Maine Elks Association

Public Relations Committee Newsbriefs -02/28/08

Maine Elks Association Newsbriefs

Reminders

Orders for Grand Lodge Convention Golf Shirts must be sent to Don & Joyce Richard by March 9, 2008 at the latest. The order form is available on the Maine Elks Association website. Costs for the Shirts are $30.00 each, with an additional $5.00 if you wish to have your name on the shirt sleeve.

Don Richard also wishes to remind everyone that the location of the MEA State Convention is at “SUGARLOAF” not Sunday River. Many have been trying to book rooms at Sunday River instead. Hotel rooms at Sugarloaf are almost gone, so book your reservation for the State Convention as soon as possible. Packages have been sent to the Lodges which include the reservation information.

Final Reports for the Convention Booklet need to be sent to Don Richard by April 1, 2008. His address is:

Don Richard
719 Farmington Falls Road
New Sharon, ME 04955

Survey Request

The Old Town Lodge is currently studying the possibility of acquiring a sealed ticket/pull tab machine, and are seeking input from Lodges across the state that currently use these to disperse tickets. If your Lodge does in fact use a machine for this purpose, please contact Lodge Secretary Bob Martin of the Old Town Lodge with information including the vendor, cost of the unit, potential benefits (e.g. accountability), and any problems associated with the machines with regard to ticket sales. Bob Martin can be reached at: Robert.Martin@RedShieldEnv.com

Deadline drawing near for Grand Lodge Recognition Awards


Jim Ferland, Grand Lodge Area 1 representative for Lodge Activities and State Associations wishes to remind all Exalted Rulers that the deadline for requesting certificates for Outstanding Members, Exalted Rulers and Lodges is March 15, 2008. The deadline for Officer, Elk, and Citizen of the Year is March 31, 2008.

Exalted Rulers have the option of naming two members for the Outstanding Service Commendation Award. All you have to do is send the Grand Lodge form to Jim with the names of those you want to honor. Please include any titles you wish to have on the certificate along with the date you plan on presenting the awards. If you don’t have the form just e-mail the information to: James.Ferland@maine.gov. That’s it; an e-mail or a 41 cent postage stamp and a few minutes of your time can go a long way to promoting good will within your lodge and properly recognizing those who have helped you through your year.

The Exalted Ruler and Lodge may also be eligible for awards. Awards for Officer, Elk and Citizen of the Year come from the Office of Grand Secretary. For more information about all of these awards refer to the Grand Lodge - Lodge Activities/State Associations 2007-2008 program pamphlet, or go to www.elks.org.   

 

Chicago Lodge Management System Update

This is a follow up report on CLMS (Chicago Lodge Membership System), our soon to be national membership tracking program.

Our staff in Chicago has been working diligently over the past several months on CLMS. In October we started conducting a beta test with our Lodges in Alaska and Washington. The results of the beta test were so favorable that we have added additional Lodges from across the country to the beta test.

If our testing and conversions to CLMS continues to run as smoothly as it has we will meet our projected April 1, 2008 release date. At that time Lodges using Yuma 6 will be able to upgrade to CLMS by downloading a free update. All other Lodges will have the ability to log on and complete a free download to input their membership information into CLMS.

I want to thank all the Lodges and individuals who stood up and accepted the challenges with making this new program a reality.

As a reminder, the CLMS program will be a provided service from Chicago when it becomes operational. Through 2/29/2008, Lodges using Yuma 6 or earlier may contact Yuma Software directly for support and upgrade assistance to Yuma 6. Remember, only Lodges using Yuma 6 will be provided with an upgrade path to CLMS, so take action now to update earlier versions of Yuma to Yuma 6.

We will continue to keep you updated with our progress as we move forward in this exciting new program for all the Lodges. Lodge Secretaries may contact me at trueelk@msn.com should they have any questions.

Fraternally,

Roger R. True, PGER
Chairman, Information Technology Subcommittee

Calendar Winners for February 2008

 

FEBRUARY 2008 CALENDAR WINNERS

 

 

 

 

Date

Winner

Amount

2/1

Addison Normandeau

$25.00

2/2

Sue St. Heart

$50.00

2/3

Gini Lovejoy

$50.00

2/4

Dave Cohen

$25.00

2/5

Jeannette Episcopo

$25.00

2/6

Dave Demerchant

$25.00

2/7

Jackie Horton

$25.00

2/8

Ronald Smith Sr.

$25.00

2/9

Alan Harding

$50.00

2/10

Lorraine Fillion

$50.00

2/11

Mike Flaherty

$25.00

2/12

Samantha & Nathaniel McLaughlin

$25.00

2/13

Zina Regan

$25.00

2/14

John & Laura Grosskurth

$25.00

2/15

Barbara Hall

$25.00

2/16

Ana Ritchie

$50.00

2/17

Angelo Andrianos

$50.00

2/18

Tony Greenleaf

$100.00

2/19

Danielle Dow

$25.00

2/20

George Wyman

$25.00

2/21

Sarah Farrell

$25.00

2/22

Joan French

$25.00

2/23

Steven Houle

$50.00

2/24

Arlene Thebeau

$50.00

2/25

Larry Young

$25.00

2/26

Richard Carver

$25.00

2/27

James & Dawn Brown

$25.00

2/28

Barbara McCallum

$25.00

2/29

Joseph Sciaraffa

$100.00

 

 

 

Youth Activities Contest Deadlines
By Kevin L. Entze, Grand Lodge Youth Activities Committee Chairman

State youth Activities chairmen and Exalted Rulers: Be sure your state or lodge is not left out when it comes to the Grand Lodge Activities Contest. Hopefully, you have had a great year, and this is the time to assemble your Youth Activities Brochures and submit them for Judging either to your state association’s chairman or Grand Lodge committeeman.

The program deadlines for each area of judging are:

 


Deadline dates must be observed, and make sure that the brochure includes a letter from the lodge secretary verifying the lodge’s membership as of March 31, 2007. (Exceptions, the National Youth Week Contest lodge membership needs to be as of April 1, 2008, the current year. No membership status is needed for the State Association Best Youth Contest) If you have any questions, refer to the Grand Lodge Youth Activities Manual (Code 512100) in your lodge secretary’s office or contact your Grand Lodge Area Committee member.

Thank You from Glenn & Cindy Leavitt

"Glenn and I express our deepest gratitude to you all.. The kindness and love shown to us throughout Glenn's ordeal has deeply touched our hearts.

Glenn had such a wonderful time at the benefit dance held in his honor. His employer Clear Channel Radio, his many clients and friends ( who so generously donated items for the auction) ,  Randy Gerry E.R. of Waterville Elks Lodge 905,  it's members , family and fellow Elks throughout the state truly made his night more than we could of ever imagined.  Glenn is such a people person and has greatly missed the comradeship of you all. The kindness and generosity shown to us has been wonderful. Thank you all so very very much. Words can't express how much your support has helped us get through these past few months.
 

Please feel free to send a note or drop by to visit as Glenn loves to hear from you all.  Again, thank you to all who have supported us through your friendship and love." God Bless you.

Glenn and Cindy Leavitt

 

If you have news or information of interest to the members of the Maine Elks Association, please send your articles to Public Relations Director Wayne Cotterly at meapr@fairpoint.net for inclusion in the MEA Calendar, Newsbriefs, and/or Website. Also, if you would like to be removed from this mailing list, please send an e-mail to Public Relations Director Wayne Cotterly at meapr@fairpoint.net. In addition, if you know of someone who would like to be added to this list, please have them forward their e-mail address to the same address. All information provided has been read and approved by the MEA State President