Elks Care – Elks Share
ER’s Message
February ER’s Message
It’s crazy, the holidays are over and it’s almost February! The one thing I’ve learned over my 40 years is that change is constant. No matter what or where you are in life, change is constant. I dunno, maybe I’m getting philosophical in my old age! Our Lodge is no exception. I’ve seen a lot of change in my short time as a member and officer. The amazing thing about change at our Lodge is that the generosity of our membership is what drives the change.
During this time, I have seen our Flag Committee make sure our Nation’s Flag is displayed with honor around our Lodge. The generosity of our RV Club, Bowling Club, and Elks’ Ladies improves our building and grounds, and makes sizable donations to our charities. All of our committee chairs see that our events are done to the best of their ability. The Building and Maintenance Committee does their work each and every week to ensure our Lodge looks its best. I would like to thank The RV Club and Claudia Jenkins for putting up and taking down all our Christmas decorations. This is something Claudia has spearheaded for 8+ years now. The RVer’s also replaced the interior lights with LCD lights at their own expense. If you look around that is a great deal of lights and cost. THANK YOU again! The Officers and Trustees are making sizable donations of time to see that our bar is renovated, giving money to our charities from their own pockets, and helping our Lodge meet the State and Grand Lodge goals. The items like our Elk out front and the wood for our bar that improve the look of our facility come from our members. I know I’ve only brushed over a few areas but my point is this: without our membership’s willingness to volunteer, these changes would never happen. The Lodge we see today is a symbol of great history, pride and vision that our Brothers and Sisters before us created.
We are entrusted by our Brothers and Sisters before us to ensure this Lodge’s success. I’ve learned that there is no one person, committee or club within our organization that does this alone. We all share a role as members for the greater good and success of our order. This is one of the many reasons I’m proud to say that I’m an Elk! In showing our respect and gratitude to our tenured members, please make a point to attend Wednesday, February 8th, for our Old Timer’s/PER’s night. There will be a presentation of pins to our members with significant years of membership. The fun part is watching our PER’S get roasted, ugh…I mean run a meeting.
It is my pleasure to formally introduce our new Lodge Manager, Dan Valdez. He has been with us for several years and has demonstrated his proficiency in running Manzanita Place and our Lodge. Dan knows our facility, our town and what is needed to make sure our facility runs effectively . Our Lodge is fortunate to have Dan at its helm! I wish everybody a safe, happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. Propose a member, or if you have proposed a member and don’t see them around much, call them, get them involved again so they see the changes we are consistently making. Hope to see you around the Lodge soon!
January’s ER Message
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!
May’s ER Message
It’s starting to feel a little bit like summer; ok, maybe the groundhog saw his shadow but I’m ready for some sun! We, as an Order and a Lodge, do amazing things for each other and our communities. I would like to take a few moments to recognize some of the great things that our members have recently done.
I would like to thank Donna Ramey, Claudia Jenkins, Shirley Hanning, Gus Borchus and Joe Lusher for their hard work on the Stein Cabinet. I’m sure many have seen the amazing job they did! The new lights really accent our amazing steins that have been collected over the years. I’ve heard the stories of the Stein Club that used to travel the state. Lodge members would travel to different lodges and bring steins to drink from. When the evening would end they would leave steins for that lodge. Our collection used to be significantly larger but over the years and having outside parties, it has diminished. I’m proud to say that we still have an amazing collection and thanks to Donna and her crew, it is displayed appropriately.
I would also like to recognize all the hard work put into our 10th Annual Dispatchers of the Year! This is an Elk event that is unique and amazing, if you haven’t attended, please do so in the future. The dispatchers from each division of public safety select a dispatcher of the year from their department. Remember these are the people you speak to when you call 911 for assistance, not the fireman, police or ambulance drivers. This is the first line of the rescue process. Without their presence of mind and ability to see through every situation, the rescue personnel you see at your house may not arrive in time or ready to handle your specific need. This is the time to pay tribute to the unsung heroes of our emergency response units. The committee also gets fire, police, rescue and specialized equipment vehicles to the Lodge for an exhibition that is enjoyed by the public and by the children from our schools.
