2022 Community Impact Report
Outreach, donations and support
Masonic Villages
As part of our Mission of Love, Masonic Villages extends services to neighboring communities and individuals of all ages.
The Masonic Villages proudly provided $48.5 million of charitable care and services across Pennsylvania in 2022. This amount consists of approximately $11.6 million (at cost) of free care and services and $36.9 million (at cost) for care and services above the amount reimbursed by Medicare, Medicaid and other third-party payers.
In addition, Masonic Villages provided more than $362,108 in scholarships, donations to local emergency services providers, internships and community assistance to our neighbors in Dallas, Elizabethtown, Lafayette Hill, Sewickley and Warminster.
As a nonprofit organization, and as part of our Mission of Love, Masonic Villages extends services to surrounding communities and individuals of all ages. Efforts focused on enhancing local businesses and nonprofits, supporting economic development, enriching students, engaging children, assisting those in need and encouraging residents’ participation.
Community Engagement & Support
Masonic Villages works with other organizations to help fulfill needs in the community, some of which also benefit our residents.
For the eighth year, Masonic Village at Dallas collaborated with the physical therapy department at Misericordia University on a Balance & Fall Prevention Program. The program encourages good health, exercise and well-being, while giving students real-life field experience.
To benefit Elizabethtown Community Housing and Outreach Services (ECHOS), which runs a winter shelter at St. Paul’s Methodist Church for those with emergency living needs, Masonic Village at Elizabethtown’s environmental services department washed 3,900 pounds of sheets, blankets, comforters and towels free of charge, donating staff time valued at approximately $2,262.
In a partnership with Elizabethtown College, biology students have the opportunity to earn a 40-hour CNA certification, which includes classwork, direct interaction with residents and a competency test.
Masonic Village at Elizabethtown hosted the Mother’s Day 5K, sponsored by the Elizabethtown Rotary Club, and the Biking for Brittany’s Hope 62-mile bike ride on campus. Elizabethtown Rotary used our facilities for their meetings free of charge after a fire damaged their regular meeting space.
Masonic Village at Lafayette Hill hosted the Prodigy Learning Center annual kindergarten graduation. Students from the center visit with residents throughout the year for intergenerational bonding.
Providing a high quality child care option for staff and the local community, the Sewickley YMCA child care center, located at Masonic Village at Sewickley, cared for 89 children from 71 different families in 2022. Approximately 15% of these children have parents who work at Masonic Village, and the remaining 85% are from local neighborhoods. One of the great benefits of a child development center on campus is the intergenerational opportunities it provides, which included trick or treating and visits with Mr. and Mrs. Claus.
Masonic Village and Misericordia University partner on a Balance & Fall Prevention Program
Prodigy Learning Center's kindergarten graduation
Business & Economic Support
As a nonprofit organization, Masonic Villages is not required to pay real estate taxes; however, we value municipalities’ services and understand their plights, as costs impact local taxes. Through Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) agreements signed in Dallas, Elizabethtown, Lafayette Hill and Sewickley, we paid $2,411,880 to local boroughs, townships, counties and school districts in 2022.
Supporting the local economy is also a priority. Through contracts with 339 businesses in the Dallas, Elizabethtown, Lafayette Hill and Sewickley areas, Masonic Villages purchased approximately $5.63 million of products and services.
For the past 16 years, Masonic Villages has been implementing a comprehensive sustainability plan, including renewable energy projects, energy auditing and more than 80 individual efficiency projects. Eco-friendly operations and initiatives are an important investment in our community’s and planet’s future, whether it’s restoring a portion of the Conoy Creek, utilizing solar power or protecting soil and water resources while operating a beef cattle and farm enterprise.
Masonic Village at Elizabethtown and Penn State University established a mutually beneficial partnership in 2018 that allows students to gain practical experience and complete academic requirements, while working to advance Masonic Village initiatives, through efforts in sustainability and improved use of technology.
