The Bugle Staunton Elks Lodge #351 July 2020

From the Exalted Ruler

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

Well, the day we could finally open the doors to the

lodge came last month—just in time. Many of us

thought we’d go completely stir crazy if another day

went by without not being about to get a cold one

and tell the same stories over and over.

Last week, the temporary social quarters were in-

spected by ABC and I am happy to report that we

passed with flying colors.

The renovation of the Social Quarters continues to

move along well. By now, I think many of you have

had a sneak peek. It is really going to be a great place

to socialize with your fellow members. We are excited

to have a larger bar and seating area. With this larger

footprint, one of the new challenges is that the bar is

further away from the Kitchen. Our new F&B Manag-

er and staff will be working out how to serve our

members efficiently and will be learning new systems

to ensure we meet all of our members’ needs. When

we do open, please be patient as we get things roll-

ing. I have full confidence that our staff will have

things up and running smoothly, as quickly as possi-

ble.

The Governor has moved to Phase III as of July 1. This will

allow us to welcome your guests to the lodge. Having said

that, we still need to be vigilant in protecting our members

by practicing social distancing while in the lodge. Please en-

sure that your guest will refrain from coming to the Lodge if

they have been exposed to anyone who has tested positive

for Covid 19, or tested positive themselves.

With Phase III, and with construction winding down, the

House Committee is discussing the possibility of increasing

our temporary hours. Please watch for an announcement on

our Facebook page and our website. If you are not on our

email list to receive announcements from the lodge, please

send an email to hcelks@gmail.com and we will make sure

you are added to the distribution list.

There have been some concerns brought to the attention of

the Trustees that since we have used the Gratitude Grant

for the Blue Ridge Food Bank, Valley Mission and Staunton/

Augusta Rescue Squad we will not be doing Christmas Bas-

kets. I can assure you that the Trustees are committed to

the Christmas Basket project. The annual project is a high-

light in the our year, and many members of our community

depend on it. For clarification, we did apply for the Christ-

mas Baskets funding through the Gratitude Grant.

Continue on the next page...

We were turned down and encouraged to do something

that would help our community right now, during this glob-

al pandemic.

The Elks National Foundation has now opened up the Spot-

light Grant and is asking lodges across the country to con-

tinue to use these funds for the most immediate needs.

There will be a discussion of possible community organiza-

tions that could use our help at the regular July 6th lodge

meeting. By putting these funds towards the most immedi-

ate needs, we will need to think about other fundraising

efforts for the Christmas Baskets and the annual winter coat

donation for children. It may come down to a simple pass-

ing the hat for a few months, but I know we can do it.

In the last regular meeting, it was brought to the floor that

some members were unhappy with the decision to elimi-

nate the Tuesday covered dish. As I said in my update email

several weeks ago, the House Committee is committed to

increasing revenue, but the committee also understands

how much some of our members enjoy Tuesdays at the

lodge. At the meeting on June 15th, it was decided that we

would put a discussion about Tuesdays on the agenda for

the August 3rd meeting. As per our bylaws this letter serves

as a 30-day notice of the upcoming discussion.

I would again like to thank members Mike Meyers, Gary

McQuain, and Joe Mader for scraping and painting the sup-

port railing in the front of the lodge. Great job guys.

Please check the calendar in this edition of the Bugle for

upcoming lodge and committee meetings.

Happy 4th of July. We are blessed to live in the United

States of America, so get out there and celebrate!

Fraternally yours,

Justin

From the Exalted Ruler continued... Staunton Elks #351

recognizes Legacy

Scholarship Applicants Staunton Elks Lodge #351 had two Legacy

scholarship applicants: Cassidy Davis and Will

Dod. Cassidy is the Granddaughter of Linda

and Eugene Davis. Will is the son of Lissa and

Rader Dod. Both Cassidy and Will were recog-

nized locally for both their Legacy and MVS

scholarships applications due to their strong

and impressive performances in all judging cri-

teria. Cassidy will attend the University of Vir-

ginia and Will will be attending West Virginia

University in the Fall.

Check out www.stauntonelks351.com

for updates on the Social Quarters

renovation, past issues of The Bugle,

and much more!

