Bros. Vic Frederick, Sam Wandzilak and Tom Gammon spent a month traveling to 49 states raising money for the 32° Masonic Learning Centers for Children.
It is the seventh such trip that Vic has made.
Present to greet them on the last leg of this 12,000 mile ride were 32° Scottish Rite Masons from the Valley of New Castle, volunteers, teachers,
Parents and students of the New Castle Learning Center.
The club Rides for Dyslexia to support the 32° Masonic Learning Centers for Children of the Scottish Rite, N.M.J.
"Hiram's Scottish Riders," is a motorcycle club of Blue Lodge Masons organized in the Scottish Rite Valley of Reading.
Bro. Frederick is the founder and first President of the Hiram's Scottish Riders.
Tickets were sold to raise money for the Learning Center.
Brother Tim Rayner is one of the newest members of the Valley of New Castle. Many Thanks to Brother Rayner for participating in the ride!
For information to ride, pledge, or donate, contact Bro. Frederick at 610-970-2153.
A hearty lunch was served to the Riders and those present to greet them!
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The following was printed in the New Castle News following the New Castle Reception.
Motorcycle club raises funds for learning centers
Life with dyslexia can be rough ride.
That’s why Vic Frederick decided to go on a couple of his own.
The Pottstown man and Mason is the founder and international president of Hiram’s Scottish Riders, the first motorcycle club in Scottish Rite history. Since launching the effort, he’s gone on two, one-month rides through 49 states and two Canadian provinces to raise funds for the 32nd Degree Masonic Learning Centers.
The 59 centers, one of which is in New Castle, tutor dyslexic children and train new tutors.
Frederick’s first ride, six years ago, was done by himself. His second, which passed through New Castle on Thursday, was done with fellow club members Sam Wandzilak of West Reading and Tom Gamon of Montgomery County.
The trio, as well as another chapter that was making a two-day ride around Pennsylvania, took a break Thursday at the New Castle Harley-Davidson dealership on Route 422 at Rose Point. Also on hand was 19-year-old Anna Merritt, who was taking photos for the local learning center overseen by her mother, Melissa. A graduate of the center, which has trained more than 25 tutors and worked with more than 75 children in its five-year existence, Anna’s involvement was more than just business.
“It made a big difference for me,” she said of the local learning center, located in the Scottish Rite Cathedral. “I had problems reading from the time I was about 5 years old, but I was 10 before anyone realized what it was. I was a bad speller, a bad reader.
“You have one-hour sessions, and you’d do flash cards, reading and games that help you learn to read. As I went through the program, my grades picked up real quick.”
Those kind of stories are what keeps Frederick riding.
“One of the nicest things about the trip,” he said, “is that we get to visit the centers and meet the children and see the fruits of our labor. The children come up, and they’re so happy and thankful for what they’re doing.”
The ride originated in the early days of Frederick’s attempts to make Hiram’s Scottish Riders a reality.
“The combination of bikers and Masonry maybe wasn’t accepted right away,” he said. “In order to get the guys to come out, I’m wondering what a guy my age (he turns 64 tomorrow) could do to be the leader of younger guys who ride.
“So I did 49 states and two provinces — something maybe a lot of them couldn’t do — and I got their respect, and was able to get the club started.”
The two Hiram Scottish Riders clubs were met at Rose Point by members of other area clubs, and they all rode in procession to the Cathedral to attend a fundraising dinner there.
The Masonic riders’ efforts are particularly noteworthy this time because the corporate endowment that funds the centers — which do not charge for their services — has suffered during the economic downturn. Russell W. Baker, director of that corporation, told the Reading Eagle last month that it would have to withhold funds from nine of the centers starting this fall, and that annual funding for the remaining ones would be cut in half.
Mike Wolfe, state president of the Hiram’s Scottish Riders, lauded Frederick for his commitment to the centers.
“This is his vision,” he said. “Not that many people deal with dyslexia (as a cause). Cancer’s the big one, and all that other stuff, but people don’t realize the problems it creates.
“I know adults who have it, and they wish they’d have had these learning centers.”
