By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com
WABASH, Ind. – It’s the season of giving, and the Wabash Elks Lodge No.471 has been doing just that.
In November and December, the Lodge has donated to, or pledged to donate, more than $20,000 to local causes and organizations.
The giving isn’t just limited to the last two months of the year. From April to October, the first seven months of the organization’s fiscal year, the local Lodge donated more than $53,000 to causes and organizations, bringing the nine-month total to nearly $74,000.
“Sometimes the Elks sells itself short with all we do to help the community,” Exalted Ruler Keith Walters said. “It’s just awesome to be able to give away more than $20,000 in two months to charity organizations to help underprivileged and needy people of the community, as well as various community projects.”
The most recent charitable act took place Saturday, Dec. 16, when members delivered Christmas food baskets to needy families around Wabash County.
Each year, the Lodge delivers food baskets to families in need at Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year, it helped about 80 families at Thanksgiving, and another 90 at Christmas.
Food that was distributed was purchased with a Beacon Grant from the Elks National Foundation. The $2,000 grant was matched dollar for dollar by the Lodge.
The ENF also provided another $5,000 in Gratitude Grants to the Lodge. That money was distributed to four local charities, with a fifth scheduled to receive funds in January.
The mission of the ENF is to help Elks build stronger communities, according to the organization’s website. It fulfills the pledge by investing in communities where Elks live and work. It helps youth develop lifelong skills, sends students to college, meet the needs of today’s veterans, support the charitable work of the state Elks associations, and fund projects that improve the quality of life in local Elks communities.
“The Elks National Foundation is very important to the Wabash Lodge No.471 because it allows us to give back to the community, our community,” said Russ Abell, the ENF chair for the Wabash Lodge. “The Elks can and will do whatever it can, as long as it can.”
In addition to the ENF, the Lodge raises funds through bingo, which it hosts three times a week, as well as a variety of fundraising events.
In September, the Lodge hosted an event that raised $1,000 for the Inclusive Playground project. In November, it pledged another $10,000 to the park to be used to create a grassy area for families to use for picnics and other activities.
“Wabash’s Inclusive Playground is a project that relies entirely on private donations and community support,” playground committee chair Shelly Myers said. “We have been fortunate that in our fundraising efforts the individuals, businesses and organizations in this community have seen the value in adding an inclusive space to our community and have been incredibly generous towards the project.
“When organizations like the Elks make commitments to our project it validates what we are doing and sends a message to the greater Wabash community that this project is one worth supporting. The community’s support is vital to this project and the Elks have helped to send a powerful message that they believe in us and are committed to helping us reach our funding goal.
“Thanks to their support and the support of so many others, the Inclusive Playground is raising its final 20 percent of funds and this project will become a reality by the end of summer 2018.”
Among the other projects and organizations donated to by the Lodge are the Eagles Theatre renovation, local high school post proms, Chili for Charity, the Wabash Little League, Shop With a Cop, Operation Christmas Spirit, 85 Hope, Blessings in a Backpack, ARC, the F.I.S.H. pantry and Wabash County Special Olympics, Lodge secretary Mike Chester noted.
The Lodge also helps raise funds for the Indiana Elks Association’s state project, cancer research facilities at Indiana University and Purdue University. The Indiana Elks Association has donated more than $9 million to the two facilities throughout the years.
This year, the Lodge also has helped raise funds to help two members who are experiencing large medical bills in their fights against cancer.
“We also help out our members who are in need,” Walters noted. “We’re there to help them out when we can and where we can.”