Donations
Trisha Lamb, Masonic Village at Warminster activities director, with Eagle Scout Alex
Masonic Village Hospice’s Relay for Life team
Masonic Villages seeks ways to support other charitable organizations whenever possible. We contributed $44,372 to fire and EMS companies, libraries and other causes in 2022. Efforts also included:
- Donations of clothing and books to Salvation Army, Goodwill, libraries and other local thrift stores, and collections of food items for local food banks. In Warminster, residents and staff held a baby drive to collect boxes of essential items for Bucks County Children & Youth Services to distribute to families in need. An Eagle Scout also collected items for newborns in foster care as part of his Eagle Scout project. Residents even made blankets!
- The Masonic Village Farm Market donated produce weekly to the Community Cupboard of Elizabethtown, East Donegal-Conoy Food Banks and the Elizabethtown First Church of God meal program. During their Photos with Santa events, the Farm Market accepted donations for MS FitEffect, whose mission is to improve the quality of life for people living with Multiple Sclerosis by working with and teaching them how fitness and proper exercise can change their lives, raising $430 for the program.
- Masonic Village Hospice raised more than $9,700 for the 2022 Relay for Life of Lancaster, benefiting the American Cancer Society, and they were an Event Caregiver Sponsor.
- Masonic Village donated the use of two shuttles for the Elizabethtown National Night Out on Aug. 2.
- Masonic Village sponsored the entertainment for Senior Citizens Night at the Elizabethtown Fair and donated $200 to sponsor the Elizabethtown Rotary tree sale.
- Masonic Village and the Masonic Village Farm Market partnered with Northwest EMS and the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve to support the Lancaster County Toys for Tots collection.
- We contributed $15,000 to the Elizabethtown Area Education Foundation to help generate support for the foundation’s grant program to enhance learning experiences in the classroom and beyond.
- At Masonic Villages’ Elizabethtown and Sewickley locations, we awarded $25,000 in scholarships to 10 graduating high school seniors and college students who volunteered at least 100 hours with us during their high school years.
Masonic Village Farm Market staff present a check to MS FitEffect
Executive director Mike Rowe, right, presents a check for the Elizabethtown Area Education Foundation to Joseph Murphy, board member, and former superintendent of Elizabethtown Area School District Dr. Michele Balliet
Educational Opportunities
“Masonic Village has a ton to offer residents between health care sites, short commutes to community life and its friendly and inviting atmosphere. Throughout the experience, I gained a new confidence in myself when I was being trusted with the tasks at hand. I gained knowledge in the background of marketing and how to help people see why such a service or product is right for them. Lastly, during the experience I learned the importance of writing everything down and documenting it, along with the importance of staying organized.”
Masonic Villages is proud to work with local schools and universities to welcome students seeking internships and job shadow experiences to help enhance their formal education. In 2022, some of these opportunities were accomplished online, while others were postponed until we can invite students back safely.
Across the state, interns joined us in the public relations, marketing and spiritual care departments.
In clinical settings, including the pharmacy, music therapy, therapeutic recreation, recreation, social services, home health, food services and environmental services departments, staff supervised 43 students for an estimated 7,141 hours – time valued at approximately $40,538*.
*Based on national community benefits reporting standards, 20% of staff time overseeing students in a clinical setting may be quantified as a community benefit.
Included in the values above, students from St. Joseph’s University School of Pharmacy, the University of Wisconsin and Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine completed public health clinicals with Masonic Villages. We anticipate continuing relationships in 2023 with Beaver County Career and Technology, Pittsburgh Technical College, CCBC, and other schools, colleges and universities.
For several years, Masonic Village at Elizabethtown has teamed up with Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13 to offer students internships and real-world job experiences in environmental services and other fields. We hosted nine students in 2022.
Masonic Village at Elizabethtown’s food services department has partnered with Lancaster Career and Technology Center’s Mount Joy campus since 2015 to provide internships for the culinary arts degrees. One co-op student worked with us in 2022. The department also has partnerships with the Culinary Institute of America and Pennsylvania College of Technology.
Life Skills students from Plymouth Whitemarsh High School worked with the food services and environmental services departments at Masonic Village at Lafayette Hill for community-based training.
“I like how we use enjoyable activities to help our residents reach goals,” she said. “It helps improve their quality of life, which is something you focus on here. I want to connect with residents and learn what they enjoy so that I can help develop programs that will benefit them. It was a lot of fun.”
