One More Step to a Better Lodge – Weekly Series – Article 1

This year, the CEA website is featuring a weekly series on how your lodge can be its best by doing Grand Lodge and State programs.  The Grand Lodge quantifies many activities through an annual contest called the “All American Lodge” contest.  Grand Lodge activities and metrics are assigned points, and at the end of the lodge year, each lodge submits their form as a record of what they accomplished in the past year.  An incredible THREE lodges from Connecticut made the top 10 in the NATION this year- Derby, Danielson, and Danbury.  But the contest isn’t really about the score – it’s a way to help lodges do their very best at being an Elks Lodge and embodying all that the Elks are.  Each week we will highlight a different focus of Grand Lodge that is captured by the contest – everything from membership growth and retention, ENF donations, participation in the Hoop and Soccer Shoots, and more.  We’d like every lodge to try for “plus 1″, where they do at least one more thing they did last year and hopefully earn a better score than last year.  

To that end, Lodge Activities co-chair Holly June Jacobs PER and I are kicking off a weekly series on this contest with a focus on the Soccer Shoot.  With the District level shoots happening as early as September 26th, now is the time to get your local lodge contest scheduled.  If you haven’t run one in awhile, the best person to contact is your District Chair for the Soccer shoot.  Grand Lodge supports this contest because it is a great way for kids to get involved in sports and develop grit – that persistent attitude to keep trying even in the face of difficulty or failure.  Running a contest helps kids and gets your lodge’s reputation for youth promotion out into the community.  It also is a matter of state pride as Connecticut is the home of the Soccer Shoot, which recently was revived as a Grand Lodge program.  And, even better, this contest gives you 20 points toward your All American Contest.  We will also be covering other activities not explitly tied to the contest, but nonetheless important Grand Lodge programs.  

Want to contribute an article like this to the front page of the website?  Email Josh Gray.