“Who are you people?”
That was the question asked by a member of the nursing staff at Maidstone A&E, when W Bro Mike Spencer took more boxes of teddies into the unit. Mike told him that they were donated through the generosity of the Freemasons of East Kent and the nurse told him ‘the teddies have transformed the whole atmosphere in the A&E unit’, he also said ‘it helped us treat the children so much easier, it has made staff so happy and made it a pleasure to work in A&E.’ The nurses are calling them ‘magic bears’ because of the reaction they have on the children, calming them down and allowing the staff to do their work quickly and efficiently.
In reality, the Masons behind the Appeal are everyday people with families, jobs and commitments of their own, but who have a little time on their hands to make a difference to people’s lives effected by the distress of a sick or injured child.
They were all Masters of their respective Lodges during the Province of East Kent’s 2004 Festival; which raised in excess of £5 million for the ‘Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys’; and as such became firm friends.
The Chairman of the Appeal, W Bro John Keeley, had heard about the TLC Appeal, which started in the Masonic Province of Essex and was so convinced of its success in other Provinces, thought it should also be run in East Kent.
It took little persuasion to convince his fellow ‘Festival Masters’ on the benefits of introducing the Appeal into East Kent. So, on a cold wet day in March 2005, the first delivery of TLC Teddy Bears were taken to the Queen Elizabeth Queen Mother Hospital, in Margate and the William Harvey Hospital, in Ashford.
Since that day the Appeal has been granted permission to deliver Bears to all the 4 major ‘A&E Units’ and 6 ‘Minor Injury Units’ in East Kent; and between March 2005 and March 2006, the Appeal donated 10,000 bears to these Units and the expected total for the forthcoming year is expected to be well in excess of that figure.
The Appeal Committee would like to acknowledge the assistance of all those masons who have helped in selling merchandise, organising fund raising events and raffles, storing and delivering the Bears to the Hospitals, and in doing so have made it possible to run the Appeal with little or no administration costs.