We’re completing our first year! The Ballard Past Exalted Ruler Association, in the process of being reborn, is now coming up on its first complete year of meetings and activities in longer than any of us can remember. A significant achievement and one our lodge and fellow Elks are beginning to see a benefit from.
Our association now has Continue reading “Our Past Exalted Ruler Association”
We are honored to recognize our member’s efforts in bringing our community into the walls of our great lodge and strengthening the Great Heart of Elkdom by proposing new members to our lodge and benevolent society and then seeing these members through to initiation and finally membership in our order. Below are members that our Grand Exalted Ruler Robert L. Duitsman and your lodge membership committee would like to thank and congratulate for meeting and some exceeding the membership award goal of bringing in 3 new or reinstated members to our order.
These awards will be presented at our January 14th lodge meeting.
Our Ballard Elks Lodge Member’s Receiving a Grand Exalted Ruler Membership Award From Initiation in the 2018/2019 Grand Exalted Ruler’s Year
Grand Exalted Ruler Award pins are earned for any combination of 3 new or reinstated members. One pin for every three members proposed and initiated during the Grand Exalted Rulers year. A Grand Exalted Ruler Award watch is earned for any combination of 11 new or reinstated members. Congratulations & Thank you!
Fall is definitely upon us and as the crockpots come out of the cabinets the Past Exalted Ruler Association and our Ballard Elks Lodge would like to recognize an Elk that is grabbing the helmet by the horns and is resetting the bar of what a new member of our lodge can accomplish in their first year as an Elk.
This member of the Ballard Elks Lodge, initiated in September of 2018 (yep, just over a year ago), is someone that exemplifies the can do attitude we all aspire to. She quickly became involved with our lodge membership committee after initiation and by April of 2019 became co-chair of this extremely important lodge committee. She has proved pivotal to the success of 
events like our membership appreciation party in August and was recently seen spending countless hours preparing things for our 5th annual Frock Swap with all the other frocking volunteers. She is a member of the Ballard Emblem Club #216 and has recently served as an officer and their president.
Shana Jackson – Thank you! You’ve gone above and beyond to help our lodge succeed, to support Elkdom and to set the example of what it means to jump in feet first and quickly become connected to Elkdom and our community. Your efforts are helping build the fun and friendship in Ballard and is encouraging those around you, both new and long time members, to recognize what great opportunities we have and how they can do more for our lodge and our community. Well done and thank you from the Past Exalted Ruler Association and your fellow Elks at the Ballard Elks lodge 827. It’s these types of actions that leave a lasting impression.
Monthly Elk of the Month Award recipients not only get this article in the Antlers Newsletter & Online, they receive a $12 gift certificate to our social quarters, an Elk of the Month certificate to pin on their wall and are in the running for Elk of the Year, awarded at the Officer Installation Dinner each year. You can find the nomination form on our website (ballardelks.org), fill it out as best you can and get it to our Past Exalted Ruler Association before the 19th of each month – 827per@ballardelks.org
We need your help and involvement to continue to build upon the efforts of our past lodge members and officers to take this lodge, it’s growing membership and amazing facility, through the next few years and beyond. It’s time to think about renewing the officer’s at the lodge. Yes, our year won’t come to end until March 31st, but nominations for officers are taken at the first lodge meeting in February 2020.
Just 4 Months Away!
This is our chance to help lay down the course of the lodge and have our voices heard by placing capable members in position to lead our lodge that have the ability to act and make the direction a reality. These officers do much more than act out the rituals of our meetings. They take the time, each and every day, to deal with the activities of our lodge, support our members and their events, represent our members at the state and national levels and do the necessary work and make the important decisions to keep this lodge open for the generations of members to come through its doors.
What our lodge needs is a dedicated group of members that recognize the worth of this organization and can dedicate the time to make the necessary decisions and changes our lodge needs to keep our doors open for our members and their amazing volunteer energy. Many of our officers are working full time jobs and have active growing families – don’t see retirement as a barrier to becoming an officer!
Your involvement makes success happen.
