People who know me, know I am heavily involved in the Elks. My folks have been involved since the early 70s. While I was a little late getting in, I jumped in with both feet. I have served as an officer at my lodge and was Exalted Ruler two times, but not back to back. I am only the 4th person in or Lodge's history to do this, and the first that was not consecutive. I have been in charge of various Lodge committees as well as District and State committees. I have also been elected as District Vice President for the 2014-2015 term. The above is what I feel qualifies the statements below.
There has been a great debate in the Elks, not just my Lodge, about why we are doing what we do and what we stand for. I think people get the wrong idea about the Elks. Lots of people only seem to know us as a bar. For some of the members, it is the whole reason they joined. Cheap drinks and a place to hang out. While it is true, the Elks were founded by actors in New York who wanted a place to drink after the show on Saturday night/Sunday morning, that reason was circumvented shortly after they were started, when they found out they could do good things with their organization. The Elks have become a leading force in doing good things for nearly 150 years now.
Still, the problem persists, people only think of us as a bar. In my Lodge, this becomes most evident, when something happens and we need to close the bar. Most notably is our meeting time. Our rules state the bar is closed during Lodge meetings. So that bar full of members, hits the door running, to get to the next bar down the road, at meeting time twice a month, only to return an hour or two later, when the meeting is over. When there is a weather event, like a few years ago when we had 20 inches of snow in an 8 day period, we closed. We were closed for 10 days. The bar flies hired someone to clear the parking lot so we could open the bar. Mind you, the state authorities were telling everyone not to drive unless it was an emergency, but our selfish bar flies HAD to have their drink.
This week, school has been out for 4 days now due to a snowstorm. The parking lot was plowed the first day and our bar has been open every day. While this time, there has not been very many people out there, the fact is that it was done and open. Now for the part that REALLY disturbs me, not just the drunks driving around, and drunks driving in bad weather conditions just because they need their drink and we can't close one day because of that. What bothers me is, this is also the first time in our Lodge's history we missed a mandatory ceremony. We can plow the lot and open the bar, but we can't have one 15 min, mandatory ceremony to honor or members who have died this year? I am now truly ashamed at everyone involved. The thing that is really annoying is the ceremony was to have been performed on the Sunday before the snow hit! All anyone can worry about is if the bar is open and can I get my drink.
We, like may other organizations, have a problem of membership. My Lodge has over 500 members, but it is only a small handful who actually come to events, or come to the bar. I have about 20-30 regulars that we refer to as bar flies. These people only come to the bar, and very seldom, to an event, and almost never, if ever, a meeting. I have another 10-15 people who come to events and volunteer to help with events. These are the people who come to the meetings. The majority of members never come out. They just pay their dues thinking it supports the Lodge. Well I'm here to tell you, the Lodge doesn't run on dues. It runs on Do's. Do you come to meetings? Do you come to events? Do you volunteer? The answer for most is, No, No, No! Why would you pay dues to a club and never come out? Well I know lots of reasons. Everyone has their own reason. I have heard everything from the number one answer, smoking, to bar flies. I don't like going because of the smoke, but I do still go. I have made it known that I may have to stop going if something isn't done about the smoke, and that is the reason a lot of people don't go. But without your voice, we can't change anything, and the barflies win! They will continue to smoke up the place, without turning on the equipment we have to deal with it, because they are too noisy, and ignore our important ritualistic ceremonies, in the name of getting their cheap drink!
This to to every member of the Elks, although directed at my members, GET INVOLVED! You need to come to meetings and have your ideas heard. We have made our meetings non-smoking events. We have made our dining and Limited Menu events, non-smoking! We are working on making other events non-smoking, but we need your help to make it so!
Bar flies breed more bar flies, and we will always have them. What we lack are Good Elks! These are the people who get involved in their Lodge! These are the people who make a difference in the lives of our community. These are the people who help our state's needy children! The Good Elks!
Be A Good Elk Today!
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