The Masonic Service Association of the United States was created in 1919 by the Grand Lodges of the United States for the purpose of performing a number of services under one central organization. Some of those services have changed over the years, but MSA remains an organization dedicated to serving Freemasonry, our country, and the world.
The initial reason for MSA's formation was so U.S. Freemasonry could provide aid to our military servicemen near the end of World War I. The War Department (now Defense Department) refused to work with 49 (at that time) different Grand Lodges, but the government department agreed to work with just one agency. So Grand Masters gathered in Cedar Rapids in 1918 to discuss and formulate the concept of MSA, and again in 1919 to formally give birth to the new organization. MSA's goal from the start was to provide services to the Grand Lodges that they could not perform as easily individually.
MSA was given the charge to provide services to our military, create informational and educational materials, and to issue disaster relief appeals and distribute funds collected for that purpose.