Club Hours and Meetings:
We will continue to be open every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday night during the hours of 4:00 – 9:00 pm throughout the month of February. Because of the recent by-law change, which was approved by the national office, all future trustee and lodge meetings will be on the third Thursday of each month. The Board of Trustees will meet at 5:30 p.m. on the 16th of February while the Lodge Officers will meet at 6:30 pm on the same day.

Meals on Membership Nights:
The meals, catered by Hy-Vee on a first come first serve basis every Thursday night from 6:00 – 8:00 pm, have been doing well. Once again, I want to thank all those people who repeatedly come down on Thursday to play cards or to visit. Where in town can you get a full meal for $6.50 per person and free coffee?

Here are the meals for the month of February:

If you would like some special meals, other than what we have been having, let us know and we’ll try them.

Another Lodge Party Coming up in March
Because of the success of Tom and Jerry night, the Trustees and Officers decided to have another party on March 17th in order to celebrate St Patrick’s Day. We will have free snacks like on Tom and Jerry night and all tap beer will be free until the newly purchased 16-gallon keg is empty. The price for bottled beer, wine and hard drinks will be the same as during happy hour. Put this on your calendar and plan on coming down to have some fun.

Home Page and e-mail Addresses:
The Lodge home page is www.brookingselks1490.org. This page always contains the most recent newsletter as well as other pertinent information concerning the Lodge and the Club. Our e-mail address is Elks1490@mchsi.com and this can be used to contact the Lodge Secretary or the Exalted Ruler. Furthermore, you will help the Lodge save some money if you send a message saying that you want the newsletter by e-mail or you send in an address change.

Parties in the club area:
Call if you are interested in having a party at the Club. We can have parties on days and nights other than when we are scheduled to be open. For example, Martin Bosch had a great time at his birthday party on Saturday, January 21st and Chuck Kuechenmeister will have a retirement party on February 24th starting at 4:00 with an 8-gallon keg of free beer to those attending the party. The Bobcat Backers still meet two Mondays a month and we have already had calls about graduation parties.

Renewal of Membership
Early in February, membership dues will be mailed for the year 2006-2007. Payment must be made by April 1st or you will be considered delinquent. Since the year 2000, we have lost 438 regular members and 100 lifetime members, with the biggest loss occurring in the last two years. These figures include the 34 that have not renewed their membership for the current year, where 17 of these 34 have been members for 25 or more years. The cost this year due to membership loss since 2000 is $36,350. Just imagine how fast we could have a new Lodge; completely paid for with a small kitchen, dinning area and bar lounge, if we had not lost these people. By the way, 285 of those that dropped were members for 1 – 14 years and 253 were members for 15 – 75 years. One can understand why those in the first group might quit but why would those in the second group quit? When asked why they quit, the most common response is “I don’t want to talk about it” or they say nothing at all. You might also imagine the charitable work we could do with money due to an increase in membership. Don’t forget that Elks care-Elks share; after all, the first word in our title is benevolent, which is synonymous with charitable. Please renew your dues and help the Lodge continue to do its charitable work. If you don’t plan on renewing your dues then at least call and ask for a demit.

Scholarship and Essay Contest
The Elks National Foundation Most Valuable Student Scholarships have been received and the five members of the Scholarship Committee are currently evaluating them. The applications of the top three girls and boys will be sent to the state committee for further evaluation. The Technical Scholarship applications have also been received and the names of the top two girls and boys will be forward to the state committee as soon as they are evaluated.

The essay title this year is “WHAT I FEEL WHEN I LOOK UP AT THE AMERICAN FLAG”. Essays have been received from over 60 children in grades 5 to 8. The essays of the top 3 winners in grades 5 – 6 and the top three winners in grades 7-8 will be sent to the state level for further evaluation and then to the national level. The top three winners in each group at the national level will respectively win $500, $300, and $200 in U.S. Savings Bonds.

Jerry Bergum, ER