Upper Sandusky Elks Starts a Chill Out Program with Beacon Grant

ENF at work for Wyandot County! Utilizing our Beacon Grant Upper Sandusky Elks #83 started a Chill Out Program with the help of Kimmel Corporation to provide warm clothing for those in need. Hospice of Wyandot County and Home Health will disperse duffel bags full of sweatshirts, hats, socks, blankets and other items donated by local individuals.

From left: Home Health Nurse Nikki Frey, Kimmel Representative Bo Underwood, Hospice Nurse and Elk member Christy Biller, and Hospice Co-ordinator Cathy Browne. These will be given to Hospice patients, veterans, and those family's in need!

Just Announced! Big Red Deluxe Performing Live At Fun Nite!

The Ohio Elks Association is proud to announce that Big Red Deluxe will be performing live at this year’s Spring Convention Fun Nite on Friday, April 5th in Columbus.

The 5-peice cover band covers a wide range of music from rock to country, motown, funk and more! Tickets are only $25 per person and can be purchased on the OEA website here.

Buy your tickets today and party all night with your fellow Elks from around the state!

Tickets must be purchased by March 15th.

Mark Your Calendars - Elks Kollege is March 2nd!

ELKS LEADERSHIP KOLLEGE
March 2, 2019
Columbus Marriott Northwest
Dublin, OH
10:00 am till 2:00 pm

 The Elks Leadership Kollege is a valuable training session being offered to lodge officers and members on Saturday, March 2nd.  Qualified trainers will be conducting sessions packed full of valuable information that will guide you through a successful lodge year.  Please take advantage of this opportunity to have your officers learn what they need to know and implement in order to have a successful year!

Registration will be on-site beginning at 9:00 am.  There will be no pre-registration.

The Kollege will start at 10:00 am with everyone attending the welcome/opening session.  Following this session, the group will then divide into four breakout sessions, which include:

• Exalted Rulers/Leading, Loyal & Lecturing Knights

• Lodge Secretaries

• Lodge Treasurers

• Trustees/Board of Directors/House Committee

Short breaks will be offered during the day.  We will not break for lunch, which should allow everyone a timely dismissal to get you on the road home quicker.

Dress for the Kollege will be casual, but no jeans please.

In order to have an idea on how many will be attending, the District Activities Chairmen will be contacting each of their Exalted Rulers; requesting the total number attending from the lodge and the number of those attending per breakout session.  This will allow us to have the correct number of handouts, etc.  Final count numbers are needed by Friday, February 22.

DACs -- please email the requested information to the Dean of the Kollege, PSP Doug Schiefer at douglasschiefer@gmail.com  

The Leadership Kollege Agenda will be emailed to all Ohio Elks lodges and posted on the OEA website https://ohioelks.com/ by mid February.

Van Wert Elks Hosts Free Spaghetti Dinner For Veterans.

Van Wert Elks Lodge #1197, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks held a Free Spaghetti Dinner for all the veterans in the Van Wert County area on Monday, January 28.

 A nice group of Veterans enjoyed a free dinner and the chance to catch up with their fellow veterans on this evening.

 The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks has a motto “As long as there are veterans, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks will never forget them”. Van Wert Lodge is proud to be able to sponsor this free event for our veterans as a way of saying “Thank You” for your service to our country.

 Prior to and during the event, the lodge raffled off an Ohio State lamp.  The lamp was made and donated by local veteran and lodge member Carl Beck with the proceeds to go to the Disabled Veterans of the county. The proceeds of the raffle will be donated to the Disabled American Veterans, Chapter 54 of Van Wert.

Pictured are, left to right: Keith Collins, Marine Veteran and Elks Lodge Veteran Committee Chairman; Carl Beck, US Army Veteran and lodge member who donated the lamp and Raymond Haas, US Navy Veteran and lodge member who was the winner of the lamp.

2019 OEA Spring Convention - Online Registration Now Open!

Online Registration for the 2019 Spring Convention Is Now Available!

The Ohio Elks Association 2019 Spring Convention will be held in April 4-7 at the Columbus Marriott Northwest in Dublin, OH. Any Elks wanting to attend Spring Convention this year can now register for the event online through the OEA website.

