As a lodge we are very fortunate that Peaches Hart (PER) helps us deploy an ENF grant and deliver to the children a very thoughtful learning experience. Each year she gets the 4th grade classes in Molly Stark elementary together and has them learn patriotic songs, then brings them to the Veterans Home and Bennington Project independence to present the show. These kids practice for months to get the songs down devoting many hours of hard work. We also supply each child a sweatshirt containing the Elks logo in either Red, White or Blue as a badge of honor.
This year we continued a tradition started last year by hosting these students at our lodge for a lunch between performances. Our volunteers prepared hamburgers, hot dogs and French fries for these hungry students. With the assistance of Bill Bryan (PER, PDD) we were able to deliver our national drug awareness materials with a short speech. We were then treated a special musical performance by the students. We would like to thank the members of our lodge for continuing to support such a worthwhile program for the local children.
News item submitted by Kelly Kervan