The Grand Lodge of Ohio sat down with current Master of Trinity Lodge #710 Brother Joseph Buchanan to discuss their work with the Canton Refuge of Hope, their interactions with the local community and what sets their Lodge apart from others. Read the full interview below!
Tell us about Trinity Lodge. What makes it unique? What is it known for?
Our brotherhood is extremely unique. Many of us interact with each other daily, and we spend as much, if not more time together outside of the lodge as we do inside. Trinity Lodge is mostly made of blue collar brothers, as many of us work in trades and factories. Trinity is known for our involvement and charity within the community.
What is the community of Canton like?
Canton is your typical mid-sized city with people from all walks of life. You can find a large variety of activities and events for almost any interest from car shows to art shows – Canton has it all. Trinity Lodge does a lot in the community, from our food drive for Refuge of Hope to our famous spaghetti dinners where we select people from our community facing personal or financial hardship to raise money for.
Tell us about your charity work with the Canton Refuge of Hope.
We do a food drive every December for the Refuge of Hope, which is one of the great charities we give to. They provide housing, hot meals, and opportunities to unhoused individuals and families around Ohio. With this food drive we’re able to support the incredible work they do.
Trinity really shines with our direct impact charity efforts, where we help families in need in our community. Trinity takes pride in finding those in need, rolling up our sleeves and switching lodge aprons for kitchen aprons to serve the community a great meal for a great cause. We do a food drive for our immediate community of Canton just before Christmas each year. Anyone who would like to join us can follow Canton Trinity #710 on Facebook and reach out to offer assistance with this or any other event we have.
What is the relationship between Brothers in the lodge? How do they interact with each other and engage in Lodge events?
We are very lucky and have a lot of brothers who are willing to pitch in and support both degree work and our charity events. We also do regular family nights where members from the lodge attend dinner together and enjoy fellowship. This also gives our ladies and children a chance to get to know each other and our brothers. Family nights encourage support from our families and they encourage us to continue spending time at lodge.
Does your Lodge have any upcoming events you’d like to share?
We do have a spaghetti dinner coming up on April 14th at the Canton Temple, and will soon be having a firearm and safe raffle. All are welcome to join us for our raffles and dinners. We are currently having a raffle and dinner to benefit an infant who has challenging health issues that require his mother to care for him fulltime. (In full disclosure the infant is my grandson, however the lodge did pick him as the cause while I abstained from all discussion and voting.) We’re always looking for people who want to help out and volunteer; many hands make light work. We always get the job done but would never turn away anyone who wanted to help with any of our events!
What about this Lodge made you want to be part of it? What type of Mason does it attract?
The reason I joined Trinity is because of the direct impact charity they do. Any lodge can write a check to a “big box” charity, however making a direct impact on the lives of people in our community means a lot to me, and creates a presence of Masonry in the community.
Interested in learning how other Ohio Freemasons are making an impact in their communities? Read our interviews with Argus Lodge #545 and York Lodge #563!