Often a current officer will move to the next position in line, ensuring institutional knowledge and development of the necessary skills as one progresses through the chairs. This does not mean you can’t nominate another member for any position. If you believe a current officer is not up to the task or isn’t representing our lodge as you would like, you are welcome to be nominated or nominate someone else for any position.
Each of us willingly joined this organization that our predecessors put their hearts and souls into. We joined because what they created, nurtured and promoted was something that appealed to us. Whether it was a connection to our community and its youth and veterans or the social connection to our neighbors that being a member offers, it’s something we each needed and had fulfilled when we joined the Elks.
There is also an opportunity to fill lodge appointed positions – Esquire, Chaplain, Inner Guard, 
Tiller, Organist, Presiding Justice, and Forum Mediator. Each has unique duties that can be both challenging and rewarding of you just step up and ask about doing it.
There are more opportunities for you at the committee level – membership, drug awareness, youth activity, public relations and more. Find the manuals on our website (ballardelks.org) and read up about the focus of each committee then tell the officers or Past Exalted Rulers that you want to do this – help the committee or take it on as a chair – we need your help to fulfill our duty to our lodge, our past members, our current members and all those amazing people in our community that will be joining our lodge in the years to come.
We have the opportunity to do something great as Elks. It takes work, it takes time, there are going to be some bumps in the road, but if our members step up and jump on this opportunity and try, just try to do their best, we will have fulfilled our duty as an Elk. We can’t do it without you.
Join your Past Exalted Rulers on the third Tuesday of November, the 19th, to ask us any questions you have and learn more about what you can expect with any of these positions. We are here for our lodge – contact us via email with any questions at 827per@ballardelks.org
This month the Past Exalted Ruler Association and our Ballard Elks Lodge would like to recognize an Elk that has gone above and beyond helping our lodge this year, an Elk from another lodge that’s making the connection through Elkdom to help us succeed. You’ve seen her jumping in to help out at our lodge meetings and special initiations, filling vacancies and reciting the needed words and rituals from memory.
She is a Past Exalted Ruler from the Lake City Lodge #1800, a member of the Ballard Lodge Past Exalted Ruler Association and a member of the Lynwood Lodge 2171. She has freely offered to help with events like our 2019 crab feed and jumps at the opportunity, each and every year to help install the officers of our lodge. Recently she dropped her evening plans and quickly drove to our lodge to fill a last minute ritual position vacancy at our August special initiation and help 
make that event a huge success for our newly initiated members and for our Washington State Elks Association President, Greg Heimgartner, who was invited and in attendance for our special initiation night.
Kay McAndie – Thank you! You’ve gone above and beyond to help our lodge succeed, to support Elkdom and to set the example of what it means to be connected to Elkdom and our fellow lodges. Your efforts are helping build the fun and friendship in Ballard and is encouraging those around you to recognize what great things we have and look into how they can do more for our fellow lodges and state association. Well done and thank you from the Past Exalted Ruler Association and your fellow Elks at the Ballard Elks lodge 827. It’s these types of actions that leave a lasting impression.
Monthly Elk of the Month Award recipients not only get this article in the Antlers Newsletter & Online, they receive a $12 gift certificate to our social quarters, an Elk of the Month certificate to pin on their wall and are in the running for Elk of the Year, awarded at the Officer Installation Dinner each year. You can find the nomination form on our website (ballardelks.org), fill it out as best you can and get it to our Past Exalted Ruler Association before the 19th of each month – 827per@ballardelks.org
Presented at our July 9th lodge meeting – “Yes, We’re From Ballard!” – a 100+ year old song written and copyrighted for our lodge. How cool is that? Thank you Darrel for finding this and bringing to our lodge meeting.
Yes, We’re From Ballard!
Words and Music by Walter Fryburg
Copyrighted MCMXIX (1919)
We’re a red-hot bunch of Ballard Elks and we’re out to have some fun,
We are out to chase the gloom and blues, and to put them on the run.
We have no time to mourn or weep, For it makes us feel like Hell,
If you make us blue, it’s good-bye you, We will have to say Fare-well.
