Author: Elks #652

Thursday, August 2, we had a total of 7 rigs at the Elks RV Park north of the town of Florence, Oregon. This is an absolutely beautiful Elks RV Park! We had our usual Heavy Hors-d’oeuvres. and no lack of food in-cluding breakfast provided over at Loren & Sue’s trailer – the gathering place, each morning by Greasers, Hank and Mitzi Beck. Each evening Tom Gill & Loren lit our firepits in front of Loren & Sue’s. Friday morning most of us ventured downtown to the waterfront for some recreational shopping and lunch. After lunch we headed to Sandland Adventures for the Dune Buggy Ride. A great time was had by all. Friday night we had a fantastic dinner at the Elks Lodge #1858 in Florence: great meal, great company. Saturday morning some of the gals went to the Garden Store. Several of us went to the fascinating Oregon Coast Military Museum out at the airport. Others went back to Sandland Adventures for Mini Golf. We gathered at the RV park playground for Washers and a BBQ. We had Sirloin Steak Hamburgers with all the fixins’. Of course, WAY too much food. Then the usual evening firepit to roast marshmallows.

Sunday we headed south to Gold Beach. We were going to stay at a park on the river, because there were so few going, Hank took us 15 miles inland to Quosatana Campground in the Siskiyou National Forest. Since it is a National Forest campground, Seniors with Senior Passes only paid $10 for the night. This is the most beautiful National Forest Campground I have ever seen. So quiet, wild turkeys an deer right in our camping spaces, AND, a million blackberries! Hank, Mitzi, Loren, Sue, and Tom Gill had a beautiful evening right on the Rogue River with the campfire (real wood) and the stars. The Brugas needed hookups so they stayed in an RV park close to town. Art was feeling a little wimpy but survival is our mantra. After picking gallons of blackberries the smoke was coming in on Sunday morning from the fires up stream so we packed it up and headed to the most beautiful spot on the coast, Eureka, we found it.

On Friday, August 18th, 15 Roamers gathered at the Lodge to do some weed-eating, cutting blackberries vines and general clean up. It was a great crew and we got a lot done. The Lodge served us a great lunch at noon. A big thanks to everyone who attended. We might schedule another cleanup and mowing in a week or two. The next meeting is September 5th at 4:30pm.

Eureka Elks Lodge No. 652 presented $2,000.00 to Families Advocating AutismNow ( FAAN). FAAN was founded in 2009 by seven mothers of children with autism. They provide grants for Equine Assisted Therapy, Aquatics, Autism Awareness Book Donations and educational Grants for teachers. They also host monthly, Motion Picture Sensory Screenings, Fun for FAAN Open Gyms and a
Parent/Caregiver Support Group. They are working to create new programs to help spread autism awareness. Sandy Gowan, District Deputy Grand Exalted Ruler (DDGER) was present to be part of this very important donation. Her district is the Pacific Northwest from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregonborder. She is very involved in helping local Elks Lodge improve their membership and community involvement. She was very proud to be part of this donation. For further information on FAAN, visit the web site humboldtfaan.org. Pictured from left to right: Sandy Gowan, DDGER; Rachel Williams, Treasure FAAN; Kaileigh Klammes, President FAAN; Kathy Winter, Board Member FAAN and Dennis Hunter, Exalted Ruler Eureka Elks Lodge NO. 652.

I hope everyone is enjoying this warm sunny summer we’re having, with very little fog. This has made for some nice late afternoon fishing in the bay.

Trustees will be meeting Tuesday, August 28th at 6:00 pm to review the first 3 months of this
year’s budget to insure our business is on track. As with any meeting, any member in good standing is welcome to attend.

The trustees and house committee will be scheduling another lodge and yard work day before winter to be scheduled later in September. Our last work party was short on volunteers and large on things to be accomplished. Thanks to Donna Jordan, Ann Poole, Nina Strang, and Terry Long for your hard work Don’t wait for a work day There is always something to do at the lodge, Always very appreciated and not always acknowledged properly.

The RV lot is full with Elks from all over the nation, Introduce yourself and make new friends from all over. Great Elks members!
Kevin Christie, Chairman, Board of Trustees

Greetings from the Veterans Council. Can you believe that we are already into August? At the end of June, the Lodge and Eureka VA Clinic had our 2nd Annual Veterans Car Show. The car show had an awesome turnout with 56 cars and motorcycles! We served 164 people at dinner that evening to honor 19 WWII Veterans with the assistance from staff from the Eureka VA Clinic, Boy Scout Troop #27, and volunteers from the Kohls Cares Program. Thank you to the Lodge and the Veterans Council for their continued support of our Veterans programs. Without all of you it would not be possible to do these things for our Veterans and our Veteran Community.

October 5, 6, & 7th is this year’s North Coast Stand Down. We need clothing donations. If you have donations, please bring them to the Lodge or notify me or another Veterans Council Member so that we can make sure that they get added to our donation pile for the Stand Down.

November 8th is this year’s R.E.D Friday Event for all Veterans. We are in need of monetary donations for this event. If you would like to donate to the Elks Veterans Council for this event, please speak to me.

Casey Stephens, US Army, Ret. Veterans’ Committee Chairman