The Bedford Elks Lodge No. 2844 was granted its charter November 20, 2005. In September 2024 the Grand Lodge approved the merger with Lynchburg Lodge No. 321. The merged lodge is now Bedford-Lynchburg Lodge No. 321. Stacey Hailey is the current Exalted Ruler. John Owen is a member of the Board of Grand Trustees, Virginia Elks Association Past State President and current Trustee. Pat Shelor is also a VEA Past State President and a member of the Past State Presidents Advisory Council. Fred Harper served the order as Grand Exalted Ruler in 1917 - 1918.
The Lodge is inspired by our handbags of hope project and sees it as an opportunity to help families in times of need. The lodge has donated handbags and supplies to the local Domestic Violence Shelter which helps many families in unpleasant and volatile situations that cause a need for family members to vacate their home in a hurry often only with the clothes on their back.
Other lodge projects include Blankets for Veterans, annual canned goods donation to a local food bank, First Responders lunch, sponsor of a Red Cross Blood Drive, book donations to the students at Bedford Primary School, recognizing JROTC and Eagle Scout achievements, maintain a "Little Library" box for free children's books,
The Virginia Elks Association major projects is the Virginia Elks Youth Camp. Eight- to thirteen-year-old boys and girls are able to attend the camp at no cost to them. We are proud to be able to extend this valuable experience to youth of Bedford.
Another VEA major project is shop safety glasses. The Bedford Lodge annually supplies area shop students with high performance shop safety glasses at no cost to the student.
Other youth initiatives include student scholarships, annual hoop shoot competition, and distributing drug awareness literature to youth and their parents.
We are also involved with the Veterans at the Salem VA Hospital and the Virginia Care Center and partner with Southwest District lodges to help with activities including ice cream socials and cookouts. With the help of member donations and Elks National Foundation grants, donations are made annually to local community organizations to help fund their cost of operation.
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