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Shrine raises funds for kids needing specialized burn or orthopedic care

photos by Eric Jackson

The Abou Saad Shrine is a Masonic charitable organization that brings together people from the various branches of freemasonry found on the isthmus --- we have the Spanish-speaking Grand Lodge of Panama and its local blue lodges, English-speaking lodges with US roots that are chartered by the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, other English-speaking lodges with West Indian roots that are chartered by the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and a Chinese lodge --- to help kids in Panama and nearby countries who need specialized orthopedic surgery or burn rehabilitation treatment that is not available locally. They send the youngsters they help to the Shrine Hospital in Houston. The kinds of care that are available at home, meanwhile, have expanded over the years due to cooperation between physicians sponsored by the Shrine and local colleagues to train better orthopedic and burn specialists in this region.

The Shriners were out in force at the Diablo end of the Ocean-to-Oceean Cayuco Race, as they always are, selling food and beverages to raise money for their work and to raise awareness of who they are and what they do.