Programs & Charities

What is it?
A program run by the Lynden/Ferndale Masonic Lodge that donates bicycles to local schools to encourage students to read.

How does it work?
Lynden/Ferndale International Lodge #56 gives 2 bikes to 22 schools in 5 county districts. Each school will create a reading program that encourages its students to read with the possibility of winning a bike. Some schools do this as a straight out race-the students who read the most win. Other schools do this as a raffle, with each ticket representing a book, reading quiz or amount of pages read. The tickets are drawn at the end of the read a thon.

What does it do?
The program has been running for 17 years and has resulted in huge increases in reading participation in local elementaries and middle schools. A few years ago the number of words read by students at Irene Reither increased 400%!

Why do we do this?
Masonry is about making people better. This is reflected in our scholarship programs, bikes 4 books, and other charitable endeavors. Literacy makes a person more capable, more understanding, imaginative, sympathetic and knowledgeable. The more literate they are, the more these qualities grow.

How many bikes have you given away?
We have given away over 300 bikes over the last 10 years. We have supplied bikes to the Lynden, Ferndale, Meridian, Blaine and Nooksack School Districts.

Lynden/Ferndale International Lodge #56 is a leader in the state for this program. We look to constantly find new means to give and teach.

 2024 marked the 18th year that Lynden/Ferndale International Lodge has offered scholarships to deserving high school seniors. Five $2,000.00 scholarships for continuing education are awarded to qualified seniors in the Blaine, Lynden, Ferndale, Nooksack Valley, and Meridian School districts each year.

Information about the scholarship program is provided to the counselors at the five school districts shortly after the new year begins in January. Applications, including current high school transcripts and a one-page essay based on the interests and future plans of the applicants, are due in March.

Judging of the applications is by members of the Lodge and somehow, someway, the cream always rises to the top although often the applicants all are so good that a final choice is difficult.

The scholarships are awarded by representatives of the Lodge at the awards ceremony held by each school district in the late Spring.

For further information just contact Lodge Secretary, Richard Decima, at (360) 392-0145. 

The George Washington Portrait Program under the auspices of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial, has a stated objective of returning Bro. Washington's portrait to a place of prominence in public schools. Lynden International Lodge, with the participation and support of other lodges in District #10, obtained an undertaking from 15 public schools to display a beautifully framed portrait on canvas of Bro. Washington by renown artist Rembrandt Peale in an appropriate place in each of their schools. The Lodge has also distributed this portrait to the Lynden Public Library.