Click Here to Pre-Register

South Central District Honors Lodges Tackling Drug Awareness

At the South Central District meeting held at the Circleville Elks Lodge #77 on January 20, 2019, drug awareness certificates of outstanding efforts were awarded to six lodges within the district for the year 2017-2018. These were lodges within the district that held drug awareness programs throughout the year.

Lodges identified, and pictured from left to right are Rod Bachtel Jackson #466, Rich Russell Athens #973, Howard Honaker Marysville #1130, Bob Marchi Gallipolis #107, John Ridenbaugh Newark #391, Carl Trunko New Lexington #509, Presenter Dave Williams, South Central District Drug Awareness Chairman/DAC Athens #973

New Lexington Elks #509 Helps Make Science Happen!

Recently, New Lexington Elks Lodge#509, through the awarding of the Anniversary Grant and Lodge Charitable donation, assisted Sheridan High School in the purchase of twelve new college level microscopes for use in their science class.

Pictured are students of science teacher Dr. Nancy Rose- Makena Dodson, Brooklyn Frame, Alexandra Fink and Seth Rowley. Representing Lodge #509 are ER Carl Trunko and PER Lodge Treasurer Dan Stanton.

NE District Announces District Hoop Shoot Winners

The Ohio Elks Association is proud to announce the Northeast District Hoop Shoot winners who competed over the weekend at Ravenna High School. Congratulations to all who participated and best of luck to all the winners moving on to the state competition!

Left to right District Hoop Shoot  Winners: Ryan Turk (Lakewood), Chase Newsome (Ashtabula), Jaden Keenan (Kent), Ava Kouri (Kent), Paityn McCully (Alliance), Brooke Richmond ( Ashtabula) and Lisa Wadlow NE District Hoop Shoot Director.

Upper Sandusky Elks Honored with 2018 Progress Award

Upper Sandusky Elks Lodge #83 was recently recognized by the Wyandot County Chamber of Commerce as a recipient of their 2018 Progress Award. This is presented annually to organizations making a significant investment in our community through donations and programs. 

Ronald McDonald House Benefits From Chillicothe Elks

A year and a half collection of beverage tabs totaling over 500 lbs will benefit the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio. Several Veterans organizations, Elks and 4-H Members contributed with Elks member Ralph Roe and Butch Bost, PER leading the effort. A pound of tabs translates to more than 1,250 tabs, do the math.

The Ronald McDonald House is a nonprofit organization that assists Nationwide Children's Hospital and families at other surrounding hospitals. The Ronald McDonald Houses allow families to stay near their children when they are hospitalized with serious illnesses. Megan Brumfield, owner and operator of the local McDonald's, thanked the Elks for their efforts.

Pictured - left to right: Butch Bost, PER, Megan Brumfield, Owner-Operator, Kelly Renner, Manager and Rob Hatfield, Supervisor.

Pictured - left to right: Butch Bost, PER, Megan Brumfield, Owner-Operator, Kelly Renner, Manager and Rob Hatfield, Supervisor. Photo was taken by Elk Member Keith Jon􀁏

Chillicothe Elks Help Local Veterans

The Chillicothe Elks Lodge #62 hosted the South Central Veterans Christmas Celebration for over 200 Veterans on December 20., 2018.

The event was well attended with an abundance of gifts., entertainment and food. The lodge volunteers provided food for our Veterans in attendance. Also in attendance were Elk State Officers and South Central Officers serving food and distributing gifts to our Veterans.

Pictured is Butch Bost, PER presenting a pair of wheel chair gloves to one of the many Veterans in attendance.

Newark Elks #391 Help With Wreaths Across America

The day was a rainy, cold, gloomy Ohio day, but that didn’t stop the members and friends of the Newark Elks from donning their rain gear and smiles to help place wreaths on the veteran’s graves at Cedar Hill Cemetery for the 2018 Wreaths Across America Day.

The Newark Elks Lodge #391 were able to purchase an additional 422 wreaths to add to the others donated for Cedar Hill Cemetery. Elk members also had the honor of placing a couple of the ceremonial wreaths at the Veterans Memorial in the cemetery.

Columbus North Elks Takes Care Of Our Veterans During the Holidays

Columbus North Elks Lodge #2700 launched a new Elks National Foundation Beacon Grant project in 2018, called the “Veterans Holiday Meet and Greet”, held at our VA Outpatient Clinic in December. 

