BPOElks

DOVER - Emblem Club members from across the state converged on the Garrison City Sunday to fill backpacks with goodies for youths who've had family members in the military deploy overseas. The effort to make "hero packs" was a part of Operation: Military Kids.

Elks honored at installation event NASHUA - The Nashua Lodge of Elks 720, an 800-member Nashua-based fraternal organization, closed out its 2008-09 lodge year with the announcement and presentation of its three annual coveted awards. Sherrie Michalewicz was named the recipient of the Elk of the Year award for her contributions to the lodge's successful social activities, children's parties and the betterment of the Nashua Lodge of Elks 270.

Wow! SC has added a lodge in Fort Mill a few weeks ago and now one in Pendleton. In recent years, there have been Conway & Little river. Perhaps one more. All this made more possible by the change in the numbers needed (from 100 to 50) to request dispensation to form a lodge! I wonder who had the timerity to propose such a resolution?? Why Salisbury Elks 699!

PENDLETON - A new Pendleton Elks Lodge will be instituted this weekend. About 75 members will be part of the ceremony set to start at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Greenville Elks Lodge, said Jim Vogel, a spokesman for the Pendleton Lodge. Ceremonies on Saturday include institution of the new lodge, initiation of new members and installation of officers, Vogel said. The Greenville lodge is at 7700 Pelham Road.

Nice fraternal group effort. Should be more of those type activities

COOS BAY, ORE - As area Christians celebrated Easter over the weekend, communities up and down the South Coast came together to take part in the Easter Egg Hunts that have become tradition. One of the host sites was at Mingus Park in Coos Bay.

Honoring the flag Exalted Ruler Rick Gowan addresses the crowd at Howard Elmer Park during a Flag Day celebration. BY BRIAN BISHOP STAFF WRITER Published: Monday, June 15, 2009 6:08 AM EDT SAYRE - The American flag was honored in a ceremony at Sayre's Howard Elmer Park on Sunday. The Sayre Elks Lodge 1148 hosted the event, in which members of the Valley Color Guard presented many of the former designs of the American flag as a history of the flag's many changes over the years was read by Elks Trustee Al Engelbert.

Kenai Elks lodge gets a makeover By Joseph Robertia | Peninsula Clarion Driving around Kenai it is quite common to see a moose, while seeing a bear is a little more rare, but motorists driving down Barnacle Way have been taking in an even more unusual spectacle: an 8-foot tall, 700-pound bull elk. "This past weekend we had people stopping and taking pictures of it," said Joel Macrander, exalted ruler of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks Lodge No. 2425.

he Longmont Elks last month distributed about $8,000 in scholarships to local graduating students. It was the latest of the lodge's contributions to the community, which follow from the four virtues the Elks embrace: charity, justice, fidelity and brotherly love.

The Somerville Elks Lodge Scholarship Committee supports the students of local high schools by providing financial scholarships to outstanding kids, based on their academic achievements and moral character. The administration of each school is charged with selecting the students to receive our awards.

After a year off, a longtime Santa Maria Elks Rodeo tradition - the queen contest - rides back into town for 2009, when a first-time event from 2008 also will return. The 66th annual rodeo begins Friday, June 5, and ends Sunday, June 7, at the Santa Maria Elks/Unocal Event Center, east of Highway 101 at Santa Maria Way.

The 66th annual Santa Maria Elks rodeo is in full swing. But, so far not as many people seem to be swinging by this year. So far, through two nights at the rodeo, everything has been pretty typical with one exception. The attendance is definitely down this year.

Their stories are legion. The stress behind their stories, stress that combat veterans often hold tight inside, can be painful and destructive. There was the Marine in Afghanistan who told me he has post-traumatic stress disorder so bad he can't stand to be safe at home, where he sometimes drops to the floor, thinking a loud noise is an incoming mortar. He keeps volunteering to return to combat, where his hair-trigger reflexes make sense. Where he's comfortable. For veterans, telling their stories can be helpful. Having someone listen? Priceless.

PAW PAW - The Paw Paw Elks Lodge 2511 will hold a free youth archery shoot, Saturday, June 6, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the lodge, 41816 N. M-40. Registration begins at 9:30 a.m. Bows and targets will be provided. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., an all-you-can-eat wild game luncheon will be served.

The Elks club picked eight high school seniors to pair up with local leaders for the annual Elks' Youth Leadership Day. Six of the students were from Bayonne High School, one was from Holy Family Academy, and one from St. Peter's Prep.

Cleaning out the attic never yielded such treasures. When Suzanne Ernst, Adele Nielson and Brett and Lori Rundquist decided to see what was up in the attic of the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks Lodge No. 507, they had no idea what they might find. Durango auto dealer custom residential construction Click image to enlarge Photo by NICK MANNING/Herald Jean Gaiovnik, left, and her husband, Leonard Gaiovnik, look at lodge pins from Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks lodges from around the country dating back as far as the early 1900s during a reception held May 17 in the newly reopened museum at Lodge No. 507 on East Second Avenue. Old gaming materials, items used for club rituals in years gone by and some things whose purpose remains a mystery turned up.

On Jan. 23, 2006, U.S. Army Sgt. Matthew Hunter laid down his life attempting to preserve the lives of others. And on the 203rd birthday of the most enduring symbol of American freedom, the U.S. flag, Matthew's father, Fred, received a symbol of his son's courage when he was presented with a Medal of Valor by the Wheeling Elks Lodge 28 during their annual Flag Day ceremony at Heritage Port on Sunday. A Valley Grove native, Hunter served in Iraq as a senior combat field medic with the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. He was killed in Baghdad when an improvised explosive device detonated near his patrol.

Lafayette resident Bill Bray served as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force for five years. Advertisement After being stationed in Panama City, Fla., and Germany, he returned to Lafayette finding it difficult to meet other veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Bray didn't have to try hard to find fellow veterans Sunday night at the Elks Lodge 143 just outside of West Lafayette. The Elks hosted a Veterans Recognition Dinner that honored veterans who have served in the military since Sept. 11 or families of veterans who've died since the

NEWARK -- World War II veteran Robert Kemp, 90, of Newark proudly presented his pre-1959 -- with 48 stars -- during the annual Flag Day program on Sunday at the Courthouse Square gazebo. Advertisement "I just happen to love it," the U.S. Army veteran said of the United States' flag. "I wear one all the time."

Great interview Debbie. Thanks!

Question: How long have you been an Elk and how did you begin to rise through the ranks of Elkdom? Answer: This is my 11th year. As an Elk, if you are married, your spouse can go in (the club) all the time with you. But I did not have a male who was a member, so I had to join as a female as a member of the lodge. I had a friend of mine propose me, and that's how I became an Elk. I joined Dec. 21 of '98 ... and there was a change of officers (that year). We had no chaplain that year. And I had a dream in the shower that I'm going to be the next chaplain. Dave Myers was the exalted ruler at that time. It was a couple of weeks later, I was sitting at the club, and he (tapped me on the shoulder), and I turned around and said, ``Yeah, I'll do it.'' He said, ``What?'' I said, ``I'll be chaplain.'' He said, ``How did you know.'' I said, ``I dreamed I was going to be your next chaplain.'' I was chaplain for six years. I was appointed by six different exalted rulers.