2ND Nomination Speech PGER Carr, PGER Hidley, Past President DeFrank, Members of the Advisory Board, and my fellow Members: To those of us here today, this is a solemn and most momentous occasion, and yet in the history of our Association it is a commonplace occurrence. The orderly transfer of authority as called for in our Association Constitution routinely takes place, as it has, for over a century, and few of us stop to think how unique we really are. Past State President Tania, I want our fellow Members to know how much you did to help carry on this tradition. By your gracious leadership, you have moved the New York State Elks Association forward in important and lasting ways. Like your predecessors, you have created a powerful legacy as a testament to how important the work of our Association and our Order are! My motto for this year is -Together Elks Achieve More! To my thinking, it encompasses 3 important fundamentals: 1. To Strengthen Veteran Support and Engagement 2. To Enhance Community Impact within our State Major Project CP 3. To Boost Membership and Lodge Vitality If we can succeed at accomplishing these three simple objectives, it will go a long way towards fostering unity within and among our Lodges, fostering a sense of service to others, and finally, fostering a year of growth. On the night when Elks becomes Members, we are advised that Elks are "distinctively American', presented with an American Flag and summoned to a noble cause by the statement, 'may it ever stimulate you to the performance of your full duty in the preservation and defense of all it represents./ The Flag of our Nation is the flag of the Order of Elks. From the moment a person becomes an Elk to the moment they pass into the greater light, this flag stays front and center in their lives! The Flag is equally a symbol of our rights in this Nation and more importantly, our duties to preserve those rights. It means that we honor our country's veterans and first responders - men and women, who at one point in their lives have given the United States of America a blank check - by each pledging their life in defense of the freedoms we all enjoy. It means that we look after our country's youth, on their journey to becoming full, productive citizens of our great Nation. It means that we help others deal with life's challenges or infirmities, like supporting the great work of our State Major Projects and ENF; through which we provide resources that make a difference in the lives of individuals and communities. It means that we pay it forward. It means that, as Elks, we share a common commitment to making our great Nation better than it is today. How can we not reflect the charity that is so much a part of our makeup? How can we love our country and not love our countrymen; and in loving them, reach out a hand when they fall, feed them when they're hungry, help them find secure, safe places in which to live, and help to make them self-sufficient so they will be equal in fact and not just in theory? We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we're in a time when there are not heroes, just don't know where to look. You can see heroes every day going in and out of factory gates. Others, a handful in number, produce enough food to feed all of us and then the world beyond. You meet heroes across counters, and they're on both sides of those counters. They are entrepreneurs with faith in themselves and faith in an idea, who create new jobs, new wealth and opportunity. They're individuals and families whose voluntary gifts support church, charity, culture, art, and education. Most especially, they're in our Lodges. Their patriotism is quiet, yet deep. I want to tell you something very special about your Lodges, the NYS Elks Association, and indeed, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and America itself. They were all built by American citizens who took charge of their own lives and had the courage to forge ahead with purpose and determination. They were tenacious and had enough confidence to take the necessary risks. That self-reliance is what characterizes Americans as Americans. It is our duty, our honor and especially our privilege every day in all Elks Lodges, to remember what it means; and to assert our American Patriotism. The business of our Lodges, our Association and our Order goes forward. The challenges we face today are no less intense, serious or important than they have always been: Declining Membership, Cost Increases to operate Lodges, Increasing Liabilities, greater need for benevolence in our communities, challenges recruiting officers and leadership in Lodges...just to name a few. Can we solve the problems confronting us? The answer is an unequivocal and emphatic 'YES!' To paraphrase Winston Churchill, I did not take the oath I've just taken with the intention of presiding over the dissolution of this Association. Our lives as Elks may well be filled with service to others, but when each of us was charged to: "Strive diligently that the name of Elk as borne by you may be worthy of an American citizen -- one who loves their fellow man," an extra ingredient was added. The name of Elk, as defined by our cardinal principles - Charity, Justice, Brotherly Love and Fidelity- symbolizes a moral code unique to Elks. They are not mere words; rather they guide the conduct and patriotism of Elks; indeed, the journey of an Elk. They are the great star of hope for those that love family and home and friend. Charity, Justice, Brotherly Love, Fidelity: these four respected words dictate what we ought to be, what we can be, what we will be. They call us to action: to build resolve when resolve seems to fail; to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith; to create hope when hope becomes desperate. Our principles, which those words enable, embrace the highest moral laws and will stand the test of any ethics or philosophies ever proclaimed for the advancement of humanity. Above all, we must realize that there is nothing so formidable as the will and moral courage of Elks. And after all, why shouldn't we believe that? We are Elks. God bless you and thank you for the honor of serving as President of this great Association.
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