These sturdy bags can be used not only to house these items, but also, in case of emergency removal from an unstable situation, to provide the child with a carry-all for their essential personal property.
The contents of these kits now will be given out at an officer’s discretion to help comfort any young child they find in a traumatic situation. There is no cost to the Arlington Police — and more kits will be provided whenever needed.
Project Delta also has distributed kits to a number of area cities and towns, including Boston, Waltham, Watertown, Malden, Braintree, Milton, Holliston and Wayland and even is trying to fill requests from Puerto Rico, Hawaii and Ukraine — even though Project Delta is a fairly new program staffed by only a few volunteers.
Alan Jones, presiding master of Arlington’s Mystic Valley Lodge of Freemasons, recently told YourArlington via email, “As soon as I learned about Project Delta, I jumped at the chance and immediately contacted [Police] Chief [Juliann] Flaherty to get the ball rolling; then Captain [Richard] Flynn caught the ball and made it happen. Masons all over the world sponsor programs to help children.”
The items were delivered July 19.
Freemasons’ wide-ranging programs for children, according to Jones, include these:
- Nationwide: “the world-renowned Shriners’ Hospitals for Children and the Scottish Rite’s Learning Centers to help children with dyslexia”
- Statewide: the MyChip child identification program
- Regional: the Hospital Equipment Loan Program in Woburn
- Local: “Our local Lodge’s Angel Fund, which provides small grants for local children with specific needs”
“It’s what Masons do,” Jones said, “so the decision was very easy.”
For more information, visit the Project Delta website and Facebook page.
This news announcement was published Monday, July 22, 2024, based on information from Alan Jones, Presiding Master of Mystic Valley Lodge of Freemasons.
