Maine Elks Association

Public Relations Committee Newsbriefs -05/22/08

Maine Elks Association Newsbriefs

Sanford Elks Celebrate Mothers Day
From Carol Spellman, Sanford Exalted Ruler

Sanford Elks #1470 held its annual Mother's Day Breakfast on May 11th. Under the Planning and direction of Committee Chair and Past Elk of the Year, Fran Libby along with her huge team of volunteers had another very successful Program this year. The Mother's Day Breakfast has been a tradition at the lodge for over 25 years. Rebecca Hawker, Emblem Club #139 President along with Carol Spellman, Exalted Ruler, and Tom Spellman, PER, greeted Mom's and families at the door. The Emblem club provides and hands out free carnations at the door every year. We had 106 mom's enjoying a free breakfast this year with their families. A small charge is paid by other family members. The Lodge served over 230 people between 8:30 and 11:00. Everyone from the cooks, servers, cleaners, and guests had a fun and delicious morning of scrambled eggs, bacon, home-fries, muffins, juices and coffee.

Pictured above are Sanford Elks members and guests enjoying a Mothers Day breakfast

Ellsworth Elks Lodge to Celebrate 20^th Anniversary
From Michael Lock, PER, Celebration Chairman

A Celebration in the works!

On October 22, 2008 the Ellsworth Elks Loge #2743 will be TWENTY years old! On the afternoon of October 22, 1988, approximately one hundred twenty five gentlemen raised their left hand over the Alter of Elkdom, and the Ellsworth Elks Lodge #2743 was born.

Well it's time to CELEBRATE! On October 25, 2008 the Ellsworth Elks will be holding our 20th Anniversary Celebration. There will be a social hour, dinner featuring roast pork or stuffed haddock, a short talk by our featured guest, to me named soon, musical entertainment and to top off the evening an ENF Auction.

More details will be forthcoming as we get closer the Celebration. Seating will be limited for the dinner so reservations will be required; reservations will be accepted starting September 1st, so make your plans now. For more information you can contact PER Mike Locke at Ellsworth.Elks@yahoo.com.

Millinocket Elks Celebrate National Youth Week
From John Nicholson



The Millinocket Elks Lodge #1521 hosted three days of activities to celebrate YOUTH WEEK.  The local youth took part in bowling, pool and arcade at the Pins and Cues Bowling Center.  Over the course of the three day event the Elks hosted over 200 children with an afternoon of fun and refreshments. Pictured above are some children enjoying their time at the bowling center.

Take the Elks Drug Awareness IQ Quiz

The Elks are committed to eliminating the use and abuse of illegal drugs by all members of society and believe that in order to ensure a bright future for our country, it is essential that our children be raised in a drug-free environment. Test your knowledge of drug awareness issues with our new online quiz by clicking here

New Value for Volunteer Hours
From the Elks Grand Lodge Government Relations Newsletter

The 2007 estimate for the va1ue of a volunteer hour reached $19.51 this month, an increase from $18.77 per hour in 2006. The estimate comes from Independent Sector, a nonprofit, nonpartisan coalition of some 600 charities, foundations, and corporate philanthropy programs. Its estimate is based on the average hourly wage for all non-management, non-agriculture workers as determined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 12 percent increase to reflect fringe benefits.

Charitable organizations, including the Elks, use the value of volunteer time for recognition events or communications to show the amount of community support an organization receives from its volunteers.

Maine Governor Pocket Veto’s Two Charitable Gaming Bills
From the Elks Grand Lodge Government Relations Newsletter

Calling them “unacceptable expansions of gambling,” Maine Gov. John Baldacci will not sign two charitable gambling bills passed by the legislature. He said a bill authorizing state police to issue a license for a cribbage game tournament with 1,000 players would be difficult to regulate and would put new demands on the state police. A second pocket veto (refusing to sign a bill after the legislature has adjourned) killed legislation that would have allowed fraternal groups to conduct games of chance without a license. He said this would eliminate proper scrutiny of gambling by letting groups self-report the number of events they host and the amount of money they take in.

Millinocket Elks Recognize Drug Awareness Winners
From John Nicholson



Two students at Granite Street Elementary School received state awards from the Maine State Elks Association, presenting the awards Ed Craig, Exalted Ruler (Left) and Tim Smyth, Millinocket Elks Drug Awareness Program Chairman (Right). Kayla D.  was awarded 1st place in the Drug awareness Essay Contest and Jessica G. took 1st place in the Drug Awareness Poster Contest.  Each student received a certificate and check.

Millinocket Elks Celebrate Mothers Day
From John Nicholson



Millinocket Elks #1521 hosted The Mother's Day program with entertainment, followed by a lunch. All area mothers were invited to join the Elks on Sunday afternoon.  Pictured at ER Ed Craig and Chaplain Herk Plourde with several of the mothers in attendance.  There were 75 mothers who enjoyed the event.

Maine Elks to Hold Flag Day at Togus VA
From James Ferland, PDDGER, PSP

The annual Flag Day ceremony will be held at Togus VA in the chapel on June 14^th at 10:00 a.m. MEA Presdient Robert Drisko will lead the ceremony with the other state officers. To make the ceremony an impressive one, we are asking for volunteer flag bearers to carry in the ceremonial flags during the event. All Exalted Rulers, other lodge officers, and members are encouraged to attend and participate.

The uniform of the day will be white dinner jackets for State Officers, and Lodge Jackets for others participating in the event. After the ceremony we will again ask for volunteers to go to the hospital and pay brief visits to the veterans and hand out American Flags to them.

The ceremony will be broadcast on closed-circuit TV so that all of the veterans that can’t come to the chapel will be able to view the ceremony on the televisions in their rooms.

The chapel will be opened at 9:00 a.m. and practice for the event will begin as soon thereafter as people arrive. Please be at the chapel no later than 9:15 a.m. if you plan on participating in the ceremony.

If you plan to attend, or would like to be a flag bearer, please contact the event coordinator, Jim Ferland, by calling him at home, at 547-5088, or by e-mailing him at James.Ferland@maine.gov.   

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