exalted ruler's MESSAGE
Paul Slater, PER
Howdy!
Happy Elks New Year! It is awesome and overwhelming as I begin my year as the ER for our lodge. My
most important plan is to continue the excellence that the previous ERs have done to make our lodge one
of the best in all of Elkdom. It is a very special year for our lodge, as we will celebrate our 25th anniversary this October. Given our relatively small lodge, it is amazing to see how much our lodge does for our Vets, Children, and communities. All of this good work is because our members truly embrace what being an Elk is all about: Caring and Sharing. Be on the lookout for more information around our anniversary celebration as we get closer to October We are starting the Elk’s new year quickly with two great events: the Children’s Easter Shopping on the 5th and the 3rd Annual Dart tournament to benefit our Vets on the 12th. These events do not happen without the support of our members, both as leaders and participants. By now, most of you have paid your lodge dues. Thank you, as the lodge must pay the Grand Lodge dues, whether the member has paid or not. If you have not yet paid your dues, please make it a priority to do so ASAP.
Remember that if you are delinquent, you cannot enter the lodge until those dues are paid. Our bar stewards can process your dues payments at the bar, if needed. Membership is the lifeblood of any lodge, and thanks to the hard work of our membership committee, we had an overall growth in membership last year, and are almost at 600 members. One of the biggest charitable things one can do as an Elk is to share their time. As we approach the new Elk year, I will be looking to fill several committee chairs. I want to thank those who have volunteered to lead some of our committees, but there is always room for more to step up to help. So, if you want to be more involved, please contact me or any of our officers and let us know! There are 40 different committees, so there is something for everyone. As always, if you have questions or concerns, you can always reach out to me via email
(pslates1987@gmail.com) or phone (520.268.2375)
Take care,
paul
LEADING Knight Message
Kim McIlonie, Leading Knight
Howdy Folks!
It’s hard to believe it’s already April!!
Where does the time go!? I am super excited to be your Leading Knight this year! I am
looking forward to learning all the ins and outs of this position. We have some fun
events going on this month. April 5th at 8:30am is our Annual Easter Shopping spree for the kids. This is a fantastic event and the kids have a great time shopping and meeting the Easter Bunny! Volunteers are always needed, sign up in the lounge! We also have our 3rd
Annual Charity Dart Tournament on April 12 at 10am. All of the proceeds benefit the Veterans. Last year we were able to help our Paralyzed Vets offset the cost of going
to the Olympics. This event is limited to 32 people. There will be a potluck lunch (bring a dish if you can), raffles and a silent auction. Sign up in the lounge. Starting in May, we will be hosting a monthly “Iron Elk” cooking contest. All contestants will cook something using the
same random ingredient drawn from our ingredient jar – please feel free to add your favorite ingredient to that jar. Anybody can enter and there will be a $5 fee to be a
judge. The ingredient will be chosen during the first Queen of Hearts of each month. Please see the flyer in the lodge or hit me up if you want to know more details.
Kim
“Every charitable act is a stepping stone toward heaven” ~
- Henry Ward Beecher
SECRETARY’S CORNER
Mimi Wittenborn - Secretary
I hope no one played too serious an April Fool’s Day joke on any of you.
It’s the beginning of the new Elks year and we have been very busy in the office processing your dues payments. Thank you to those who got them paid early. If you haven’t paid them yet remember as of April 1 your blue key card will not work. Give us a call at 520-825-0893 and come see us in the office, Mondays, Tuesdays or Thursdays from 10:00 to at least 2:00. In my last article I mentioned the Event Reporting Form and asked committee chairs to please get them into me ASAP. These reports I enter let’s Grand Lodge know what we are doing in our communities and helps us keep our Non-profit status. If you have any questions about them or need help filling them out please come see me.
LODGE STATS YEAR-TO-DATE
Membership to Date ...............587
Candidates................................ 12
Delinquents ............................. 17
Transfers In .............................. 9
Life Members ......................... 52
Average Age ............................ 69.95
Past Exalted Ruler Association
Past Exalted Ruler Association - Ron Starjnski, PERA President
Hello Everyone,
First, thank you to everyone who has helped me in the past year, this will be my last PERA message. I am not going away just moving on. I have plenty of work to do as Trustee, ENF chair, Building Committee Chair and New Building Committee member. We are making good progress with the 25th anniversary events, some of the ideas are anniversary glasses with the 25th logo, charter member dinner and a golf tournament, just to name a few. Doug will do a great job continuing this over the next few months. Lobsterfest was a huge success, thanks to all who participated. This month’s charity contribution is the Cloth-a-child shopping spree, the PER’s will be donating $300 to the children.
The new bar top and sinks are in place now, when you see them, please thank Pam, Marie, Sarah, Cindy, Gloria and Rhi. All of whom have contributed to the bar renovation project, primarily the setup and teardown of the temporary bar, the cleanup effort of the patio, bar, kitchen, and lodge room. FYI it took 4 of them 2 hours to clean and get the lounge ready to open on Friday night, they deserve your thanks and recognition.
Do not forget about the Queen of Hearts every Friday night at 6:30, get there early to get your tickets before someone else does.
I will see you at the lodge.
Ron