EXALTED RULER’S MESSAGE

---

Welcome to our new Lodge Year 2019-2020! 

I would like to congratulate our newest Past Exalted Ruler, Bob Kielsa, for the amazing past year he had as our Exalted Ruler. One of his many accomplishments was the Open House that was held at our Lodge. It gave the community a chance to come and see what exactly the Elks do in general and also what our wonderful Lodge does for others. We gained quite a few new members due to this event and I plan to hold it twice during the next Lodge year. When you see Bob around the Lodge, give him a pat on the back for a job well done. Thank you to all of last year’s Officers as well, they did a great job. Congratulations everyone that received awards at Bob’s award ceremony. I know that it is a difficult decision to make when choosing the recipients because everyone that volunteers their time is so deserving. It was especially wonderful to see how touched our Elk of the Year, Dan Bradshaw, and Officer of the Year, Monty Derting, were when they were announced. These are very special awards and these men absolutely deserved them. 

As I begin my year as your Exalted Ruler, I do have some goals that I would like to share. Our Lodge is a three time winner of the prestigious All American Lodge award and I would like to try and get us a fourth one. This can only be done with an amazing team of Committee Chairs and dedicated members. I have a great team assembled and I believe that we can make this goal a reality. I would also like to plan a few Veteran’s breakfasts and lunches that will be open to the public as a small token of our appreciation to these honorable Men and Women. In addition to those goals, I would just like our Lodge to continue being the success it is and will do anything I can to insure that for my year as well as for the future. 

I am very excited to announce that we will be having two new very important ceremonies this year. I am very honored to be able to have our Officers perform them for our Members and guests. The first one will take place September 20th and it will be in honor of The United States National POW/ MIA Recognition Day. Just looking over how the ceremony will be is so exciting and I hope to see many of you in attendance. The next one will be held on Veteran’s Day, November 11th. Again, the ceremony will be a wonderful experience for both the Officers and those in attendance. Please be a part of it when they are performed, you won’t be disappointed. 

Every Lodge year, we are always in need of volunteers. I know there are many of you that have an interest in being a part of something bigger. What our Lodge does for our Communities and Veterans is nothing short of spectacular. We are in need of someone that would like to volunteer time to help our Lodge get grants. Jack Baillargeon has done an amazing job for years but there are still grants that he does not have time to get to. We are missing out on much needed funding that we can use to give back to our Communities. Please contact me if you have an interest in lending a hand, we would greatly appreciate it. I am also looking for additional volunteers that love scrapbooking. Our Lodge can compete to get awards for submitting brochures in different categories that showcase what our Lodge does throughout the year. Again, if you have any interest in being part of this adventure, please let me know. 

In closing, I am very proud to again be the Exalted Ruler of our Lodge and thank you all for your support this year. A very special thank you to all of our 2019-2020 Lodge Officers and Committee Chairs who I know will make our Lodge proud. I look forward to experiencing everything that comes with this job, it is a true honor.  

Greetings fellow Elks!! I am privileged to have been elected as your Leading Knight for this year. 

For those of you who may not know me, my name is Monty Derting. My wonderful wife, and your Lodge Chaplain for this year is Deborah Derting. Since becoming Elks in 2016, we have been the coordinators for the Artisans Market, worked on the Membership Committee and the Veterans Services Committee. I have served as the Investigation Coordinator and will continue for this year. I have also been the Lecturing Knight for this past year.  

I’m really looking forward to seeing and learning more about the Charity side of our Order and our wonderful Lodge! That said, I’m asking all of the Committee chairs and Coordinators involved in Charity to either catch me at the Lodge or call me at 520-784-1883 to set up a time when we can meet in person. I truly need each of you to educate me in what you do, how you do it , etc… 

Finally, I am truly blessed to have Gloria Cisneros as my Exalted Ruler and mentor, Jack Baillargeon as my mentor, and Deborah Derting as my wife, my greatest supporter, and my Best Friend. Thank you all, and especially my Family and Friends at Catalina Mtn. Elks Lodge #2815 !!!  

Well my year as Exalted Ruler is complete and I will turn my attention to reporting on the Catalina Mountain Elks Lodge #2815 PER Association activities in the May Bugle. For this publication I would like to report on the results of my Awards Night held on March 16th. 

Our lodge recognized Deputy Sheriff Michael Moseley for his service to our community. We also recognized Kayla Hudson, Morgan Kern and Cameron Wittenborn for their help with Hoop Shoot, Soccer Shoot, serving and clean up at parties as well as helping on the kids shopping sprees, children lunches and trash pickup. 

