The Daily Inter Lake

Exalted Ruler David Barnes sees the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks Lodge 725 as one very important thread in the fabric of life.

"Our society is like a piece of cloth," Barnes said. "And all of these threads bind us together. If one of the threads fail, it weakens the fabric."

Lucky for the Flathead Valley, the Elks' thread is as strong as ever.

Ever since the lodge was chartered in 1901 in Kalispell, the organization has been at the forefront of community service. That's still the Elks' hallmark.

"We focus primarily on veterans and kids," Barnes said.

Elks members hold bingo parties at the Montana Veterans Home in Columbia Falls once a month and distribute recycled decks of playing cards from Las Vegas casinos to the veterans home and area nursing homes.

Last fall, the lodge finished a 20-by-40-foot pavilion at the veterans home.

An annual Flag Day ceremony is another high-profile community event.

"That was really impressive this year," Barnes said.

The flag ceremony begins indoors, then proceeds outdoors where old flags are retired and the United Veterans of the Flathead fire a 21-gun salute.

The lodge has hosted several dinners honoring troops who have or are serving in Iraq and other areas of conflict.

Patriotism is high on the Elks' agenda, and an Americanism essay is offered to area students in grades 5 to 8. Students write essays about "Why I Am Proud To Be An American," and winners are awarded savings bonds. Past Exalted Ruler Marilynn Aasheim leads the Americanism program.

"We want to promote a love of our country," lodge treasurer Bob Stephens said. "Our patriotism often lags until a time of crisis. People forget to take their hat off for the flag. We want to change that."

THERE'S NO lack of Elks activities for children. The hoop shoot basketball free-throw contest is one of the most well-known, but Barnes expects the Elks-sponsored soccer shoot to eventually rival the hoop shoot in popularity.

The lodge sponsors a pee-wee baseball team, and this year the Elks team won the city championship for the first time since 1955.

Annual Easter-egg hunts, pumpkin-carving contests and Christmas parties with Santa Claus are other Elks events for children. The lodge sponsors a Student of the Month program and offers a drug-awareness program and trailer as an education tool for young people.

Elks members were especially proud of their participation in the Words for Thirds dictionary program this year. The Kalispell lodge distributed 816 dictionaries to Flathead third-graders in public and private schools.

"We were the first Elks Lodge in Montana to get involved in the dictionary project, and nobody comes close to us" in the number of dictionaries distributed, Barnes said.

No one comes close to the Elks in the scholarship arena, either. The organization nationwide gives out more scholarship money than anyone except the federal government. In Montana, the Elks award nearly $70,000 a year in scholarships.

"Kids have to apply," Barnes stressed, adding that applications are available at all local high schools.

Community service continues throughout the year with events such as the Mother's Day breakfast, free to all women, and periodic blood drives. A "Vampire Ball" blood drive staged at Halloween was a big success this year, Barnes said.

The next big Elks event is a memorial service on Dec. 5 that honors deceased Elks members. It's open to the public.

A dinner Thursday, Dec. 7, is planned to honor Kalispell police Chief Frank Garner, Flathead County Sheriff Jim Dupont and Kalispell fire Capt. Byron Guy, who are retiring. Call the lodge at 257-6474 for ticket information.

ALTHOUGH MEMBERSHIP in Elks lodges nationwide has declined, the Kalispell lodge has held its own. It currently has 523 members, and members voted this week on 26 new applications.

"There were 1,200 members at one time," Barnes said. "We would like to see 600 to 700 again."

The Kalispell lodge has been a strong community force from its beginning. Charter members talked about building a temple in the early 1900s, but it was more than 20 years before the group narrowly voted to buy the YMCA building at Main and First streets in downtown Kalispell.

The YMCA facility served the group well for more than four decades, and its Temple Tea Room was an elegant dining room for civic functions. By the late 1960s, the Elks needed to upgrade and moved forward with construction of the current lodge on U.S. 93 in south Kalispell. A swimming pool, hot tub, sauna, exercise room and handball court were built and continue to be drawing cards for prospective new members. About $25,000 worth of new equipment and remodeling recently was invested in the lodge.

Barnes said the amenities are a good value for the $130 annual membership dues a person, especially for families. If one member belongs to the Elks, the entire family can use the facilities.

Nationally, the Elks date back to 1868 when the group was called the "Jolly Corks." They soon realized a more distinguished name would better serve the group. A description of an elk in a natural-history book at the time noted an animal "fleet of foot, timorous of wrong, but ever ready to combat in defense of self or the female of the species." That was the identity they were looking for.

Projects and people have changed through the decades, but the Elks' "principles of Elkdom" - charity, justice and brotherly love - remain at the forefront of their work.

"We're a service organization," Stephens emphasized. "We try to help out whoever we can."

For information about how to join BPOE Lodge 725, call David Barnes at 257-6474. More information about the organization is available online at www.elks.org.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com