David R. Carr, shown addressing convention attendees after his installation as the Elks 2011–2012 Grand Exalted Ruler, asked the assembled Elks to “Give from the Heart.”
HE BENEVOLENT AND Protective Order of Elks
kicked off the 2011–2012 Grand Lodge year in Phoenix, Arizona, where 4,914 Elks and 2,008 guests gathered. Of this group, there were 3,648 official delegates who had the serious work of beginning to restructure the Order for the future. This meant that the delegates had to consider an unprec- edented thirty-six proposals for changes in the laws and constitution of the Order that could affect many fundamental aspects of the Order’s organizational structure and func- tions, including how both national programs and activities at the local lodge level are conducted. To lead them through a time of transition, the Elks chose David R. Carr, of the Ticonderoga, New York, Lodge, as their new Grand Exalted Ruler/National President. Carr joined the Whitehall, New York, Lodge in February 1975 and transferred to Ticonderoga in 1978, where he became exalted ruler in 1989. After thirty- seven years in the industrial electron- ics and safety industry, Carr retired in
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1999 to devote himself full-time to the job of secretary of the New York State Elks Association. He held that position until 2009, when he assumed the office of president of the association for 2009–2010. Carr has served the Grand Lodge as a district deputy and served on the Board of Grand Trustees from 2006 to 2010. One of Carr’s proudest accomplish-
ments as an Elk came when he introduced the Dictionary Project to his state association in 2003 and to the Grand Lodge in 2004. Elks’ participation in that program has
since grown to the point where, during the 2010–2011 lodge year, Elks from more than 540 lodges distributed nearly 1,600,000 dictionaries to students in almost 5,000 schools. In his acceptance speech, Carr expressed his sincere belief that “Elks Give from the Heart,” as “Elkdom, like patriotism, is in the heart and soul of its members.” It is this heartfelt giving, Carr said, that has made the Elks one of the greatest organizations in the country. But he cautioned the members that “While we have every right to be proud of our past, we
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