Chorus:
Yes, we’re from Ballard, from good old Ballard,
The home of live ones
Down by the sea; the western sea.
We do some crowing, But watch us Growing,
Lodge eight two seven B.P.O.E, Yes, we’re from E!
There may be lodges larger far than old Ballard eight two sev’n
But a better bunch can not be found, unless perhaps in heav’n.
Just make a call at any time, we will make you feel at home,
We will take your hand, and well treat you grand, so you’ll never want to roam.
Chorus:
Yes, we’re from Ballard, from good old Ballard,
The home of live ones
Down by the sea; the western sea.
We do some crowing, But watch us Growing,
Lodge eight two seven B.P.O.E, Yes, we’re from E!
Our brother’s faults up on the sand are written and erased
But their virtues live in memory, where they can not be effaced.
We try to live the golden rule, and we practice what we preach,
Join in our song, we are going strong, we’re the bunch from Ballard Beach!
Chorus:
Yes, we’re from Ballard, from good old Ballard,
The home of live ones
Down by the sea; the western sea.
We do some crowing, But watch us Growing,
Lodge eight two seven B.P.O.E, Yes, we’re from E!
Congratulations Ron Benish and thank you for taking the time to read our outstanding monthly newsletter! The $100 pot is a big thank you for reading the newsletter, finding your membership number hidden within and coming to the next lodge meeting after the newsletter comes out to claim your prize money. The prize pot starts over in August with $25 in the pot!
The Membership Committee created a membership game incorporated into our monthly Antlers Newsletter. Members who read the monthly lodge newsletter might find their membership number hidden somewhere inside. When the member finds their number, the member comes to the next Lodge meeting to collect $25 in person, in cash. The pot builds if it’s not claimed each month to a maximum of $300 in one year!
How it works: a member number will be chosen at the second Tuesday of the month Lodge meeting by our Esquire. ((28311)) It will be recorded and then sent to the newsletter editing team to be hidden somewhere in the text of any article in the Antlers newsletter for the month after the number was drawn. If you see your number in the newsletter bring it and yourself to the next lodge meeting after the newsletter was printed to claim your prize – and don’t forget your membership card! You need to be a member in good standing to attend the meeting and therefore to claim the prize.
We’ve hidden a membership number in this text as an example. Did you find it?
The goal is to encourage members to receive the lodge newsletter, read the Newsletter and attend a meeting (even if it’s the only meeting of the year they attend to claim their prize!). Our lodge sends out over 1500 emails with the newsletter linked to inside and generally it is opened to be read by about 300 members that received it. Conversely know that the newsletter is also printed and mailed out to almost 500 members each month at an average cost of $1.20/member. Affording to mail it everyone is a tremendous cost to the lodge so we appreciate those that receive it by email and are hoping to find an exciting way to get you all to read our lodge newsletter – the primary form of communication between the lodge and the member.
This month the Past Exalted Ruler Association and our Ballard Elks Lodge would like to recognize the selfless and hugely needed work by our amazing member Sue Gregor. You’ve all seen Sue regularly down at the lodge serving you food in our social quarters while volunteering as a food runner. Take a moment to say hello and thank Sue for bringing your food order from the kitchen to the social quarters and she will quickly respond with a huge smile.
It seems like every time we turn around Sue is doing something, helping out with some event without ever being asked. Sue’s having fun volunteering at our lodge and that fun, that energy of her’s is contagious and spreading quickly to those around her.
Sue Gregor – Thank you! Your efforts are helping build the fun in Ballard and is encouraging those around you to have fun and volunteer to help out around the lodge. Well done and thank you from the Past Exalted Ruler Association and your fellow lodge members.
