NORTH-east charities Mental Health Aberdeen, AberNecessities and Aberdeen Cyrenians have each been given £500 by The Lodge of Aberdeen No.1 ter, based at Freemasons’ Hall, 85 Crown Street.
Michael Reid, who has been Master of the Lodge since 2019 said: “Members of the Lodge all agreed that these donations would be an excellent way to put something back into the community and show support to some local causes which are close to our hearts.”
Mental Health Aberdeen is a charity that provides free counselling and information services to adults and young people. MHA was formed in 1950, making it one of the oldest charities working with people experiencing mental health difficulties.
AberNecessities provides disadvantaged families with the essential and basic necessities that no child should go without. It recognises the importance of meeting the basic needs of a child in order to give them the best start possible. The charity launched in 2019 and has supported over 8,000 local children across Aberdeen city and shire.
Aberdeen Cyrenians was first started by Aberdeen University students in 1968 as a soup kitchen and now puts the needs of Northeast Scotland’s most vulnerable and socially excluded people first – leading at the frontline of service, care, and influence for 50+ years. Aberdeen Cyrenians exists to support anyone and everyone whether they’re living on the street, at high financial risk, in an abusive living situation, struggling with mental health issues, struggling with substance addiction or involved in the justice system.
A key member of each charity was on hand to receive the money and they expressed their thanks for the excellent support.
The Lodge of Aberdeen dates back to at least 1670. In the past Freemasons’ Hall, at 85 Crown Street, has taken part in the Doors Open Day, a Scotland-wide initiative which encourages people to visit sites of interest.
