About Us
Elks organizations everywhere invest in their communities through programs that help children grow up educated, healthy and drug-free; meet the needs of today’s veterans; and improves the quality of life in the community. Overall, Elks lodges across the nation donate money and spend many volunteer hours to help their communities thrive. Through the years, members of our Carlinville Elks lodge have come together to raise and disperse funds for educational, patriotic, and community-minded programs that benefit all members of our community including youth, special needs children, disadvantaged residents, and veterans. In addition, our lodge itself has become the central community center for gatherings and supporting various community efforts such as:
- Providing the venue, food, and the volunteer
staffing resources for dinners that help school aged kids, and their parents raise
needed funds for extracurricular student programs like sports, plays, band, Future
Farmers of America (FFA), and Boy Scout Troops to name a few.
- Hosting and coordinating our own annual
community programs like the Christmas Basket Program that provides all the
fixings for a Christmas dinner to local families in need; Breakfast with Santa
where we are able to give families a meal, kids get to meet Santa, and walk
away with at least one large gift; Easter Bunny Quarter Auction that raises
funds to support visits and gift delivery to local nursing homes, child day
care centers and developmentally disabled centers; Veteran’s Dinner where we
are able to honor our veterans each November with a free meal; Flag Day and
Memorial Services that allow us to celebrate our country’s history and the
lives of those we have lost with our community and family members; Nite at the
Races where we get to promote our mission and local businesses in a fun
community activity.
- Partnering with the local Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) organization to coordinate and host events that support U.S. members of the armed forces. Events such as the annual I-RAQ-I-Roll pub crawl (mini-golf, dinner, and auction event), the Darts for Vets meal and dart tournaments.
- Continuing the efforts of the Military Support
Group by hosting and coordinating the collection, assembly, and delivery of
supplies and necessities for residents in Illinois veteran homes and our
active-duty military serving overseas.
- Supporting civic efforts of other community organization by providing volunteers and a venue large enough to help the local American Red Cross blood drive and Good Samaritan Board’s dinner to raise funds used to stock the local food pantry.
- Offering an affordable option for social, business, government, and political events and gatherings such as weddings, family reunions, dinners, and fundraisers.
- Raising and donating over 3 million dollars to various charities and other organizations in need over the last 100 years.
These are only some of the ways our Lodge and it members offer support and fulfills the Elks' mission of giving back to our community, and something we hope to continue to do for many more years.
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