Fairfield, IA 1192

Fairfield, IA Lodge News

Exalted Ruler Message March '23

Hello my fellow Elks brothers and sisters,

What a year we had!  It is hard to believe that March is here already and my year as your ER is nearing the end.  It has been an absolute pleasure serving as your ER with such a wonderful group of individuals.  This lodge remains strong and will continue to serve this community for many more years to come thanks to everyone’s hard work, and continued commitment.

The elevator project will be completed very soon. They anticipated to start the project around the first part of March and to have this work completed within one week. 

We are all excited for Mr. Rich Metcalf’s annual shrimp feed on March 11th.  He went bigger and better this year by providing a live band after the meal, The Brass Pear.  I will also hand out Elk of the year, officer of the year, and citizen of the year awards during this event.  Hope to see you all there.  Thank you, Rich, for everything that you do.  Shrimp feed, prime rib night, delicious food for all the big events, lodge meals, stepping up to cook on Friday nights, deer hides, and much more.  You are much of the reason this lodge is as strong as we are.

I want to shout out to show my appreciation to all my officers (appointed and elected), our secretary and treasurer, our bookkeeper, and the trustees.  Thank you, Kevin Curran, for all the time you volunteer to do our bookkeeping, hosting game nights, soliciting donations, keeping our bills paid, keeping our licenses current, calling people to get them involved, washing dishes, and keeping this lodge going.  Thank you, Dr. Neil Crossland, for always helping when needed, picking up items we purchased hours away to make our kitchen better, answering the 10 thousand questions us new ER’s always have, and being an important staple to our lodge. Thank you, Doug Bagby, for all you do with ENF, being our lodge historian, and helping all of us short timers be informed by helping guide us.  You have no idea how helpful this is to us.  Thank you, Ryan Holthus, for helping anytime it is needed, your participation in making great business decisions for the lodge, helping with staffing issues, meeting the truck for deliveries, and being a great officer to this lodge.  You will make a great ER in the very near future. Thank you, Louis Thompson, for putting on a good flag ceremony and helping with events throughout the year. Thank you, Rich and Julie Kyle, for all your help decorating for holidays, helping during pizza night, meeting the delivery truck, recycling the mountains of cardboard, and always being there whenever needed. Thank you, Justin and Kat Bonnett, for helping during pizza night, wing night, stepping up to cook when needed, help many of the events throughout the year, and always being there when needed.  Also thank you to all Bonnett’s wing crew.  This team always works hard to put out a delicious meal each month. Thank you, Kim Winslow, for helping during any event needed, setting up several big events, stepping up to cook, and always being a voice of reason.  Thank you, Matt Bland, for always helping during events, washing dishes, a lot of dishes, keeping our electronics going, being the liaison between staff, and always being positive while making this lodge a better place.  I also want to thank Jim and Donna Cronce.  Even though they moved to a warmer climate, they have remained a part of our lodge in many ways.  Donna has been so helpful and kind in producing our beautiful advertisements for our events.  She is very talented.  Thank you to my wife Dayna Ford, our Chaplin, for helping for pretty much everything.  You have worked hard for this lodge and put up with me through this crazy busy year. A special shout out to your incoming ER Mr. Steve Winslow, PER for stepping up when we really needed him.  He has gone above and beyond and will do an excellent job as your next ER.  Another special shout out to our secretary Tammy Jones.  She did such an amazing job in her first year as secretary and really stepped up to keep the bills paid and the bookkeeping done in our time of need.  She spent an incredible amount of time to make sure the lodge ran smoothly.   And, I didn’t forget you Mr. Dan Nystom.  Thank you for all you do. You were one of the best esquires this lodge has ever had. There are so many more people to thank but Tammy makes me keep this newsletter as short as possible. Thank you everyone!

Fraternally yours,

Ryan Ford, Exalted Ruler

The next Stagettes meeting will be March 9th.  Please join us for a wine and paint event and baked potato bar.  You can drink the beverage of your choice. Hope to see you all there!  Dayna Ford