Our Tall Elks Awards went too: Gloria Cisneros for her work as chairperson for our Hoop and Soccer Shoot events and taking on the Leading Knight office in mid year. Lisa Chavez for her work as Major Projects chairperson. Roger Mastro for his work managing the Scholarship program. Al Peterson for chairing the Americanism Committee. Joyce Garcia for managing our Dictionary program, the Christmas shopping spree and new this year, the Easter shopping event. Pat Cox for managing our Public Relations efforts, House Committee Secretary work and for cashiering for our Wednesday dinners. Ray Bruns for his continued support publishing our outstanding newsletter the “Bugle”. Jim Beregi for bringing our website in to the 21st century, making it user friendly and capable of credit card usage for our dues. Jan Trudeau for her continuous hard work serving the needs of our community. Paul Slater for having the courage to take over the House Committee Chair for half of my year. Jack Ziegler for his constant support of our lodge by supplying us with his great pizzas. Annie Harrison for joining our lodge and immediately joining the House Committee and her help on Taco Tuesday. Pat Iverson for joining our House Committee making and serving meals. Marie Starjnski for her great work as the newest bartender and for her wonderful job as our cook for our Wednesday evening dinners. Betty Cook for her organizational skills, handling Christmas decorations and help with Wednesday dinners. Cheryl Galligos for handling our event calendar, flyers and for taking minutes for the House Committee. Larry Megahan for his wonderful job on our Flag Day ceremony. Jim Cox for his excellent job as Chaplin and assisting Larry on the Flag Day ceremony. Doug Harpold for his service as Loyal Knight and management of our Memorial Service. Deb Derting for her help on the Veterans Committee, membership Committee, work on Open House boards and the Artisans Market. Harry Wedwaldt for his management of our golf tournament and Texas ‘Hold Em’ games. Ken MacRae for his generous contributions to our lodge. Gail Baillargeon for her multitude of things she does behind the scenes and her help for First Ladies. 

Tall Elf Awards (Associate Members) Mimi Wittenborn for help with financial dealings and shopping for our kitchen and bar supplies. Pam Wedwaldt for her weekly work as our 50/50 sales person. Cheri Hudson for making shadow boxes, kids shopping sprees, trash pick up and Open House boards. ER’s Special Awards: Judy Humitz for her exceptional work as the Chair of our House Committee, especially putting together a great team that is contributing tremendously to the success of our lodge. Belinda Waller for her exceptional performance as the chair for our Veterans Committee, she brought in over $75,000 in material contributions for our veterans. Ron Trudeau for his behind the scenes work that keeps our lodge running smoothly and safely. Joe Palmer for his help on so many issues where he has either done the work himself or found us a dependable professional to do the work. Alane Asp for successfully managing our financial resources, for assistance given to the ER and First Lady as well as so many volunteer projects she spent her time and money on. 

Grand Lodge Special ER Awards: Steve Asp for his help making my year better, for his work as President of the PER Association and for the many volunteer projects he spent his time and money on. Harry Beatty for his continued support of our lodge through the many positions he has filled over the years. Citizen Of The Year: Katie Murdock for her exceptional service as the Executive Director of the Arizona Elks Major Projects. Officer Of The Year: Monty Derting for his service as Lecturing Knight, establishment of the Artisans Market as well as our membership investigation and flag coordinators. Elk Of The Year: Dan Bradshaw for his many years of helping support the Veterans Committee as well as the many donations and purchases he has made for our lodge! This award is a long time in coming, Dan thank you for all you have done for our lodger!  

Spring has sprung, with that warmer temps, yay. Being so cold was getting old. Spring also means a new Lodge Year, which started on April 1st. I will be serving once again as your Secretary. I look forward to another fun filled year at OUR Elks Lodge. I will be in the office all day on Mondays and in and out the rest of the week. If you ever need to speak to me, feel free to call me. Office: - 825-0893 Home: 825-3300 Cell: 395-5108. If I don’t answer, leave me a message, I will get back to you as soon as I can. 

We, in the office have been busy the last couple of months processing new membership cards. As of end of March we still have over 100 members who have not paid their dues. If you are one of those people, I encourage you to get those dues paid and stay in good standing with the Lodge. On that same note, sadly I will have to drop 32 members from this past Lodge year, for nonpayment of dues. We need you all to continue the good work, that the Elks do. 

Reminder: As of April 1st, the key card on your membership card has changed. The blue key cards will no longer work in the door, so make sure you are using your new card with the gray key card. Our Exalted Ruler Bob and his crew have been working very hard to gain our membership and have done a great job. The open house brought in about 6 new members. Other members in the Lodge have brought in several new members also. Thanks to all who have worked so hard to make this happen. As of the writing of this article I am not sure what the gain will be at the end of the year, as I have several incoming members and some transfers to process. I will give you a full report in my May article.  

Lodge Stats                                                                              

Membership 539 

Initiated 42 

Affiliated 15 

Reinstated 1 

Transferred out 3 

Ready for Balloting 16 

Ready for Affiliation 2 

Ready for Reinstatement 2 

Absolute Demits 10 

Deaths 13 

Lapsation 32