We just finished a busy month at your Elks Lodge with some exciting events having taken place. We experienced busy times during the New Year’s celebration, with the officers and trustees thoroughly enjoying serving many of you for free Tom and Jerrys and Bloody Marys. Lots of chili was on-hand and thousands of dollars was raised and paid-out to the military-oriented recipients at the Brother’s Keeper’s Motorcycle Club chili cookoff. I received many good comments from people who attended about the nice bunch of individuals from this club who made this event fun and friendly. We can’t wait to have them back for next year’s event! Hopefully you had a chance to partake in the Bismarck-Mandan Elks Men’s Chorus breakfast and bake sale which was recently held. This talented group of men and their leaders are well-known and respected throughout our community and beyond and it is good that we can support them in this manner. Looking forward to February, the Elks is the place to be at Super Bowl time! Be sure to stop in at the Theodore Roosevelt Bar upstairs for the big game on February 1st and enjoy free food at half time and drink specials. If your team didn’t make it you can always show up for the commercials.
It’s BINGO time! Starting in February, it’s Bingo time at the Elks each Tuesday night. The excitement starts at 6:00 pm and you must be a member to play. (Just another great reason to be an Elks member!) This event is being held in the lower lounge and since we are always looking for ways to bring more of our members to the Lodge on a regular basis we hope that many of you will stop in. On Thursday, February 5th at 8:00 pm we will be holding our first Lodge meeting of the month. This is a very important meeting when the officers for 2015-2016 are elected. One of the highlights of this meeting is that it is run by Past Exalted Rulers (PER’s). All members are allowed to attend Lodge meetings so feel free to attend. We are just a few weeks away from giving away the beautiful new Camaro and other prizes listed on the tickets. Ticket sales have been good so far, but as we enter the home-stretch we need sales to ramp up in a big way. So please, dig out those tickets that were sent to you in the mail and either buy them yourself or sell them to friends and family. More tickets are always available from the doorman or at the Elks office.
Your Bismarck-Mandan Elks Lodge #1199 remains the largest Lodge in the nation with about 4500 members. We certainly want to keep this wonderful claim to fame and we ask that you consider who among your friends and relatives who are not members would make good Elks members. Invite them to accompany you for dinner and/or show them the great Theodore Roosevelt Bar. Let them know about the good that our state project, Camp Grassick does for the many children who participate in camps each season.
Membership income is the lifeblood of our organization and without it we couldn’t survive. As membership renewal time rolls around in the coming weeks, please renew in a timely manner. Please support your Lodge and stop in soon! Thank you for being a member!
Terry Lincoln, Exalted Ruler
Bismarck-Mandan Lodge #1199