EXALTED RULER’S MESSAGE

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Hello fellow Elks! Once again, I hope this finds you healthy and happy as this COVID pandemic continues. I have not heard of any new cases in our Elk family. Hopefully that situation will remain the same. The Lodge is still open with a group of regulars enjoying spending time there. 

Again, there is not much new to talk about. We do have a great dinner coming up that will be discussed in another article. Also, our officer installation coming up is going to be a bit different. One thing we are actively preparing for is a ritual contest that will take place at Tucson East Lodge on March 6th. The contest team consists of Gloria Cisneros as ER, Alane Asp is the Leading Knight, Ron Starginski is the Loyal Knight and Monty Derting is doing the Lecturing Knight part. Bud Meyer is the Esquire, Doug Harpold is the Chaplain and Larry Wittenborn is doing the Inner Guard part. I get to be the new candidate. We have been practicing under the direction of our coaches, Jack Baillargeon and Neal Patronsky, to get all our speeches and moves down pat before the contest. I want to thank everyone on the team for doing this. By participating in a ritual contest, we can claim an additional 40 points towards an All American Lodge award. 

It has been an interesting time as your Exalted Ruler thanks to all the issues related to the pandemic. Hopefully there is some light at the end of the tunnel and we can get back to some state of normalcy. Best of luck to Alane and her crew of officers next year. 

Your renewal notices coming from Grand Lodge did not get the charitable contributions category of "Bugle Booster" $10.00. that I talked about earlier. If you would like to help defray the cost of printing the Bugle, please just add it below the six listed extra contribution section of the form and include another ten dollars to your total.  

Steve Asp Exalted Ruler 

 Only one month is left in the lodge year and what a strange year it has been. Thankfully, the virus is retreating some and vaccinations are up. For March, Charity at the lodge is on the upswing. As you will see in articles by Jan Trudeau and Gloria Cisneros, we have some charitable events scheduled for March. 

On March 12, we will be having a to go or dine in brisket dinner and raffle to raise funds for the lodge scholarship fund. See Jan’s article for full details, call the lounge to sign up – spaces will fill up quickly. Food is being donated and 100% of proceeds will benefit our lodge’s scholarship fund. 

On March 27, officers for the 2021 / 2022 lodge year will be installed. I am excited about being installed as the Exalted Ruler and am looking forward to planning more activities (safely) at the lodge. To maximize social distancing and celebrate some return to normalcy, installation will be a little different this year. Installation will be in the lodge room at 4:30. Speeches and other ceremonial activities will take place in the tent outside along with a catered dinner and entertainment. Paul and the house committee have decided to limit the attendance to 60 people; a few spaces in addition to the incoming officers and the installing officers will be available for the event. Because our PER’s were not able to hold the annual Lobsterfest this year, installation dinner attendees are being asked for a minimum of a $10 donation for the PER Elks Charities Fund. 

To kick my Exalted Year off right, the Grand Prize for the October 29, 2021 Arizona Elks Major Projects raffle will be on display at the lodge during the week of installation. The grand prize is a 2021 Yamaha Wolverine X4; 2nd prize is $500, 3rd prize is $300, 4th prize is $200, and 5th prize is $100. Tickets may be purchased in the lounge for $10 each or 2 for $20. My officer team and I will be working together to plan and execute a successful lodge year with the goals of supporting Americanism, Charity, Youth, and Veterans through ritualistic ceremonies of recognition and through charitable programs and giving. If interested in helping or participating, please do not hesitate to contact me. Email is alaneasp@hotmail.com. I am optimistic about the year ahead! While not back to normal completely, I am hopeful about executing all of our elk national, state and local programs this year – to some degree.  

Alane.

Happy March Everyone! 

We are currently running a raffle to benefit our Lodge Scholarship Program. There are amazing items at the Lodge that you can purchase tickets for and you will put them in the corresponding box of what item you would like to win. This drawing will take place at the Brisket Dinner Event being held March 12th. You can buy tickets from the bar Stewards anytime and we will be selling them the night of the event as well. The price is 7 tickets for $5 and so please help support the continuing education of our applicants. 

We will also be starting a shot gun raffle on March 27th which will also benefit the Scholarship program. Please stay tuned for the details on that one. 

The Past Exalted Rulers also ran the last Lodge meeting which was Officer Nomination night. A great time was had by all and we have an amazing team of Officers coming in for the 2021-2022 Lodge year. Thank you to all the PER’s that assisted that night. We are still hoping to get the Queen of Hearts game going again soon but need to wait until we can have the approval to have larger crowds.  

Gloria Cisneros, PERA President