Each year the Group 8 Committee invite suggestions from Thanet’s Masonic Lodges & Chapters as to which good cause should be supported at Group level.
Previous recipients have been “Beach within Reach” and the new Pathology Laboratory at the QEQM hospital.
For the Masonic year 2022 – 2023 we supported Community Lifesavers, an organisation whose primary objective is the education and instruction of how to use the many public defibrillators (AED’s) that we now see in our area.
Having received permission from our local schools, Community Lifesavers now instruct all year seven pupils how to recognise the signs of a cardiac arrest and to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) including the deployment of a defibrillator.
Whilst CPR does appear on the curriculum for year seven pupils, this is only a 30 minute presentation on a powerpoint page. Whereas Community Lifesavers will send their team of volunteers into our schools complete with training AEDs, medical manikins and lung bags and conduct a practical demonstration involving the pupils so that every child is completely familiar with how to access, assemble and deploy a defibrillator should the need ever arise.
The result being turning Bystanders into Lifesavers !!
This week, Thanet Freemasons were delighted to present Tracey & Rosie from Community Lifesavers with a cheque for £3,000 which will allow them to purchase new manikins (several thousand chest compressions can take a toll) AED pads and expand their instruction sessions to reach local community groups.
The presentation took place at Hilderstone College who (with the help of one of our Lodges) have been able to purchase a new public access defibrillator which will be positioned on the exterior wall of their facility.
More information on their work and how you can help can be found https://www.communitylifesavers.org.uk/
All donations made from Thanet Freemasons come exclusively from our members, and we continue, and are proud to support local good causes in our local towns and villages. Our project for 2023 – 2024 is Thanet Foodbanks, and we look forward to making a presentation at the end of this fundraising period.
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