Monthly Elk of the Month Award recipients not only get this article in the Antlers Newsletter & Online, they receive a $12 gift certificate to our social quarters, an Elk of the Month certificate to pin on their wall and are in the running for Elk of the Year, awarded at the Officer Installation Dinner each year. You can find the nomination form on our website (ballardelks.org), fill it out as best you can and get it to our Past Exalted Ruler Association before the 19th of each month – 827per@ballardelks.org
This month the Past Exalted Ruler Association and our Ballard Elks Lodge would like to recognize the selfless and mostly behind the scenes work by our amazing long-time member Ken Bartlett. You’ve all seen Ken regularly down at the lodge serving you food in our social quarters while volunteering as a food runner. Take a moment to say hello and thank Ken for bringing your food order from the kitchen to the social quarters and he will quickly respond – no thanks needed, this is fun! I get to meet so many new people.
It seems like every time we turn around Ken is saying How can I help and saying it with a huge smile on his face. Ken’s having fun volunteering at our lodge and that fun, that energy of his is contagious and spreading quickly to those around him.
Ken Bartlett – Thank you! Your efforts you are helping build the fun in Ballard and is encouraging those around you to have fun and volunteer to help out around the lodge. Well done and thank you from the Past Exalted Ruler Association and your fellow lodge members.
Monthly Elk of the Month Award recipients not only get this article in the Antlers Newsletter & Online, they receive a $12 gift certificate to our social quarters, an Elk of the Month certificate to pin on their wall and are in the running for Elk of the Year, awarded at the Officer Installation Dinner each year. You can find the nomination form on our website (ballardelks.org), fill it out as best you can and get it to our Past Exalted Ruler Association before the 19th of each month – 827per@ballardelks.org
Elk of the Month – We’ve had some great nominations this year for Elk of the Month from our members but this month we have a nomination that goes beyond the one Elk one Award philosophy and opens the door to nominate a group of Elks that exemplify the reason we are here as members of the Elks. To have fun with each other and pool our energy’s together to make something bigger than ourselves. Something we couldn’t have done on our own.
I was still an officer when these Elks came to us with an idea for a fun event at our lodge. My initial reaction to their idea was along the lines of “this will never work,” and I don’t think I was alone in that reaction – But – and there is always a but, we had a group of enthusiastic Elks members that wanted to do something together to make some fun happen at our lodge and hopefully raise some funds for charity. How could we say no?
Friday Night Bingo checks all the boxes of Elkdom. Yeah, other than the bingo part it’s a far cry from conventional but our little hamlet of Ballard hasn’t ever been known for that attribute for as long as I can remember. This group of Elks organizes an event each and every month that brings Elks together, inside our lodge, to have fun. And I gotta tell ya, if you’ve not been to one of these events you’re missin’ out. Over a hundred people will be in attendance and enjoying the themed evenings and capitalizing on the ability to share a little of the fun we have as Elks with their friends as they drag them along as guests. I’ve heard many a conversation along the lines of “this is what you do as Elks?” Followed by “Yes, and the thousands we raised tonight goes to charity!”
And I mean thousands. Since beginning this event in October of 2017 these Elks have not only created some amazing fun for hundreds of Elks and their guests they have raised over $29,000 for charities like Tall Elks Children’s Therapy Program, Mary’s Place, The Paradise Elks Lodge disaster relief, our Lodge Building Fund and more. In just 15 nights they have raised over $29,000 – Wow!
Catherine Rundell, Wendy Sedlacek, Dee Ann Evans, April Schoen, Lisa Merlin, Jennifer Morris, Roy Ridgeway, Nicole Mathews, Allison Krieger, Jill Yerkovich – Thank you! As a group you have created a microcosm of what it means to be an Elk and through your efforts are helping build the fun in Ballard and giving meaning to both your membership and the membership of every other member of our lodge by using that fun to build our charitable giving to our community. Well done and thank you.
Monthly Elk of the Month Award recipients not only get this article in the Antlers Newsletter & Online, they receive a $12 gift certificate to our social quarters, an Elk of the Month certificate to pin on their wall and are in the running for Elk of the Year, awarded at the Officer Installation Dinner each year. You can find the nomination form on our website (ballardelks.org), fill it out as best you can and get it to our Past Exalted Ruler Association before the 19th of each month – 827per@ballardelks.org