If you would like to be on our email

list please send your contact

information to hcelks@gmail.com

Lodge Officers

Exalted Ruler Justin Reiter

Leading Knight Eva Garber

Loyal Knight Diana Craig

Lecturing Knight Matt Sutton

Secretary Mike Miller

Treasurer Lisa Byrd

Inner Guard Paul Hiveley

Esquire Edgar Jones

Tiler Joe Mader

Chaplain Roger Monger

Trustees

Trustee Chair: Gary McQuain

David Miller Mike Myers

Nancy Dickerson Jeff Byrd

House Committee

Robbie Miller, Chairman

Nancy Dickerson

Diane Craig Cliff Edwards

Rader Dod Joe Mader

Newsletter Information

Please email all newsletter submis-

sions to Katy Avoli-Miller by the 20th

of each month

kamiller@staunton.k12.va.us

July Birthdays

The Joy of Giving

The lodge recently made donations to the following totaling $6922.00

EMS Provider Car Bags

$922.00

Local High School Senior Scholarships

$6000.00

July 2 Michelle Ramsey

July 4 Jarrett Hatcher

Russell Rutan Jr

Thomas Sheets

Butch Smiley

July 5 Willies Helmick

July 8 Bernard Hogg III

Eric vonSeldeneck

July 10 John Mohler Jr

July 14 Jonathan Mason

July 15 Miller Moreau

July 18 Robert Galati

July 19 Marcus Bang

Harrison May

July 22 Michael Smiley

July 25 Nancy Dickerson

Mark Miller

Carolyn Mitchell

July 26 David Brown

Thomas Upton

July 29 Barry Mines

Chris Peterson

July 30 Giovanni Cannata

Michael Sprouse

Gary Traxler

July 31 William Russell IV

Membership—Awaiting Initiation & Ballot

Michael Lafferty, proposed by Chuck Archer

Being Processed

Stephen McCormick, proposed by Matt Sutton

George Laase, proposed by Robbie Miller

Please sign your card

If you have any questions concerning your sta-

tus, please contact Secretary Mike Miller (540)

280-3942 or at mmiller24401@yahoo.com

REMINDER: New member application fee $45.00

Application for reinstatement $35.00

These two fees are currently being reimbursed

to the Lodge by Powerhouse Gaming. No money

needed with application!

DUES ARE PAST DUE. PLEASE REMIT YOUR

DUES NOW!

The Staunton Elks Lodge 2019-2020 Most

Valuable Student Scholarship Program

The 2019-2020 Most Valuable Student (MVS) Schol-

arship program has been completed. Staunton Elks

Lodge #351 had eleven students recognized as part

of the MVS competition. As required by the rules of

the MVS scholarship program, all applicants submit-

ted their applications on-line. Once the applications

were received they were judged both nationally and

locally based on an evaluation of the student’s aca-

demic performance, an essay, leadership, financial

need and community involvement. Upon completion

of the judging the students were ranked. As is re-

quired, the three top male and the three top female

application were sent on to district/state competition

based on their ranked scores. Staunton Lodge #351

had two winners of the six applications that were sub-

mitted in the State’s Most Valuable Student Scholar-

ship competition.

The Staunton Elks Lodge Board of Trustees voted on

a request by the Scholarship Committee to award

scholarships to the applicants based on their ranked

scores from the combined judging. Unfortunately this

year due to the Corona Virus (COVID19) we were un-

able to ward the student scholarships to the students

at their annual school awards program due to early

school closings. Checks were mailed to each student.

The total local dollar support for the 2019-2020 Staun-

ton Lodge #351 MVS local scholarship program is

$6000.00.

A special thanks is given to the local judges: Roger

Monger, Steve Claffey, and Gary McQuain. They re-

viewed and judged each student’s application and

added the quality points to the national score which

could have ultimately determined which students

moved on to state/district competition and the amount

of the local award. They did an outstanding job in a

very quick turnaround time frame in the month of De-

cember.

The following students are 2019-20 MVS Scholar-

ship winners for Staunton Lodge #351:

Carson Sellers—Riverheads

Peyton Skillman—Riverheads

Addison Casto—Riverheads

Joey Caldwell—Riverheads

Will Dod—Staunton

Mary Troise—Rockbridge

**Madison Walton—Riverheads

**Celeste Shelton—Riverheads

Morgan Adams—Highland

April Harper—Staunton

Cassidy Davis—Wilson Memorial

(** designates the two State MVS Winners)

The total scholarship support for 2019-2020 in-

cludes $6000.00 local funds and $2000.00 state

funds (two students @ $1000.00) in the State

Most Valuable Student scholarship competition

totaling $8000.00.

July 2020

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1

Hours 3-8

2 3

Hours 3-8

4

Happy 4th of

July

Hours 12-8

5

Hours 12-8

6

Lodge Meeting

7:30

7 8

Hours 3-8

9

Activities

Committee

Meeting 6:30

10

Hours 3-8

11

Hours 12-8

12

Hours 12-8

13

House

Committee

Meeting 6:30

14 15

Hours 3-8

16 17

Hours 3-8

18

Hours 12-8

19

Hours 12-8

20

Lodge Meeting

7:30

21 22

Hours 3-8

23 24

Hours 3-8

25

Hours 12-8

26

Hours 12-8

27

Trustees

Meeting 6:30

28 29

Hours 3-8

30 31

Hours 3-8

Non-Profit

Organization

US Postage

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Staunton Elks Lodge #351

PO Box 2681

Staunton, VA 24401-2681

The Bugle is the official monthly publication of the Staunton Elks Lodge 351 located at 29 Tams Street, Staunton, VA

Mail: PO Box 2681

Staunton, VA 24402-2681

Phone: (540) 885-2151

Email:

newsletter@stauntonelks351.org