Ezra McGowan, a member of the Trafford Group, has in his travels, seen many situations in our city streets and in particular Manchester, Peterborough and London, where people were and still are, just living in tents and makeshift cardboard box homes or just sleeping rough and quite destitute, many through no fault of their own.
A few years ago, Ezra, along with his brother set up a registered charity called The Forget-Me-Not Trust No 1164359, in order to assist those who were in dire need. Currently self-funded and assisted by donations from sources both Masonic and non-Masonic, the charity also operates a website https://theforgetmenottrust.org.uk
Not satisfied with all the above, Ezra along with other Masons and family members have set up a food bank running in parallel with a soup kitchen. The food bank is run out of Ezra’s van which is generously stocked with food and other items and has been supporting many local residents in Northenden. As can be imagined, this has all been greatly appreciated by all and is also promoting Freemasonry in the community.
Over recent years, there have been stories in Freemasonry Today and local newspapers concerning Ezra and the food bank he started in his local community of Northenden. Despite all the above, when the Grand Master started an initiative in the winter of 2020 to support local food banks on a countrywide basis, Ezra kindly offered his experience and assistance in setting up a food bank, and in conjunction with other local Masons, taking first steps in the process of setting up a Masonic Food Bank in Urmston.
Ezra has always stated that the people he helps come from all walks of life and backgrounds. Some have been successful businessmen fallen on hard times, others have missed mortgage payments and things have got on top of them reducing them to homelessness. It could happen to each and every one of us. With all this in mind, Ezra says he feels that it’s time to give something back to society and helping the disadvantaged, particularly in current times of ever-increasing prices for energy and food and helping the local less fortunate is a good way to do so!
In working tirelessly on all the above projects, it is good to report that Ezra’s efforts are not going unnoticed and in addition to receiving a British Citizen’s Award at Buckingham Palace recently and the Sherriff of Manchester’s award, he has received some fiscal assistance from a substantial local company, LyondellBasell (LYB) in Greater Manchester, who not only threw a party for him and his assistants, but also presented him on World Food Day with donations for his food bank and a large cheque for £5,000.00 the receipt of which clearly took him aback he was, for the first time in a long time, lost for words!
There is little doubt that this remarkable man and his team of Masonic assistants will continue to help all those in need and this substantial award will go a long way toward helping and let us hope that recognition will become even more widespread over the succeeding years!