EXALTED RULER’S MESSAGE

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September was a whirlwind of happenings at our Lodge and they all turned out spectacularly as always. It never ceases to amaze me how the planning and execution of so many different events come together so effortlessly – I know there are some individuals rolling their eyes at that comment and rightfully so, but they do such a great job it all seems easy. Being behind the scenes is a little chaotic but it works so well because of our amazing members who volunteer so much of their time and energy and take so much pride in what they do. 

Participating in bringing turkey dinners to the firehouses in honor of September 11th never gets old. These men and women deserve so much for their willingness to put their lives on the line to help those in their communities. Thank you Jan Trudeau for the amazing organization you do for this event every year and to all who participated as well. 

Our Lodge Officers had the honor of performing a ceremony for POW/MIA Recognition Day on September 20th. Elks Lodges are now required to do this every year and this was our first time. Although the attendance was small, I believe that it will grow because of the sincerity and dignity this ceremony entails. We also were able to hand out pens made by a wood working group, of which some of our Members belong to, to all the Veterans and Purple Heart recipient that attended. It was a very moving ceremony and I hope that you will share this day with us next year. 

Whenever we have a dignitary do their official visit to our Lodge, which is twice a year, there is a lot of preparation involved. I would like to thank Betty, Mary, Larry Wittenborn, Danny, Monty and Deborah for helping me on Lodge clean up day which is the start of a very busy week. You all helped make the Lodge look even better than normal by doing some not so usual cleaning and maintenance. 

Our Lodge was honored to host the Arizona Elks Association Vice President from the East District, Dennis Appel and his Lady Deb, for our annual Vice President’s visit on September 21st. They arrived at the Lodge on a beautiful motorcycle and were welcomed by many Lodge Officers and Committee Chair Leaders. As they were mingling, I could see that everyone was very comfortable around them as they are very friendly and personable. We had our official meeting where he went over our different committees and what we do. It was a great time to learn from each other’s experiences and exchange ideas. After a break, 18 of us took off on our Lodge’s first Poker Run to benefit the Elks National Foundation. Stops included the Coolidge/Florence Elks Lodge and Dairy Queen (it was a hot day so everyone enjoyed some cold sugary treats there). We ended up back at the Lodge with time to clean up for the Italian Dinner. Vice President Dennis had great things to say about our Lodge and thanked us all for the hospitality they were shown. What an amazing dinner put on by our great kitchen staff headed by Chef Marie and coordinated by Judy Humitz. We were entertained with great music by Little John from the American Legion Riders. Thank you John for donating your time and talent! First Lady Deb won the poker run and donated the winnings back to the Lodge which was donated to ENF along with dinner proceeds of $410 so we had a great day of fundraising. Thank you to everyone involved throughout the day because without you, we would not be able to donate money to great causes.

                                                   Have a wonderful October and Happy Halloween!  

Greetings All! Well as you noticed I didn't have a message in last months Bugle. I was extremely ill, and the "cocktail" of medications I was on made me pretty much dysfunctional, so I missed the deadline. Thanks to all for the well wishes and support!!! I'm especially thankful to my wonderful caregiver, Deborah, who kept a tight rein on me. 

But that's enough about me, it's time to talk about this Wonderful Lodge and what our great members are doing for CHARITY. I recently attended our official meeting with the AEA Vice President-East. As I listened to the reports from all of our Officers and Committee Chairs, I am to put it simply, overwhelmed with how much that our Lodge and our members do for all types of charities. When you actually hear the numbers, the $$, the time, the numbers of volunteers involved it gets right to you, that you, that our Lodge, are a part of that. I realized that if I didn't know a lot of this, probably a lot of our members don't know either. So, I'm asking all of our Officers and Committee Chairs, anyone involved in our Charity works to provide me with those numbers so that I can assimilate them and get them out to our members. Simply email them to me or drop them off at the Lodge.  

ELKS CARE, ELKS SHARE  

We are Elks, this is what we do. 

Well our 7th Queen of Hearts game ended on the 54th card on Friday, August 30th. The 7th game goes into the books as the longest game we have ever played! We went right up to the last card. A new Elk by the name of Ray Carter and his wife, Pam, won $24,902. Ray just became an Elk in April of this year at our lodge. The last two or three Friday drawings have been exciting. I believe we had seven different lodges represented on this special evening. OK here is how the numbers played out. The final pot was $27,669. After the lodge deduction Ray had a total of $24,902 prior to tax deduction. For the total game $42,067 was paid out to all our weekly winners. Catalina Mountain collected $12,394 for charitable work, building maintenance and improvements. 

A big thank you to all our members who helped our lodge by playing the Queen of Hearts. The good news is we started game 8 on August 31st with our present pot at $4,000. 

Fall is here! I don’t know about anyone else, I for one is looking forward to some cooler days. 

Please help me welcome the newest members to our Lodge who were Initiated last evening. We Initiated John Trapp, Annette Loria, DeeAnn Emmons and Richard Munoz. We also welcome Al Skorupski and Jean Post as transfer demit. If you see any one of these new members at the Lodge, introduce yourself and make them feel welcome. 

The Membership Committee has been working on getting the long list of new members to be, Initiated and also to get some of our members who are delinquent to come back to the Lodge and help us in the worth while programs the Elks stands for. Reminder to those members: come back to the flock. There is some thing for every one at the Elks. So many ways to help and also so much fun to have. 

Lodge Stats 

Active Members 538 

Initiated 20 

Affiliated 7 

Reinstated 1 

In Progress 16 

Deaths 1 

Average Age 70.70

 Delinquents 42