Masons of Pennsylvania will come together at a Unity Banquet in Harrisburg on Saturday, Aug. 7 to announce their support of an impressive new program being undertaken jointly by the Pennsylvania State Police and the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board. Together the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania and Prince Hall Grand Lodge will commit both financial support and membership involvement in a program designed to help young Pennsylvanians recognize, identify, and deal with substance abuse.

"This will be a dramatic, true-to-life ­ or, even more dramatically, a true-to-death ­ presentation targeting the high school audience," said R.W. Grand Master James L. Ernette. "The whole program will demonstrate unity in action. When presented in a school, the program will involve the entire community -- the police, the firemen, the ambulance corps, parents, teachers, and the citizens. Its message and impact is a community service for all of Pennsylvania," the Grand Master added.

Joseph W. Witte, Executive Director of The Pennsylvania Masonic Foundation for Children, will chair the project for the Masons. District Representatives of the Foundation will play major roles in membership involvement.

The Unity Banquet will be in the Radisson Penn Harris Hotel at Camp Hill, west of Harrisburg. The dinner at $25 per person will be at 6 p.m., preceded by a social hour at 5 p.m. Beginning at 3 p.m., there will be tours conducted at the Masonic Homes in Elizabethtown. Click here for a printable reservation form.