year, with 88 members recruited or reinstated.
Relations Committee Chairman Donald Jones, whose report stated that lodges across the country had sent more than 100,000 press releases to local and national media organiza- tions. His report advised those members interested in serving in public relations that the process is like farming: “The more seeds you plant, and the more time you spend water- ing, caring for, and feeding them, the more your crops will grow in the form of coverage over time.” The Membership Committee report
was delivered by Chairman G. Stephen Clarke. He announced the unhappy news that the Order had continued to decline in membership, by 23,868 members, or 2.7 percent, in 2010–2011. There was some good news about membership in his report, however, as there were some state associations achieving membership growth: Rhode Island, Kentucky, Alaska, and New Jersey, as well as the state of Hawaii. Clarke’s report also mentioned that Charlie Herdman, of the Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, Lodge, was the nation’s top recruiter for the
Americanism Committee Chairman Sim Nathan reported that about 50,000 fifth- through eighth-grade students nationwide took part in the Americanism Essay Contest, each of them explaining “Why I am proud to be an American.” His report also announced that the theme for the 2011–2012 contest is “Why I am proud to pledge allegiance to our flag.” Otto Sayles, chairman of the Youth Activities Committee, in his report noted that in the 2010–2011 lodge year, 1,493,745 young people took part in programs that are under the direction of the Youth Activities Committee. Of special note is the Soccer Shoot Program, which had more than 581,466 participants in contests sponsored by 492 lodges across the country. Moving beyond the state level, the event now includes three regional Soccer Shoot Contests, with a total of 21 states participating. Discussion of the report on the
Future of Elkdom took up the final two hours of the day. The report was compiled by a committee of seven past grand exalted rulers and was based on more than 6,000 written responses to
an appeal for ideas from all Elks on how the Order could change to better meet the challenges of the future. The report included five changes at the lodge level that can be implemented by local lodges, one change at the state association level, nineteen changes at the Grand Lodge level that do not require legislation to implement and have been made or will be made as soon as possible, and eighteen pro- posed amendments to the laws and constitution of the Order. These eighteen amendments represented half of the thirty-six proposals that were voted on by the membership during Wednesday morning’s legisla- tive session.
The session discussing the report’s recommendations was moderated by PGER Robert Grafton, who with the help of other members of the commit- tee and members of the Judiciary Committee took a step-by-step look at the eighteen proposals for changes to the constitution and laws of the Order that had been proposed by the Com- mittee on the Future of Elkdom. Several of the thirty-six proposals considered during the legislative session will require constitutional amendments, which must be approved by more than half of the lodges of the Order before they can take effect. The results of the voting by the lodges must be reported by the first Monday of October and a full report on the outcome of the voting will be pub- lished in the November issue of The Elks Magazine.
Following the legislative session,
u Seven lodges took top honors as All-American Lodges (two tied). Shown here are the exalted rulers of these lodges accepting their awards from Lodge Activities/State Associations Committee Chairman Donald Sansoussi (back left) and Committeeman for the All-American Contest Richard McDonald (back right). The winning ERs are (front, from left) Joyce Gentry of Columbia, Missouri; Wayne Graham of Winchester, Virginia; Lois Pagano of Summit, New Jersey; PER Joyce Fowler of Kelso/Longview, Washington; and (back, from left) Thomas Wilson of Catalina Mountain, Arizona; Tim Fairbank of Lake Havasu City, Arizona; and Leon Dupas of Cedar Grove, New Jersey.
52
PGER Dwayne Rumney, the chairman of the Elks National Veterans Service Commission, thanked the Elks and other volunteers who contributed $43,378,921 worth of money, goods, time, and mileage to ease the burden of veterans who have served their country. Elks across the country adopted 29,441 veterans through the Adopt-a-Veteran Program, distributed 41,030 decks of playing cards, and contributed 20,066 hides to the Elks Veterans Leather Program. PGER Rumney noted that the commission is one of the approved charities participating in the US Office of Personnel Management’s Combined Federal Campaign, through which employees of the federal government and military personnel
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