Imagine yourself, everyday a struggle. Imagine yourself as a child without enough money to give yourself an opportunity to keep pace with your peers, even on the most humble level. Imagine yourself as a fifteen year old growing up in today's society. The pressures are significant and altogether different to those of our times when we seemed more protected.

Imagine your father has just unexpectedly died, who do you look up to? You still have your mother, maybe an older sister and two younger siblings and everyone has expectations of you doing well in the fast approaching School Certificate examinations. You miss your father, your heart aches for him, your head is crowded, you're angry and on the verge of panic.

At first you don't even notice the rest of the family is suffering just as much as you. How can you get through all this agony? As a student you probably feel you are rather average and need all the help you can get. You do not need to be in this situation, the timing is all wrong. Your mother is not her usual self because she is in grief and has to meet the funeral expenses, on top of the day to day living expenses, overdraft or mortgage.

You come to realise the family has serious money problems. Despite support from Centrelink in the form of a Widows Pension to come, Family Allowance and associated financial support, you and your family are in a state of shock and confusion and still financially insecure.

You have a lack of self esteem entwined with the nagging feeling of 'why me?' Indeed why you? What have you done to deserve this pain of confusion and uncertainty? What do you know about seeking, let alone finding guidance and help? How can anyone expect you to be of help to your mother, doesn't anyone understand how angry you feel with all the knotted turmoil of other emotions thrown in?

Imagine what it must feel like when a caring Freemason or other caring person reaches out and puts you all in contact with the Masonic Youth Welfare Fund. Imagine when you receive financial assistance, advice and guidance, practical help and reassurance, how good would that feel.

When you are given an equal opportunity, you and your family will not feel as though you stand alone. You suddenly feel there is light at the end of the tunnel after all. You feel reassured, that whilst you are needing support, your educational costs will be attended to.

Quickly you realise life is not quite as heavy a burden as it may have otherwise been. Your mother also seems to be bearing up to the pressure and is once again affording you smiles. Somehow, achieving the School Certificate is now a possibility.

You may now begin to imagine how good it must feel to be reassured by someone who actually cares and life is once again, beginning to discover some form of normality.

Money is a big help but it is not the only way the Fund provides assistance. We also give friendly guidance. To help give our needy children an equal opportunity some have been supplied with a computer which has been proven as a worthwhile contribution towards their future, particularly towards their schooling and higher education.

Since 1923, the Fund has helped many needy children and most have become successful achievers, because we as Masons, through generous donations, gave them an equal opportunity.

For more information, facts and figures, you may wish to go to the link at the left for Our Annual Report which covers the work of the Fund in detail. You will also receive a better understanding of how the Fund actively provides support and assistance.