Building a herd - Elks host cookout to attract members, raise funds for Mustang firefighters

By Carolyn Cole
Published on July 31, 2008

Fifty Mustang area residents are working to form a local Elks lodge, but 25 more are needed before the group can receive its charter.

Elks volunteers gathered for a hot dog and barbecue cookout Saturday in Wild Horse Park to raise money for the Mustang Fire Department and increase awareness of their movement. Bud Englebretson said they raised about $400 for the department’s digital sign fund and drew in fellow Elks from across the state.

“We are a fraternal organization, we do a lot of things for veterans, kids and the community,” he said.

Once formed, area resident Charlie Debus will serve as the first exalted ruler for the Mustang lodge. Debus said he first joined a lodge when he lived in Sand Springs 12 years ago because he heard they partied. After joining he said he learned about their philanthropic missions and was hooked.

“We like to help people, and we like to have a good time doing it,” he said.
The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks is one of the oldest and largest fraternal organizations in the country. Since 1868, the Elks have grown to include more than one million men and women in more than 2,100 communities. Elks lodges nationwide donated more than $2 billion in the past decade to charitable organizations.

Members boast Elks groups as the nation’s second largest scholarship organization, behind the U.S. government. On the local level, Debus said Elks support drug use prevention education in their communities’ schools and hold basketball and soccer shootout events.

Elks also donate to veterans groups and started the national holiday Flag Day, celebrated annually on June 14. Elks member Bill Young said lodges adopted the Norman veteran’s home as a mission, and members cooked and served meals for residents on holidays. A lot of the residents have no family left to care for them, he said.
“They have no place else to go,” he said.

Elks members also support camps on law enforcement and hunting safety for youth, Young said, as well as supporting their local police and fire departments.

“The Elks do so many things that most people don’t know about,” he said.

While the Elks’ service mission is similar to other community organizations, Young said he was attracted by the group’s openness. While he said only members can attend closed meetings, Elks aren’t sworn to secrecy about their practices.

“I didn’t like the secrecy,” he said. “I have uncles and cousins who have been Masons all of their lives. You ask them what they do, well — ‘we can’t tell you.’”

About 15 years ago the Elks also opened their membership to include women, which Debus said was one of the best decisions the national organization made. He said in his experience some of the lodges’ best volunteers and hardest workers are women.

Elk Joanne Carel said she doesn’t feel the Elks boast enough about their female membership’s involvement.

“Some of the lodges have women presidents or exalted rulers,” she said.

Elks membership is open to any U.S. citizen who is at least 21 years old, who has never been a member of the Communist party and who believes in God. Elks membership candidates pay a $25 application fee, and Englebretson said the organization con- ducts a background check. Candidates who have been convicted of a felony or crime of moral turpitude also do not qualify.

The Mustang Elks group needs at least 75 members before they can apply for a charter, and then he said the group will need to find a building to serve as its permanent meeting hall. Right now the group meets at 7 p.m. on the first and third Tuesday of each month at Harry’s American Sports Grill.

“We like to have fun, we like to have dances,” Englebretson said. “We do a lot of good things, and we work hard and we party hard.”

For information, call Englebretson at 728-4443.

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