Blaine C. Clay Lodge # 14

Brothers of BCC,

     I recently ran across this article about the Knights of Pythagoras and i saw our community in the words.  I think that you guys will see the same.  After reading this please leave a comment on your thoughts of how we can bring this program back to life.

Travel light brothers,

Troy Welch

Sir Knight

RALEIGH -- Behind the shabby façade of the Widow's Son Prince Hall Masonic Lodge, a remarkable renaissance has occurred over the past few years, thanks to a group of boys in need.

Three years ago, under the leadership of two high-energy new members, the once-faltering African-American lodge reached out to help the boys, most growing up without fathers, in need of male role models.

The program, called the Knights of Pythagoras, does more than tutor or entertain. The leaders are involved in every aspect of the boys' lives. From school and sports to table manners and public speaking. From throwing a crisp bounce pass to being respectful to women. In short, they build character.

"These are not bad boys, but everyone needs some help staying on the path," said Quentin Vickers, a Mason who helps mentor the boys.

In helping to guide the boys, the lodge has, it appears, secured a new, vital future for itself.

That wasn't always certain.

Last year, the Widow's Son lodge celebrated its 100th anniversary, a historic moment. But like its rundown building at the corner of Cabarrus and Blount streets in downtown Raleigh, the lodge's membership was showing its age.

Although the Masons have a more storied history than most groups - witness the grand titles of their leadership to this day, their secret rituals - the fraternal organization had fallen prey to the same national trend sapping service organizations.

"The membership was dying away," said Past Master (that is, former leader) Wyatt Boswell, 39. And so was the vitality.

So, although the Grand Lodge of North Carolina mandates that all its member lodges have a Knights of Pythagoras chapter, it had been at least 15 years since the Raleigh lodge had sponsored one.

"It was pretty much dead," said Past Master Bill Coward, 70, a member of the lodge's old guard.

Enter Timothy Eaton and Wade Harris.

The first year, their Knights of Pythagoras numbered exactly two young men.

But over the past two years, the program has grown to include about 20 boys ages 8 to 16, the vast majority being raised by single mothers.

They were not all enthusiastic participants at the start.

"There was one young man who wouldn't even speak when he first came," said Eaton, 30, whose own mother was murdered when he was 9. "This young man was disrespectful to his mother. He was on a bad path."

If that young man thought he could just sulk his way through forced attendance at a few meetings, however, he didn't know what he was getting into with Eaton and Harris.

"This is not an extracurricular activity," said Harris. "We love these boys. We get involved with every aspect of their lives. We are there at the school, at the basketball games, at the concerts. We have tutoring. We take them to football games. We bring them to the homeless shelter and to help the elderly."

Harris and Eaton intercede when the boys have trouble at school or at home. Nothing escapes their attention.

Pryce Preacher, who at age 15 is this year's Master Knight, said he at first thought he could still goof off at school sometimes.

"I was like, Who's going to find out?" he said during a recent etiquette training session on a Saturday morning at the lodge. "Then one day Brother Wade was there at the school. He was in my classroom!"

Stephanie Preacher, whose three sons are members of the Knights, said the experience has been invaluable to her boys. She has seen improvement in their behavior and in their grades.

'Men they can count on'

"The boys know they are accountable to these men," she said. "They know these are men they can count on."

Kevin Russell, 34, the current Worshipful Master of the lodge, said Harris and Eaton's full-tilt approach has borne fruit. It is evident not only in the kids, but also in the very tenor of the lodge.

The program, he said, is cultivating new leaders for the lodge and the community.

Looking out over the group's first annual mother-and-son brunch, held in the student union at St. Augustine's College, Russell nodded to the boys in neat shirts and ties serving their mothers with their newly acquired manners.

"They are the future Masons," he said. "They are our future."

It's not that there weren't always new members, said Russell. But some members joined in name only, to put another line on the résumé.

Past Master Benjamine Stevenson, 61, who has been a Mason for more than 35 years, said he has seen it happen all over the country, where lodges are imploding for lack of new leadership and a renewed sense of mission.

"There are a lot of people just looking out for themselves," he said. "Those are not people who are going to mentor boys on their path. Brothers Wade and Timothy have inspired all of us."

The Knights of Pythagoras has transformed the boys and the lodge, Stevenson said.

"In these young Masons, and in these boys, I see a bright future, for the Masons and for us all."