Rick LaCrosse
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ER's Message
Dear Fellow Members of Kinderhook Elks Lodge,
Where has the year gone? In thirty odd days, this Elk year will be over. I’d like to thank each and every one of you for the time and effort you’ve given to the lodge this year, as well as your support to our officers. We have much to be proud of as a lodge.
We started the year with my PSVP Homecoming dinner. We had beautiful ceremonies for Flag Day, Elks’ Memorial Day, Ritual at District Deputy Visitation, and PER Initiation. We tried new things such as sponsoring dinners for our schools’ state sports champions in basketball and softball, karaoke, ballroom dancing and monthly initiations.
Meanwhile, we continued to provide our ‘traditional’ events that mean so much to our community. These include, but are not limited to, the Easter Bunny at the Village Square, Veteran’s Day Dinner, PERs hosting one of the Community Dinners at St. Luke’s, Community Baby Showers, Red Cross Blood Drives, Special Needs Prom, sponsoring the Veteran’s Room at the Albany Airport, and Marion Stegmann Fund. Representation of the lodge at District and State events was inspiring. Our attendance at District events was always at or near the top and I was surprised at the number of our members that attended a portion of the NYSEA Fall Conference held in Albany.
Unfortunately, during the year we’ve had members who have passed on. The most recent was Dave ‘Oilcan’ Riffley. To our absent members!
As to activities this past month, it was quite a busy time. Our second Community Baby Shower was on the 11th. On the 12th, the lodge had a Super Bowl Party. On Sunday, Feb 19th, the PERs held an initiation for a new member. Thanks to the PERs for an excellent job. Then on the 22nd was our annual blood drive. Thanks to Steve Everett for coordinating this.
On February 27th, elections for the 2023-24 officers were held. However, at the time of writing this, the elections had not been held. We are blessed to have a full slate of officers on the ballot. The slate is:
- Exalted Ruler – Anne Leiser, PER
- Esteemed Leading Knight – Darci Hover
- Esteemed Loyal Knight – Terri Brew
- Esteemed Lecturing Knight – Kelly McGiffert
- Secretary – Jerry Shook, PSP
- Treasurer – Joseph Laviano, PER
- Trustee – John Sundwall
For up coming events in March and April, we have:
- The PERs will be holding a meeting for planning the year ahead, date is TBD.
- Community Baby Shower on Saturday, March 11th.
- St. Patrick’s Day party on the Saturday March 18th.
- Elks NY State President, Cameron Ricci, will be visiting the North Hudson district on the weekend of March 17-19. He is expected to arrive at our Lodge during the evening of Saturday, March 18th.
- Special Needs Prom is Saturday, March 25th.
- Officer Installation is on the 26th at 4pm. This will be followed by dinner and awards ceremony. Dinner will be roast pork, potato and vegetable.
- Membership Committee is holding at meeting on March 28th at 6:30pm
- Easter Bunny will be visiting the Village of Kinderhook on Saturday, April 8th.
- District Deputy Clinic is on Saturday, April 15th at Rensselaer Lodge; breakfast at 9am.
- Saturday, April 22nd is VERY busy: Poughkeepsie Lodge is visiting us from 12:30 to 2:15pm AND SVP Bill Mellan and PDD Deb Miner’s Homecoming is at the Hudson Lodge from 4 to 7pm.Cost is $50 per ticket. Please see me if interested in a dinner booking at the lodge for 5pm.
We also have a couple of reminders:
- For those few members that have not been able to pay their dues for the 2022-23 year, please attend to this ASAP.
- Dues for 2023-24 are due by March 31st.
Finally, this is your lodge. If you have any suggestions or thoughts pertaining to it, please let an officer, a trustee or myself know of them.
Fraternally,
ER John Piddock