The lodge purchased a variety of items including stuffed toys, daily planners, journals, healthcare items, playing cards, word find books, cards and snacks creating nearly 250 individual bags for the veterans. 

An assortment of holiday cookies and coffee were also offered. 

The veterans chose a bag and cookies to take with them to their appointments or home after their appointments.  Our showing of appreciation for there sacrifices was received with smiles, hugs, thank-yous and tears from the veterans who participated.

Newark Elks Brings Christmas Cheer To Local Families

Newark Elks Lodge #391 partnered with the local Salvation Army adopting five families for Christmas. Members donated over $1,500 in gifts and cash assuring that these families would have a visit from Santa and a delicious Christmas dinner!

Once again, the members of Newark Elks 391 stepped up and helped these families have a little Merrier Christmas.

Fremont Elks Help Local Students Dealing With Trauma

Fremont Elks Lodge #169 was awarded a $2,000 Elks National Foundation Beacon Grant which used to partner with The Link/Interact Club –Fremont Ross High School and Wynn-Reeth MACC to make a difference in the community.

Gathering at the Elks were those who helped create the first ten tie blankets and will be distributed. In the upcoming month the remaining blankets will be made at the Elks.

This project will form partnerships with high school students and adults with disabilities. Together a total of 40 tie blankets will be made to give to students in Fremont City schools when they suffer from any type of trauma.

Each blanket will be put in a cinch drawstring backpack. Blankets are delivered to the two elementary school social workers for Fremont City Schools to give to students when trauma has occurred in his/her life giving them a desire to think positives and have a better view on life with the comfort they will get from the love from the blanket.

The success of this project will be measured by the number of children who receive blankets over the course of this project and personally know that a child’s face has lit up by the kind act of creating a blanket to give a child a sense of hope through rough times he or she may suffer. The Grant also provides lunch for 20 participates.

Alliance Lodge #467 Hosts Hoop Shoot Contest, Announces Winners

Alliance Elks #467 Northeast District Hoop shoot winners 2019

Front row Addison Reicenback, Paityn McCully, Jake Baker, Parker Woods

Back row,  Drew Simmons, Chelsey Evanich, Shaylee Muckleroy 

Chllicothe Elks Host Veterans Christmas Dinner

The Ohio Elks South Central District Lodges all donated funding so that Chillicothe Elks Lodge #52 could hold it's annual Veteran's Christmas Dinner, on Thursday, December 20, 2018.

Two hundred fifteen veterans from the Chillicothe VA hospital attended the event. All of the veterans received a meal at the lodge, and they were entertained by the high school Jr. ROTC drill team. Everybody also sang Christmas carols, and then presents were handed out to all of the veterans.

Pictured is Ohio Elks President Nevin Taylor (Marysville #1130) addressing the veterans while organizer and Veterans Committee Chairman Butch Bost (Chillicothe #52) looks on.

Merry Christmas From Van Wert Elks

Van Wert Elks Lodge #1197, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks held their annual Christmas Party for the children and grandchildren of Elk members on Saturday, December 15.   The kids were kept well entertained and lunch was provided to all in attendance and the kids were able to enjoy homemade cookies, courtesy of some very special lodge elves.   Santa arrived after lunch and was able to visit with the children and give each child a “treat bag”.

Pictured visiting with Santa is Jack, the grandson of Dave and Patti Keipper

Kent Elks Use Grant to Make Community Safer

Kent Elks Lodge #1377 used a grant from Elks National Foundation to present a check for $2,000 to the Portage county Sheriff's department for their K9 training and child identity safety kits.

From left: Lisa Wadlow, Grants Coordinator, Rick Hanna, Exalted Ruler, Ed Hayes, K9 Supervisor, K9 Glock and lodge officers Matt Wages, Sharon Batsch and John White.

Athens Elks Lodge Helping Veteran Court Program

Athens Elks Lodge #973 presented gift cards to Athens County Veterans Court in the sum of $1,500. The money to purchase the cards was made possible from an Anniversary Grant through Elks National Foundation. These gift cards will be provided to Veterans Court Program participants upon completing each phase of their treatment.

From left to right are Larry Cooper, Rich Russell (both from Athens Elks), Tom Smith and Judge George McCarthy