Tulsa Masons Use Matching Funds to Help our Troops

In September 2008, Jack Hughey proposed that Millennium Lodge #543 have a fund-raiser to benefit Blue Star Mothers of America, Oklahoma Chapter 1, which is based in Tulsa. In October, Brother Hughey and Brother Allen Tyler met with the Blue Star Mother representatives Gaye Beatt and Barbara Porter, to discuss which sort of fund-raiser was likely to prove most effective.

The group discussed having a dinner at the Lodge, or a car wash, or some type of raffle or bingo party, but they really wanted something bigger, something which would bring in substantial funds. Barbara Porter thought that she might be able to get a Tulsa TV station to donate time on a news broadcast for a fund-raising telethon. About two weeks later, the ladies called to say that Channel 8 had agreed to host a live telethon for the Blue Star Mothers and the Masons.

In order to provide the Blue Star Mothers with as much money as possible from the telethon, Worshipful Brothers Hughey and Tyler approached Tulsa’s Akdar Lodge about partnering with Millennium Lodge. The members of Akdar voted to participate.

KTUL Channel 8 in Tulsa agreed to host the telethon on November 10th. Volunteers from Millennium and Akdar Lodges and the Blue Star Mothers Chapter manned the phones on that day. They were on the air at 4:30 PM, 5:00 PM, and 6:00 PM. The Blue Star Mothers received more than $10,000 from viewers that day. Millennium applied for $6,298 in Matching Funds and presented the Mothers a check for $12,596. Akdar applied for $933.27 and presented a check for $1,866.54, bringing the total proceeds from the telethon to more than $17,000.

This is important because the Blue Star Mothers receive no funding from the government. They rely on charitable donations to buy all the supplies they ship to our troops. They also pay 100% of the postage on every single packet they send—and the postage is just over $10.00 per box.

Between the good graces of those who called in to donate money, Millennium and Akdar Lodges, and the Charity Foundation, the Blue Star Mothers had the funds they needed to ship hundreds of packages to the men and women in the U.S. military, in time for Christmas.

Involved in the presentation were Ben Perry, Ted Renfro, Allen Tyler and Jack Hughey from Millennium #543; Hank Henson, Berry Wickett, and Gene Traylor from Akdar #555; Gay Beatt, Barbara Porter, Teresa Nightingale, and Patti Wimbley of the Blue Star Mothers; and Carol Lambert, News anchor for Channel 8.