1998 Mission Statement of the Pennsylvania Youth Foundation

The Pennsylvania Youth Foundation will

Teach Masonic principles to youth.

Develop good moral character, virtue, and reverence in young people.

Provide safe, wholesome and exciting activities for teenagers.

Create opportunities for the growth and practice of leadership and public speaking skills.

Foster academic achievement among those with financial need.

To achieve this Mission, the Pennsylvania Youth Foundation will LEAD the Masonic Fraternity in the creation and support of youth programs and services, in particular, through the operation of the Masonic Conference Center -- Patton Campus at Elizabethtown. The Foundation will promote the Masonic youth groups, fostering interaction with the Masonic lodges and emphasizing service to God, Family, and Community.

Pennsylvania Youth Foundation

The Pennsylvania Youth Foundation provides support and programs for the Masonic-related youth organizations; the Order of the Rainbow for Girls, the Order of DeMolay for young men, and the Order of Job's Daughters. Most of these programs are held at the Masonic Conference Center in Elizabethtown, on the campus of the former Thomas Ranken Patton Masonic Institution for Boys. These programs are specially designed to teach self-improvement, character development, physical fitness, and public speaking.

In 1997, the Pennsylvania Youth Foundation provided programming, meals, and housing for 2,365 youth group members in 51 different programs at the Masonic Conference Center. In addition, the Foundation hosted the annual convention of the Knights of Pythagoras for young men, sponsored by the M. W. Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. Of particular note, was the fourteenth consecutive annual DeMolay/Knights of Pythagoras Brotherhood Retreat in August.

Two unusual events highlighted the programs for 1997. In January, the Foundation coordinated the attendance of 212 youth and adult chaperones at the Presidential Inauguration and Parade in Washington, D.C. The trip included an opportunity to tour the George Washington Masonic National Memorial.

In August, in conjunction with the Grand Lodge Rededication of the Memorial Arch at Valley Forge, the Foundation sponsored a youth leader weekend at the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge for 78 youth members focussing on personal freedoms won during the American Revolution. Over 175 youth participated in the dedication parade.

In addition to providing programs and displays about the Masonic youth groups to numerous lodges and other organizations, the Foundation continued its growing program of Scholarship Grants, and the dissemination of information about scholarships available through the Masonic Fraternity. Over 4000 Masonic Scholarship Resource Guides were printed and distributed to lodges, public and private high schools, and individuals. More than $46,000 in scholarship grants were given by the Pennsylvania Youth Foundation in 1997.

Freemasonry, through the Pennsylvania Youth Foundation, is reaching out to youth all across the Commonwealth, and providing guidance and leadership to keep them on paths of moral, educated, and religious lives. The Foundation is helping to fulfill the ancient proverb which tells us to "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it."