HOW DID IT ALL START ? HOW DOES IT WORK ?
What is a Shriner ? What kind of organization attracts physicians, lawyers,
truck drivers, dentists, contractors, heads of state, movie stars, generals, clergymen and accountants ?
Some might answer "
Oh yeah, Shriners are those guys who always have those parades with the wild costumes and funny little cars." Another might
think of circuses and clowns. The fellow next to him might interject, " No, Shriners are those guys who wear those funny hats--like
flowerpots--and have those big conventions. "
" I don't know about all that, " a passerby might add, "But I do know my little
girl was born with clubfeet and now they are straight, and she can walk like anyone else, thanks to Shriners Hospital for Children.
"
These people are all right . Each has experienced an aspect of Shrinerdom, What they cannot experience, unless
they are Shriners, is the camaraderie, deep friendships, good fellowship and great times shared by all Shriners. What they may
not know is that all Shriners share a Masonic heritage: each is a Master Mason in the Freemason Fraternity.
There are more than
411,000 Shriners now. They gather in Temples, or chapters, throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Republic of
Panama. There are 22 Shriners Hospitals for Children providing care for orthopedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries and
cleft lip and palate. These hospitals have helped over 800,000 children-at no cost to the parent or child-since the
first Shriners Hospitl opened in 1922.