“Interns benefit from being fully immersed into Masonic Village and becoming one of the team. Masonic Village supervisors and staff work alongside IU13 staff and interns to make it a truly collaborative and realistic working experience for the intern.”
Outreach & Home Assistance
Funded through generous contributions, the Masonic Children’s Home in Elizabethtown does not charge individuals, organizations or the state or federal government for its services. It provides a home for up to 40 youth who are being raised by aging grandparents or who come from various social or economic environments which do not provide necessary security and support. Children do not need to have a Masonic affiliation in their family to be eligible for services. In 2022, the Elizabethtown Area School District received $397,323 through reciprocity agreements with the school districts from which the children come to us.
Youth at the Masonic Children’s Home sorted through plastic caps and lids collected by the local community to send to Green Tree Plastics’ ABC Promise Partnership in Illinois, which makes benches out of the recycled plastics for elementary schools. Thanks to the efforts of the youth, Masonic Village at Elizabethtown resident Sonja Alcon and members of local Order of the Eastern Star chapters, benches were provided for Bainbridge Elementary School and the children’s home. Students can sit on buddy benches if they are looking for another student to play with them.
Masonic Village’s Outreach Program distributed $8,400 in home assistance support to individuals and families. The program also operates a Durable Medical Loan Equipment Closet, which provides equipment to families on a short-term basis at no cost. We supplied wheelchairs, walkers, canes, shower chairs and other equipment to 10 individuals in 2022.
Community members at any stage of life can find assistance at Masonic Villages. Last year, in Elizabethtown, an average of eight individuals, including community members and Masonic Village residents, participated in the monthly Dementia Caregiver Support & Education Group. The Bereavement Support Group served 136 family members during meetings held in Elizabethtown, Mount Joy and Lancaster. Masonic Village contributed approximately $4,561, including 100 hours of staff time, materials and classroom space, toward these support groups.
Representatives from the Order of the Eastern Star and Masonic Village with Bainbridge Elementary School’s buddy bench
Resident Contributions
Masonic Village at Dallas residents and community volunteers took part in an Adopt a Road project
Team MVS
David Binley with residents Marlene and Bill Moisey
Bleiler Caring Cottage residents volunteering at a food bank
Many of Masonic Villages’ residents are active in the community. Last year, residents contributed to service projects that benefited children, students, older adults, emergency service providers and those with food and housing insecurities.
Masonic Village at Dallas residents participated in an Adopt a Road project to help clean up nearby Country Club Road and volunteered at the Back Mountain Food Pantry, along with donating nonperishable goods and $4,340 to support its mission. They also contributed donations to Toys for Tots and Pyramid Healthcare. For the holidays, residents assembled 96 care packages for Meadows Nursing Home and provided holiday cookies to Dallas Township Police Department.
As “Team MVS,” Masonic Village at Sewickley residents and staff raised over $15,000 for breast cancer research as part of their participation in the 2022 Susan G. Komen West Pennsylvania “More Than Pink” walk. Resident Edie Yeager was the top individual fundraiser in Pennsylvania, while Team MVS was the top group fundraiser.
A dozen members of Masonic Village at Sewickley’s Plarn (plastic yarn) group knit plastic mats for the New Life Community Church in Pittsburgh, which donates them to homeless individuals. For more than 12 years, a group of residents has knitted blankets, robes and hats for Project Linus, a national nonprofit organization which donates blankets to children in hospitals including the Shriners Hospitals for Children, shelters, social service agencies or anywhere a need arises. They donated 45 blankets and six quilts in 2022. Residents and other friends of the Masonic Village at Sewickley Woodworking Group made toy trucks throughout the year, sold them and donated the proceeds to the Shriners Hospitals for Children. In total, $500 was donated, as well as handmade toys, in 2022.
Residents raised over $63,000 for the new Dining Services scholarship program and awarded scholarships to 11 students working as dining room servers.
David Binley, an economics major at the University of Pittsburgh, was part of the first class of scholarship recipients:
“Masonic Village feels like family,” he said. “I appreciate going to work every day and enjoy bringing in new people, training them and helping them see it’s a great place to work. I thank everyone who contributed. It was very, very generous.”
