EXALTED RULER’S MESSAGE

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Well November was sure a blast to say the least. We had two senior officers from our state association visit us. Thank you to all the officers and committee chairs who wrote reports and were able to attend the meetings. I think we scored well because of all of your efforts! The Night under the Stars was a huge success with 80 people attending our event. A big thank you to all of our event volunteers and House Committee members who so thoroughly planned and executed that plan! 

As we normally do each year, we are collecting gifts for our veterans (socks, under shorts and T-shirts, which need to be wrapped and tagged with item and size. Please place the gifts in the green barrel in the lounge by Thursday, December 13th. A number of us will be going to the VA hospital to deliver our gifts and visit with our veterans on Friday, December 14th. If you’re interested in participating in this event, please talk to Belinda Waller or Bob Kielsa. 

We have also acquired all the gifts for 10 of our veterans in the Arizona Veterans Home located in the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System complex. There is a party for the distribution of all gifts provided by Arizona Elks lodges on Wednesday, December 12th. If you’re interested in participating in this event, please talk to Belinda Waller or Bob Kielsa. 

I’m happy to report that we will be having a number of upgrades in our lodge within the next month or two. The Beauty/Barber Shop outside walls were in poor condition with faded and cracked stucco. By the time you receive this December Bugle, the building will be sealed and painted. 

For improved security and membership safety we will be installing a new camera system that will cover the inside and outside of our building. In addition, we will be installing new external lighting that will provide for a safer lot for night parking. 

I have been talking to new members as well as visitors to our lodge. In particular, I’m trying to gauge non members and new members reactions on the friendliness of our lodge. I try to introduce myself to strangers who come through our front door and once they know who I am, I’ve had people tell me, before they leave, how they felt about our lodge. I’ve heard such things as “what a warm and friendly reception when I walked through the door, or, I was engaged in conversations before I sat down.” Thank you to all our members for their wonderful greetings of people walking through our front door.  

The holiday season is here and it’s the time of the year that Charity really shines in our Lodge. 

I have participated in the stuffing of the Thanksgiving bags at Golder Ranch Fire Department for quite a few years now. It’s the kind of event that sounds simple enough that a lot of people don’t take the time to participate. When you get there and set up the empty paper bags – 250 this year - you take a look and think that is going to be a lot of food! It does not take very long and consists of our Lodge’s amazing teamwork to make sure every bag has the appropriate amounts of food in them. When you step back and see the filled bags and think how many people this will be benefiting, it makes you feel really great inside. You won’t be disappointed to come down and participate in helping to make a family’s holiday so much nicer. It is always great to see new member’s faces every year and thank you Jan Trudeau for setting everything up for us to be involved! 

Our annual Lobsterfest will have occurred on December 1 st. Yet another example of great charity work by our members. This event is put on by the Past Exalted Ruler’s Association of our Lodge. Everyone volunteers to come in and take care of our amazing customers who attend. The profits are used to benefit Lodge charities. These same PER’s take their turns to run our very successful Queen of Hearts every Friday night – great people with big hearts – Thank you all! 

The Children’s Shopping Spree will also be happening and to see the many volunteers come out to support this one is heartwarming. Volunteers take the children shopping and then additional volunteers are at the Lodge waiting to feed the hungry kids. Santa and Mrs. Clause are dedicated members who play their parts so beautifully! We will have Officer Davis from Oro Valley Police Department there to give a message on Drug Awareness – please thank her for donating her time to help educate our future generations. We have members who donate all the pizza, cookies and gifts – makes your heart feel so full of warmth. 

For all the new members, if you haven’t signed up for an event yet, I strongly urge you to do so over the holidays. The smiles you will see from the recipients will be with you until next year when you can do it all over again. Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! The charity that is a trifle to us can be precious to others. Homer  

Having visited many Lodges around the country, I have noticed several ways various Lodges honor their Elks of the Year and Officers of the Year. On one of our Laughlin bus trips we all went to the Bullhead City Lodge where I noticed really nice looking plaques with engraved names of all the previous Elks and Officers plus a photo of the current ones. I took a picture of them and talked about doing something like this at one of our PERA meetings. The PER’s liked the idea and we now have plaques hanging in the Lodge room with all our past and present Elks and Officers of the Year including pictures of Elk Jan Trudeau and Officer Gloria Cisneros. Queen of Hearts fund purchased them. 

Another purchase we made for the Lodge recently was a new stereo receiver for the lounge. The old one was in sorry shape; the on/off switch didn’t work so it was left on all the time with the volume turned down after closing. The tuner didn’t work so you couldn’t change channels. We approved spending up to $150 on a new one and we got one on Amazon for almost exactly that. 

Also at the same meeting we discussed the Wreaths Across America program where on December 15th , wreaths are placed on graves of veterans all across the country. The wreaths cost $15 each and are distributed on the 15th by various service groups. We approved using the Queen of Hearts charitable fund to purchase ten wreaths to go on our local cemeteries.  

   As I write this on Thanksgiving Day, I look forward to our family Turkey Dinner. It is hard to believe that Christmas is only a month away. I hope you all had a fun filled Turkey day with family and friends. I am beginning to see a lot of familiar faces at the Lodge, that I have not seen in a while – welcome back all you snow birds. 

Monthly reminder: If you have come back to the area for the winter or planning on traveling for the winter, take a few minutes to let me know where you will be, so I can get your records updated for your newsletter. As we get into the Holiday Season, while you are out doing your shopping, remember to include something extra for our Lodge’s worthy causes. There are a lot of ways you can help. Belinda could use help with gifts for the Veterans. A few things she needs for them are new underwear, new socks and razors. Joyce could use help (monetary donations) or be a chaperone for the Children’s Shopping Spree. Jan could use some (monetary donations) with Adopt-a Family. Contact these Committee Chairpersons and offer to help where you can. there is also a Toys for Tots bin in the lounge, for new unwrapped toys. Lets all keep in mind ELKS CARE ELKS SHARE. 

Please help me welcome our newest members. Ronald Williams and Raymond Clark were Initiated into our Order on November 8th. If you see these new members at the Lodge, introduce yourself and make them feel welcome.  

Lodge States                                                                              Deaths

Membership 530                                                                     Barbara Hoag     October 10, 2018  

Initiated 24                                                                                 Melvin Bohnert October   6, 2018   

Affiliated 10                                                                               Gerald Lieder      October 19, 2018 

Absolute Demits 3

Deaths 7                       

Delinquents 41 

Lapsation rate 8.28 % 

Average age 70.54

In progress to become members 3