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At the most recent Grand Lodge Convention the PA Elk received a 4-star accreditation, and after looking at the requirements, the scoring, and the 5-star accredited newsletters, our goal is to bring Pennsylvania to a 5-star newsletter. Glen Klein has been doing a great job as the Editor, but when he was first brought on board he was the designer for our newsletter, never was supposed to be the editor, but like any Great Elk, he took on the role, and now we as the Public Relations Committee will be teaming up to lighten the load of the Editor Job, and allow Glen more creativity on the forefront of the Pennsylvania Elk, and allow him to work with us to gain a 5-star accreditation. Moving forward it is going to take an Army of dedicated members to reach this goal. It will start at the Lodge Level with the local Public Relations Chairperson. Each Lodge will be responsible for Editing their information, and grouping their submissions prior to sending the information off to the District Chairperson. The Editing part of the process has always been in place, but we have been laxed on this over the years, and now we need to get back to doing this. The Grouping of information is going to be a new process, a process that will flow from the Local Lodge to the District and then to the State. What do I mean by Grouping? Well with our new launch of our PA Elks Magazine, we are going to make some very big changes to the way the paper is laid out. Comparing our paper to other 5-star papers, the new layout will help reach our goal. Grand Lodges’ main requirement when it comes to newsletters is to make sure that Grand Lodge Programs are promoted within your newsletter as well as your state association. Grouping will come into play with the programs for which we hold functions, fundraisers, awareness and other great news within the association. Grand Lodge programs such as Elks National Foundation/Grants, Drug Awareness, Americanism/Veterans will now be highlighted within the newsletter, and events held at our local lodges will now be grouped by category. Grouped at the Local Level, then the district will group by lodge, in which category their submissions fall in, and then send it to the state. Our Grouping of Photos and stories will fall under each category, much like they do in the National Elks Publication. With this change, we will be eliminating the district-by-district news. Why are we breaking this up? It’s simple. We are one Association that is broken down into Districts, but we all bring the same news and information to the table. Let’s make ourselves one anywhere that we can, and let’s start in our state association newsletter. (Grouping of the information will be put into further detail with the District Chairs across the state during my Visits.) Other changes that we are going to make will be to move the State Sponsors Message and the State Presidents message into the magazine and not be the cover page of the newsletter. Making this change allows us to highlight specific stories within the newsletter and allows for specific photos pertaining to our association and programs to be highlighted, which takes us back to the grouping selections. For each Edition the goal is to highlight one of Grand Lodge’s programs on the Front Page or Cover Page of our newsletter. The State Sponsors Message & State Presidents Message will be the first two items you see on the inside of the newsletter, with the ability for us to highlight certain articles in a Table of Contents, and a list of the Editors/PR Chairs across the state, as well as our graphic designer and main editor Glen Klein. Following our State Presidents Message will be the messages of our District State Vice Presidents messages and we are hoping to be able to get a photo of each one of these individuals to use with their stories. Why do we want a photo? It is time everyone sees who these people are. This is going to be much the case for every chairperson across the state. A photo with the message from these individuals is important with the information they are providing. A face always helps someone find you at a convention, a face helps guide someone for questions. Following these messages will be our highlighted Grand Lodge Programs, no particular order can be provided, but it is important that reports on Membership and Marketing, Elks National Foundation (ENF), Drug Awareness, Hoop Shoot and all other Grand Lodge Programs are highlighted within the newsletter. Stories from across our state association with photos can be provided with each grouping. The Newsletter is not just for past news that has already occurred, we would love to start getting some stories submitted for events that will be happening as well/ Past news is great, but upcoming events that haven’t happened are even better, and we need to start providing this information in advance. Any events that will be fundraisers for our state association major projects, legacy trust, or even ENF related, should be provided in the newsletter. We already do this on our social media and State Webpage. Let’s add it into our newsletter, as each of these three publications provide and reach different audiences of people. Lastly, all of these changes will be a progression, my personal goal is to launch this for our (Spring) Edition in February. I will be visiting each and every single district starting in August and hope to conclude my visits by December. My main objective for why I want to travel to each district is I want to get the word out to not only the district chairs, but to the Lodges themselves. I have found that in my twenty-two years as a member, different people attend different meetings. Those you see at a District Meeting don’t always attend a State or National level meeting. I want everyone to hear this not only from their District Chairperson, but also from their State Chairperson as well. In addition, there are several District PR Chairpersons I have never actually met in person. I would like the opportunity to sit down with them and explain what we need them to do to make this a successful transition. Anything that I and the team of District PR Chairs can do to make Glen’s Job easier and allow him to focus more on the graphic side and creativity side, is a win. Jason Cook, Public Relations Chairperson

The Veterans Service Committee of the State College Elks Lodge # 1600 recently visited the James E. Van Zandt Veterans Medical Center, for the purpose of conducting bingo games and socialization. A total of ten veterans enjoyed the afternoon of games and socializing. Elks member Bert Kisner donated Presidential Dollars to each bingo winner, and each bingo player received Canteen cards, donated by the Veterans Service Committee. Front row left to right are: veterans Ron P, Paul M, and Len V.; Second row, left to right : Rachel Guiher, Activities Coordinator at the Veterans Medical Center, Ginny Hosterman, Elks Veterans Service Committee, Jack McKinley, Elks Veterans Service Committee, Bert Kisner, Elks member, and Vernon Crawford, Chair of the Veterans Service Committee; and veteran Mark C in the rear.