To qualify, servers must have worked at least 312 hours, submitted a short essay and application and already be attending or accepted to college. The additional funds collected will be used for 2023 scholarships.
Through the sales of handmade floral arrangements, jewelry, blankets, cards, gift bags and more, the Craft Group at the Masonic Village at Elizabethtown raises money to support others. In 2022, they donated proceeds to numerous Masonic and community charities, including $1,500 to Northwest EMS and $1,500 to Friendship Fire & Hose. The Retirement Living Residents’ Association gave $1,000 to Northwest EMS and $1,000 to the Community Cupboard of Elizabethtown. The Masonic Village Piece Maker Quilt group, comprised of 30 women, gave money from their sales to campus groups and $1,000 to Northwest EMS. They also sent quilts to the Kentucky Tornado Relief Fund.
The Grey Lions of Elizabethtown, Masonic Village’s Penn State alumni interest group, awarded five $1,000 scholarships in 2022 to deserving Penn State students.
Residents of the Bleiler Caring Cottage participated in several community service projects, including packing and handing out food to children in need in Hershey through Cocoa Packs, repacking food for local food pantries through Midwest Food Bank, picking up trash at the Elizabethtown Borough Community Park and writing thank you cards to veterans who work and live at Masonic Village.
Sell Chapel
Through the Congregation of Sell Chapel’s Community Outreach ministry, members donated $46,621 in offerings toward Elizabethtown Community Housing and Outreach Services (ECHOS), The Children’s Playroom of Lancaster, Hope Within, Communities That Care, Naaman Center, the Christmas Shop, the Community Cupboard of Elizabethtown, Cornerstone Youth Center, the CROP Walk and the Emergency Fund which has helped during floods and tornadoes. Members of the congregation volunteered with ECHOS and the winter shelter, The Children’s Playroom and other programs in Lancaster County.
Staff Contributions
Masonic Village Home Care, Home Health and Hospice organized a donation drive for ECHOS
Beyond regular office hours, many staff are active leaders in professional associations where they share their expertise while gaining knowledge and connections to enhance their work at Masonic Village. Staff serve on:
- Advisory Board for the Beaver County Career and Technology Center
- Advisory Board for Community College of Beaver County
- Central Pennsylvania APIC Chapter Board
- Culinary Occupational Advisory Committee of the Lancaster Career and Technology Center
- Eden Alternative Certified Trainer
- Keystone Health Care Coalition Home Health and Hospice Committee and Long-term Care Subgroup
- Luzerne & Wyoming County Area Agency on Aging Advisory Board
- LeadingAge Board
- LeadingAge National Nursing Home Network
- LeadingAge PA Convention Education Committee
- LeadingAge PA Distinguished Service Awards Committee
- LeadingAge PA Quality Taskforce
- Masonic Communities & Services Association Board
- Northeast Pennsylvania Council on Aging
- Planned Giving Council of Greater Philadelphia Board
- Pennsylvania Council on Aging
- Valley Care Association Board of Trustees and Valley Care Endowment Board
Staff also commit their time as volunteers with local churches, emergency service providers and other not-for-profit organizations, including:
- Southampton Fire Company
- Elizabethtown Community Housing and Outreach Services (ECHOS) Board
- Elizabethtown Area Chamber of Commerce Board
- Elizabethtown Area Chamber of Commerce Events Committee
- Elizabethown Area Education Foundation Board
- Goodwill Keystone Area
- American Cancer’s Society’s Relay for Life of Lancaster
- Schreiber Center for Pediatric Development
Community Benefits Financial Summary
The Masonic Villages proudly provided $48.5 million of charitable care and services across Pennsylvania in 2022. This amount consists of approximately $11.6 million (at cost) of free care and services and $36.9 million (at cost) for care and services above the amount reimbursed by Medicare, Medicaid and other third-party payers.
In addition, Masonic Villages provided more than $362,108 in scholarships, donations to local emergency services providers, internships and community assistance to our neighbors in Dallas, Elizabethtown, Lafayette Hill, Sewickley and Warminster.