The Elks of Elkhorn boost their community

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This article was published 02/02/2022 (1689 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In the heart of a town with only 500 residents lies a sense of community spirit richer than the eye can see.

It can be found at Elkhorn’s Elks Lodge #381. Dating back to 1954, the lodge is one of many found across Canada where people come together to host events within their community.

“I’ve been a member for right around 20 years,” said Kevin Tutthill, resident of Elkhorn.

“My dad was a charter member of the Elks, here in Elkhorn, back in ’54. Funny thing, his membership number is two in Elkhorn and mine is 102. It’s a good family connection and a family event so to speak.”

The Elks look after the village’s community hall, a place that has hosted many weddings, socials, anniversaries and fairs before the pandemic.

Over the last two years, Tutthill and his fellow lodge members have tried to move events to virtual platforms while keeping the community involved on a weekly basis. Since November 2020, the Elkhorn lodge has hosted meat draws through Facebook every Saturday and a monthly 50/50 draw. The proceeds go back into the community and the hall.

“It’s about keeping it going,” Tutthill said.

“Six months into the pandemic, we said our community misses this event and let’s get things fired up again. The night of our first meat draw was huge, it really took off, and we’ve been doing it every month ever since.”

The lodge tries to get involved with every facet of the community possible through various donations and events put on by its members.

Tutthill said the lodge will make an annual donation to the town’s skating rink, curling club, and help fundraise for a high school student’s band instrument, for example.

During the pandemic, the lodge has organized a Halloween costume parade, a solo Santa parade touring every street in town, and arranged for seniors in the community to receive anonymous Christmas cards to spread some holiday cheer.

A person can become an Elk when they turn 16. The Elkhorn chapter has members from 19 to 90. Tutthill has found the people that join are all there for the same reason: to support the community.

“We’ve had this discussion a lot of times and I think what it says is, we’re active, we’re relatively young and we try to have a lot of fun.

“Every time we do a fundraiser, we try to have a little bit of fun mixed in. At the end of the day, after a meat draw, we’ll sit down and have a beer and catch up. That’s huge for our community.”

Tawna McLean, another resident of Elkhorn, is a third-generation member of the lodge. Before it amalgamated with the Elks lodge, McLean had three generations of family serve as members of the Royal Purple Lodge of Elkhorn, which was for women exclusively.

When numbers of the Royal Purple declined from people passing on, the Elks welcomed the remaining 18 women to join, and the two clubs became one around 12 years ago. McLean, who joined originally in 2003, was excited to see the next generation carry on.

“My son joined the Elks when he hit 16, and we’ve got a picture with my grandmother — she was 92 at the time and was still a member,” McLean said.

“We had a four-generation picture of Elks members.”

After 20 years of involvement, Tutthill recalled a memory that has stuck with him after all this time. It was following one of the lodge’s provincial walkathons.

The money raised from the event would go to the organization’s Fund for Children, which serves as part of its national mandate to help children deal with medical issues.

“I was in Killarney that year, and we had a mom there with two children that were deaf and received their hearing aids and then their cochlear implants through money raised through the fund for children,” Tutthill said.

“It ripped your heart out to hear this mom and what she’d gone through, and it was a real eye-opener for me.”

Elks lodges across Canada try to do as much fundraising as they can for children, Tutthill said. The fund is administered out of the head office in Regina, where lodges can then apply for funding for their local children who may be impacted by disabilities.

Furthermore, the fund covers every child involved in a house fire, where children are automatically granted $500 each to help their families get back on their feet. Tutthill said the national fund for children sponsors half a dozen programs for kids going into audiology programs for speech.

“It’s being able to help, that’s our mandate,” McLean said.

“I think it speaks to our desire for community involvement, making sure everyone is looked after. To be able to help a child is above and beyond.”

Tutthill said he has been fortunate enough to attend several of the organization’s national conventions across Canada. For McLean, much like Tutthill, the lodge has been a place for her to help prop up the town and keep it thriving.

“My favourite aspect is the camaraderie between us all,” McLean said.

“It’s a real sense of community within our community.”

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