Club Hours and Meetings:
We will continue to be open every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday night from 4:00 – 9:00 pm throughout the month of July. The Board of Trustees will meet at 5:30 p.m. on the 28th of July while the Lodge Officers will meet at 6:30 pm on the same day. We only have 3 trustees so we still need 2 people willing to give one hour a month to serve as a trustee. Please step forward and volunteer. HELP FILL THE EMPTY CHAIRS IN ORDER TO HELP OUT THE CLUB!!!!!!!

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 as we have served at least 35 to 40 meals every week for the last two months. The price remains at $6.50 per person.

The meals for the month of July are:

Bring a friend, especially one interested in being an Elk. Remember that you can have free coffee with the meal. Where else can you get free coffee with a meal?

Renewal of Dues
As of June 28, 2005, 346 people renewed their dues, which means that 68 are still delinquent. These 68 individuals still receive the newsletter so I hope they will read this message sit down, write a check and mail in their current dues payment. Instead of searching for reasons to drop your membership, look for reasons why you should stay on as a member. For example, we make Brookings a better place to live and all it costs you is $1.44 per week. You can also help the Lodge by encouraging a delinquent or dropped member to renew his or her dues. Ask Jennifer or Wendy to see the list at the club, pick out a name, give them a call and get them back. People keep asking me when we are going to have our own club. This is a hard question to answer. Since April 1, 2000, we have lost 466 members. If we lose 68 more this year we will have lost a total of 534 members in 6 years. From the dues point of view, this is a loss of about $40,000/year or $240,000 over the last 5 years. If these people had not dropped, we would have enough money right now for a new club.

Home Page and e-mail Addresses:
Just a reminder that the Lodge home page is www.brookingselks1490.org. You need to check this out, as it will always contain the most recent newsletter as well as other pertinent information concerning the Lodge and the Club. Any member that has access to the Internet will be
able to read all the posted information. Save this address in your FAVORITES FOLDER on the Internet and send me any comments or corrections. Our e-mail address is Elks1490@mchsi.com and this can be used to contact the Lodge Secretary or the Exalted Ruler. You will help the Lodge save some money if you send a message saying that you want the newsletter by e-mail.

GOLF TOURNAMENT
We wish to thank Todd Willson, Ron and Marlene Kjelden and Eileen Burner for their participation in the United Retirement Center 5th Annual Benefit Gold Tournament on June 11th at Edgebrook Golf Course. The Lodge sponsored this 4-person team and even though they did not take first place it is my understanding that they had a great time. Thanks for
representing the Elks Lodge 1490 in this tournament.

Elks National Foundation
The Elks National Foundation is funded primarily by voluntary contributions from Elks across the nation and only the interest and earnings on the Foundation’s principal fund are spent. It is my understanding that the Grand Exalted Ruler’s goal this year is $5.11 per
member as of March 31, 2005, which means that they would like our Lodge to give the foundation about $2,100. We encourage all of our members to become a participating member of this noble foundation. A participating membership is $100.00 payable to the Foundation either in one lump sum or in installments of $10.00 per year for ten years.
Last year our Lodge exceeded the goal so let us see if we can do it again this year. Remember that we receive much more from the National Elks Foundation than we give. For example, last year alone, students from this area received about $8,000 in scholarships while we gave about $2,400.

PARTIES IN THE CLUB AREA
During the past month, several members have found out that they can use the area in the Senior Citizen Center occupied by the Elks for all kinds of special events. So far the Club has been used for a graduation party, a retirement party, a birthday party, and a going away party. If you are interested in having a party at the club just give us a call and we will do everything we can to make sure the party is successful. Things are going very well with the Senior Citizen Group.

Jerry Bergum, ER