over a decade.
The money raised goes towards a support program for siblings of disabled children. Since 2008, local lodges and the Freemasons Foundation have presented Interchange Outer East with $395,000 to ensure the program can continue.
The program provides activities and camps for disadvantaged siblings to receive support, counselling and guidance. It is fully funded by the Freemasons through raffles, fundraising and events. 80 to 100 children participate in the program each year.
Monash Gully Free Masons District member Sashi Sanmugathas said Interchange Outer East struggled to find funding for the program, so the Freemasons stepped in to help.
“They want to bring these siblings together so they will know that they’re not alone. They have other families in the same situation,” he said.
“They want to build a network and support these kids so they came up with the siblings program.”
The Monash Gully Lodge has raised up to $60,000 dollars some years for the program.
Mr Sanmugathas said he has been involved in assisting the program for six years with regular fundraising and charity drives.
When you come into the program as a kid, you don’t do it for one or two years. You will continue until you become a young adult,” he said.
“I received this letter from a kid who was part of the program for the last 10 years, now she’s 19 years old.”
Mr Sanmugathas said lodges around Victoria and the Freemasons Foundation — the charitable arm of Freemasons Victoria — raises and donates $2.5 million a year to charities and organisations like Interchange Outer East.
“No one knows about it. The reason is because we don’t really spend more time and money publishing what we are doing,” he said.
“We just spend that energy and money helping another project.”
