Win a Trip to a NASCAR Race and Help MCCP

The MCCP Committee has obtained 2 Tickets to the NASCAR Race in Loudon NH on Sunday June 27th which includes 2 infield passes to the Budweiser tent, the race tickets are on the Start / Finish Line, we have a board of 50 squares selling for $10.00 each and the winner will be drawn on sat June 19th, if anyone is interested send check made out to Maine Elks Association to Don Richard and your name will be put in a square.

Lobster Pins Still Available

If you are planning to go to the Grand Lodge Convention in Orlando, you will want one of the hottest items available...Maine Elks Lobster Pins!

The pins are sold in bags of 25, and will cost $35 dollars for each bag! These pins are great for trading and showing your pride in the Great State of Maine. To order yours, contact : Donald Richard or call him at 207-778-3847.

You can make payment by sending a check made out to the Maine Elks Association to:

Donald Richard
Maine Elks MCCP Director
719 Farmington Falls Rd
New Sharon, ME 04955

Old Glory
From the GL Newsletter

This famous name was coined by Captain William Driver, a shipmaster of Salem, MA, in 1831. As he was leaving on one of his many voyages aboard the brig Charles Doggett - and this one would climax with the rescue of the mutineers of the Bounty - some friends presented him with a beautiful flag of 24 stars. As the banner opened to the ocean breeze for the first time, he exclaimed, "Old Glory!"

He retired to Nashville in 1837, taking his treasured flag from his sea days with him. By the time the Civil War erupted, most everyone in and around Nashville recognized Captain Driver's "Old Glory." When Tennessee seceded from the Union, Rebels were determined to destroy his flag, but repeated searches revealed no trace of the hated banner.

Then on February 25, 1862, Union forces captured Nashville and raised the American flag over the capital. It was a rather small ensign and immediately folks began asking Captain Driver if "Old Glory" still existed. Happy to have soldiers with him this time, Captain Driver went home and began ripping at the seams of his bedcover. As the stitches holding the quilt-top to the batting unraveled, the onlookers peered inside and saw the 24-starred original "Old Glory"!

Captain Driver gently gathered up the flag and returned with the soldiers to the capitol. Though he was 60 years old, the Captain climbed up to the tower to replace the smaller banner with his beloved flag. The Sixth Ohio Regiment cheered and saluted - and later adopted the nickname "Old Glory" as their own, telling and re-telling the story of Captain Driver's devotion to the flag we honor yet today.

Captain Driver's grave is located in the old Nashville City Cemetery, and is one of three places authorized by act of Congress where the flag of the United States may be flown 24 hours a day

Helpful Hints for Good Public Relations

By William Hopkins III, GL Public Relations Committee

Many new Lodge Public Relations Chairpersons have expressed discouragement caused by lack of coverage by their city news media. I sent a request to other chairpeople for their advice on what may have been helpful in their community.

Information booths at local malls could be beneficial for distributing information on such Elks programs as Drug Awareness, Youth Activities, Americanism along with veterans and their Senior Community events.

How about lending your old Elks Magazines to your local doctors' waiting room, hospital waiting room, hotel lobbies, anywhere local prospective Elks would be waiting for services?

While newspaper editors may sometimes seem uninterested, events that impact the community - such as fishing derbies, kite tournaments for youngsters, scholarship dinners, hot air balloon festivals, Soap Box Derbies - are essential to their subscribers and will usually be printed when approached in that manner.

Another suggestion is using high school or college newspapers to cover Elks events, which would provide great public relations. Why not ask the student staff to cover an event, or assist them in writing an article.

One Elks Lodge spoke about inviting a cable station representative to attend its scholarship dinner. The representative was amazed that the Elks asked the person to attend, and also asked what the Elks did for high school graduates.

As always, Lodge Public Relations Chairpersons are encouraged to enlist the aid of their District Chairperson and State PR Director.

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, the MEA Website, or future issues of this newsletter.

If you would like to create newsletters like this, and begin an e-mail marketing program for your business or organization, please click on this referral link to receive a $30 dollar credit.