Hello again, this is my first letter of 2012.

The term has sure gone fast! It doesn’t seem that long ago when we were practicing for rit- ual. We had some challenges this year, as we have made great strides in our Lodge and the community.

I would like to thank a few people for their contributions to our Lodge and the com- munity: Rhys Severe is our Youth Activities Chairman. We had a vey successful soccer shoot and just recently our Hoop Shoot! This was held at PV High School on Sunday, De- cember 18. The winners will get to compete in the District Competition. Thank you again to Rhys, Norm & Betty Stump, Rick & Kim Schmid, Terry Horne, Gus & Mary Borchers, Joe Lusher, Matt Goddard and many others.

I would also like to thank Kim Thorpe for another amazing Children’s Christmas Party. Kim organized, set-up, purchased and wrapped over 190 gifts, and held the best Children’s Christmas party so far! We were able to pro- vide over 70 children from the community with activities, gifts and lunch. To top it all off, Santa Claus was able to attend. The children got to tell him what they wanted and got a pic- ture with Santa Claus. There were many people who helped set up the day. Thank you to Matt & Jen Goddard, Norm & Betty Stump, Brian & Jenny Artzen, the Patterson family, my lovely wife, Victoria. I think I even saw our District Deputy Wade Thorpe there! It’s a great charity event our members and their kids get to share with our community.

Well, I hope to see you all at the New Year’s Eve party and remember to invite friends and family who are not Elks to come and see what we are about, because it’s amazing!