It is also time again for NASCAR! Come enjoy the races with our large flat screens! As always there is NASCAR bingo and other raffles that benefit our charities. Pay attention to the Elkhorn Press for bring your own meat BBQ for NASCAR! Members and officers will cook your selected meats to your choosing and there is always sides available from our kitchen.
Remember the dinners we have Tuesday through Thursday; our kitchen puts together some amazing dishes! The cost of our dinners is not comparable to any other restaurant in town! Tuesday,$7, Wednesday, $9 (except birthday dinner, which is $12,) and Queen of Hearts, $9. Our dinners come with a salad and dessert! Please find time to come enjoy dinner with us.
We have one of the nicer Lodges around, and we also have the hardest working volunteers around! From the grounds to renovations and maintenance in the building, to events that are put on at our lodge, they help out. We have close to 200 American Flags that are put up and taken down throughout the year at our Lodge by volunteers. With that being said, if you have a special talent or just want to help out please do so! Feel free to drop a note at the office expressing your want to help out in a certain area. If you are uncertain, review the committees printed in this newsletter. I hope to see you at our lodge very soon!
Michael Staples, ER
April ER’s Message
To all my brothers and Sisters: I would like to thank our membership for giving me the opportunity to fill the position of the Exalted Ruler this coming year. I would also like to thank our fellow officers who have given me guidance to this point. Our management and staff have also been such a help. We, as officers, are lucky to have such a great support staff.
We have been practicing for ritual competition. Some of you know or have participated in this long standing tradition. Those of you who haven’t, I urge you to attend this year’s competition in Redding. We compete against all the other lodges in our district. We performed the initiation ritual for the first time on step-up night, Wednesday, March 23, at our Lodge. I would like to commend the Officers for the fine job they did.
To give you a little insight into my life: I am married to Victoria, we have two children that you may have seen running about. We both work locally. I’m in telecommunications and my wife works for a local agricultural management company.
As for our officers this year, we have some new additions. Starting with our new trustee Russ Fortier, PER, Esquire Brian Arntzen, Chaplain Kevin Payne, and Inner guard Matt Stanton. I’m pleased to inform you they are all doing really well in preparation for our competition.
Finally, please review the menu of the dinners and make time to eat at our Lodge. Matt and his staff put together some of the best dishes in this area! I had a stuffed cod that would have been $18.00 or more at any restaurant in town. At our facility, it was only $9.00 with the best salad bar in town and dessert! We all plan evenings out. All I’m asking is that you review our own menu and take advantage of our dinners.
Thanks again for this opportunity and hope to see you at dinner some evening.
Michael Staples, Exalted Ruler
February ER’s Message
Time is rapidly running out on my term. It seems the days were all too short as I head into the final two months. I am disappointed with some of the things that I had hoped to see accomplished that did not happen.
The failure to initiate the Antler Program in our Lodge is a big disappointment, because it is important to do all we can to try to positively influence the younger generation. To use an overused cliché, “They are the future.” While we want a better world for our children and grandchildren because we love them, it is also to our benefit to exit it leaving it in better shape than when we entered. The desire to better life’s conditions goes beyond just love of our progeny. We know this innately.
I don’t want to leave you with the impression that there has not been some accomplishments this year. Our bar top underwent an impressive renovation thanks to the contribution of materials by PER Terry Horne, and the much appreciated efforts of the volunteers who did the work. If we do not already have it, hopefully we will be adding a new electronic piano to our lounge in the near future.
The Boy Scouts have redone our horseshoe pits and built a flag retirement pit for the Eagle Project by Hutton Zubiata. We have had a good deal of favorable publicity in the Enterprise Record, and an increase in new members. We added a Brownie and a Girl Scout troop to round out our scouting program.
It would be a good addition if we had a group of volunteers who have the time and the desire to aid other members in times of need. Members who could be on call to help supply meals, run errands, help with repairs, and whatever other needs arise for members or widows of members who are experiencing health or other problems. Also to help the families of the guardsman that are deployed to Afghanistan if the need arises Call the office and leave your name if you would like to help. We would need to establish committees. We have also committed to become a “POD” (point of distribution) for the Butte County Health Department in the event of a disaster of some sort. Should that occur, we would need a large number of volunteers available to help at the Lodge in a nonmedical capacity. Sign-up forms are available in the office. You may also sign up on line at www.healthcarevolunteers.ca.gov. You must be on file with the county to assist. No particular skills or training is involved.
