Lodge Hours:
Monday-Thursday,
3:00-9:00 p.m.
Friday
2:00-9:00 p.m.
Saturday-Sunday
2:00-7:00 p.m.
•

1601 Trinity Drive
Los Alamos, NM 87544
(505) 662-5611

April Message From the Exalted Ruler

Greetings Brother and Sister Elks!

As I return from the NMEA Spring Convention at Isleta, I'm proud to report we had a good showing and our Lodge received numerous positive comments from our District Deputy and State chairpersons in their reports. A total of 423 Elks attended the conference. Our Lodge was reported on the floor to be +5 for membership this year, which is fantastic. Statewide membership was down 237 although this may improve as numbers are changing daily. The takeaway is that while our Lodge is doing well bringing in and keeping members active, we must stay active and engaged and ensure new members do the same. So, if you haven't seen a member in a while, give him or her a call and invite them back. If you haven't proposed a person for membership yet, I challenge you to be +1 in that respect this year.

We closed out our Elks fiscal year on March 31st and while I don't have the final numbers yet, all signs point to a very strong past year. This is because of YOU and YOUR continued support. On behalf of outgoing ER, Brett Ray and myself, thank you for your loyalty and patronage to the Lodge. We have another strong cadre of officers and committee chairpersons this year so I hope this trend continues. The other big part of this team is our Club Manager, Mark Sandoval and our bartenders, Heather and Tony. They are an integral part to the success of this Lodge so don't forget to give them a pat on the back and a thank you next time you see them.

Moving forward, I should point out that this year, your Chair Officers will have primary oversight over the following committees/ efforts as follows:

• Lecturing Knight (Desiree) ‐ Elks National Foundation
• Loyal Knight (Troy) ‐ Fraternal activities including Flag Day, Americanism, Veterans, Membership (this includes Lapsation,
  Indoctrination, Investigation), Elks Memorial, Cerebral Palsy, C&B Trust, Bar Liaison
• Leading Knight (Kirk) ‐ Drug Awareness, Public Activities, Youth Activities, Social & Community Welfare, PayDay Cafe Activities
• Exalted Ruler ‐ All of the above including Public Relations (Antes, Website, Facebook)

If you have questions or comments regarding those committees/ activities, the Committee Chairperson should be your primary POC with the Chair Officer as a backstop. Chair Officers are there to assist the committees but the primary responsibilities still remain with the chair. I believe this is the best approach at this time since Chair Officer can help mentor and manage those activities. Committee Chairpersons, if you haven't already begun to assemble your team, do so now. Bring in a newer member, mentor him or her on your responsibilities so they can eventually take the helm and do the same.

We had a great month of March with events such as Mardi Gras, the JROTC benefit dinner, Installation of 2019‐2020 Officers and our St. Patty's Day Reverse Raffle. Thank you all for such hard work, dedication and your generosity of both time and money. I could write a whole page just on those events. We already have a lot on the calendar for the month of April so take a moment to mentally bookmark things such as AED Training, the two Pay Day Cafes, Easter Egg coloring, Easter Egg Hunt, and such.

I hope to see a good number of smiling faces come out and support your new officers at our first Lodge meettng on April 8th as our bonus 50/50 is now well over $1000. I'm very proud of our Lodge and honored to represent you this year.

Fraternally Yours,
Tim Haight
Exalted Ruler

There currently are no sickness and distressed.