Area fraternal lodges join hands with community today

CEDAR RAPIDS - Today, Western Fraternal Life Association lodges will celebrate Join Hands Day, a national fraternal day of services focused on connecting youth and adults through neighborhood volunteering.

Sponsored by America's fraternal benefit societies, Join Hands Day encourages people to form partnerships across generations to build greater mutual understanding, respect and trust. Join Hands Day is an opportunity for youth and adults to work side-by-side as they tackle projects and make life better in Cedar Rapids and other communities.

By working together, young people develop leadership and communication skills. Adults learn how to work effectively with young people and make new friends. All age groups gain satisfaction by helping others in the community, and the community benefits by a diverse group of people working together for a common cause.

Area lodges will partner with local schools in the following ways today:

Cedar Lodge 7 and Cedar Rapids Five Hundred Lodge 500 will work with Marion High School students and teachers for their “One Day in May” community service project. Various activities will take place at 14 locations. WFLA Lodges 7 and 500 will provide and help serve 200 lunches, provide pickup trucks to transport the rakes, shovels and wheelbarrows, haul mulch and topsoil and work with students at the Indian Creek Nature Center.

Cedar Lodge 7 also will clean up, landscape and plant at Wilson School at 8 a.m.

Cedar Rapids Karel IV Lodge 13 will clean up the Czech National Cemetery, 2200 C St. SW. Participants are asked to bring gloves; rakes and bags are provided. The project will start at 8 a.m. rain or shine.

Cedar Rapids Lodge 262 will plant flowers and landscape the grounds of Grant Elementary School in Cedar Rapids. The lodge has donated the cost of the flowers and mulch, and school staff will purchase and bring them to the school. Parents, students and lodge members may bring their own gloves, rake, hoe or trowel, although some of these items will be provided by school staff. Grant students will help with the project from 8 to 10 a.m. rain or shine.

Center Point Lodge 160 members will help deliver hot meals to seniors with youth from a service learning class at the Service Learning Center between May 9 and 13.

On April 30, Swisher Lodge 400 and Hawkeye Lodge 423 helped assemble special brochures at Tanager Place for its upcoming events.

For more information, call (319) 363-2653 or click

here.