“Old Timers” night is coming up on February 9. If you know of a member who needs help getting to the Lodge, please inform the office so we can try to make some arrangement. It’s important that we get these “old boys” out to honor them. Also that is PER night and nomination for our new officers. The election of new officers is during the last meeting of February on the 23rd.
While addressing a district meeting when I first became the ER, I commented that I believed the Elks’ were America’s last best hope. I believed that because we are the only large group left that actively promotes patriotism and adheres to the principles of Charity, Brotherly Love and Justice, and are committed to remaining faithful to those principles (Fidelity.) However, our biggest strength is in our common convictions, and unification. That is what binds us together and gives us our power. This entails treating one another as we wish to be treated, with respect and dignity. Sadly, this is not always adhered to. Please, for the sake of the Order and our Lodge and each one of us as individuals, lets work on it. The time may come when we will be called upon to show our solidarity.
BROTHERS ALL ARE WE.
By Joe Lusher, ER
Tags: http://www.staying-awake.org, http://www.whyhcg.com, http://www.myprovigil.com
ER’s Message
When you have a deadline, these months roll by fast. Good thing I love to write. It is sometimes a challenge to keep your interest though, but I will give it my best effort.
It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is just around the corner. It seems like I was just installed. I know these are difficult times and, with all of the dire news and predictions that we are bombarded with, it may take a little effort to find things to be thankful for. At least we can all be thankful that we are Elks and for all of the good people that we are able to call our fraternal brothers and sisters.
We should realize the many blessings which we have by being born in what is still the greatest nation on earth. Unfortunately, we are faced with the possibility that this may not continue to be the case. We appear to be faced with the distinct possibility of some really difficult economic times ahead due to hyper-inflation and other problems, and we need to be prepared. We have to remain optimistic even if the present situation seems to point to the likelihood of more pessimistic consequences.
Fortunately, as attested to in our Obligation, all of us have an abiding faith in a higher power that we refer to as God, however we define that belief as individuals. That faith can provide an optimistic outlook that can overcome the most dire circumstances.
So, we’ll just keep a positive attitude and continue to do all of the good works that Elks have always done and have a lot of fun and fellowship in the process. We are blessed with the knowledge that no matter what happens, we have a lot of support from one another. In that regard, we must realize that while we are one, we are still individuals with different personalities and opinions, and maybe even with a few faults. (I know that is hard for some of us to accept). To take full advantage of the strength, the unity our membership provides, we must accept these differences in the spirit of “Brotherly Love” in accordance with our Obligation as Elks.
We can only cultivate this connection through being in one another’s presence as much as possible and turning out for major events. A great deal of effort is put forth by a few members to provide activities for the entire membership. It is very disheartening when these efforts are made only to have the event turn out less successful than it was intended to be. As I have said before, you are missing a great opportunity provided by your membership if you don’t come to get to know other members and enjoy the fellowship. I know times are tough for some, so if it is a case of a financial hardship, let me know personally and some provisions will be made to accommodate your situation. We want you here.
Referring to special events, the “Elktoberfest” was very successful. As usual, Lecturing Knight Matt Goddard and his wife Jen, did a great job in overseeing the event. Thank you to the numerous others, members and spouses, who helped. Much of the turnout was attributed to the RV Club. They enjoyed a “camp out” in the RV park and the parking lot for several days climaxed by the event. Again though folks, without them, the attendance would have been lagging. If you want these events, you must support them.
As I write this article, this past Friday, October 22nd, was our Elks’ Charity Ball. Much of the proceeds, after minimum expenses, will go to our Major Project and the Elks National Foundation. I will appraise you of the outcome in the next bulletin. I know there is a lot going on and many of you have family responsibilities.
I was a guest at the Lady Elks’ Luncheon on Monday, October 18th. What a charming group of ladies. I was impressed with all they are involved in pertinent to the good of the Order and our Lodge. Be thankful that we have them.
I wish you all the best always, and with much affection.
Do you travel? While you are on the road would you like to find the Elks Lodge near you?