The Pennsylvania Elks State Association is holding their annual Fall Convention October 12-15, 2023 at the Red Lion Hotel. Details on the Fall Workshop can be found in our Members Only Section. The Fall Workshop is an exciting time as it is also our GER visit to Pennsylvania! Randy and Wanda will be enjoying their time in Central Pennsylvania accompanied by PGER and PA State Sponsor Paul D. Helsel and his wife Jane, SDGER Dennis W. Kanouff and his wife Jean, and current PA State President Carl E. Smith and his wife Deb. The group is planning to come to the West Shore Elks Lodge around 6pm on Wednesday October 11, 2023. Guests from around the state are welcome to come and attend. West Shore will be opening the doors between the Lounge and the Ballroom to make sure there is ample room for those Elks who want to come enjoy the fellowship. There is no need to RSVP. The lounge and kitchen will be open, please see their menu for details. The lodge is conveniently located off of 581 about 15 minutes from the Convention Center. West Shore Elks #2257 108 N. St Johns Church Road Camp Hill, PA 17011 https://westshoreelks.org

If you are an Elk in Pennsylvania and you are reading this then you may already be a member of paelks.org. If you aren't then please go sign up! Signing up is free and easy. Ask around, is your Lodge Leadership signed up? Your Volunteers, Committee Chairs, your Members? Membership is available to any Elk in good standing. When you join paelks.org you are opening up the Members Only section which has a lot of material the general public doesn't have access to and is growing all the time. Some of the benefits of membership include: Current and past issues of "The Pennsylvania Elk" state newsletter PowerPoint presentations from State Seminars Helpful Resources - Files from State Committee Chairs and other helpful information Electronic copy of the State Directory State Officer / Committee contact information District Officer / Committee contact information The Pennsylvania Elks State Association is working hard to make sure Lodges throughout the state have access to the materials in a timely manner and it only works when there are recipients to receive the communications. So please take this message back to your lodge and ask your Lodge Leaders to sign up. To sign up simply go to the Members Only section and follow the instructions in the Frequently Asked Questions. Each individual member should sign up for their own account. And with all this talk about paelks.org sign-up, please don't forget to sign up for the National website at elks.org. Please note, these are two different websites each with their own respective login process. The PA Elks site will provide you with Pennsylvania specific information. National Elks site has a plethora great content that every active member should utilize. Fraternally, Kris A. Benedict PESA State Webmaster

The Pennsylvania Elks State Association website is currently developing an area of the website to showcase outreach at local lodges. Each outreach / event submitted will be turned into an article and will be rotated on the front page of the website as well as have a permanent home in an area that showcases by lodge and by district. Please join this exciting new adventure by letting us know what your lodge is doing for your community. Details on how to submit content can be found in our Members Only -> Website Submissions page.

Since 1963, the PA Elks Home Service Program has been helping to improve the quality of life for thousands of children and adults throughout Pennsylvania. This support and advocacy is extended to Individuals of any age, who have a developmental disability. Because of the hard work and dedication of the members of Elks Lodges throughout PA, these services are provided free of charge. Raising funds in support of this program is ongoing. The members of Bellefonte Elks Lodge #1094 took its fund-raising efforts for the Home Service Program, to the Centre County Grange Fair. Shown here are John and Rhonda Leiter, as they ply their raffle ticket skills, in support of the Elks Home Service Program. This Grange Fair endeavor raised $2,557 for the 2023 Elks Home Service Program. Thank you ticket purchasers and volunteers, for your outstanding support!

One of the Elks premier youth activities, the Elks Soccer Shoot, was recently held at the Bellefonte High School Athletic field, in Bellefonte, PA, sponsored by Bellefonte Elks Lodge #1094. Competition took place in a variety of age groups, with the following results: U16 Girls Madyson Miller First place Shown with Tom Crist, Loyal Knight U14 Boys Jackson Beckwith First place next to Mr. Holsing Seth Caton Second place middle boy Tristan Liadis Third place next to Mr. Crist Shown with Tom Crist, Loyal Knight (left) and Ray Holsing, ER/PER (right) U14 Girls Kaylee Knepp First place Tom Crist, Loyal Knight (left) and Ray Holsing, ER/PER (right) U12 Boys Brady Parsons (standing next to Mr. Crist) Jack Carper (next to Parsons) Eli Caton Third place (next to Carper) Austin Mauk Second place (next to Caton) Austin Beckwith First place (next to Mauk) Ray Holsing ER/PER U12 Girls Isabelle Oravis First place (left girl in photo) Aryanna McCleary Second place ( middle girl in photo) Afelina Zanzalari Third place (right girl in photo) Tom Crist , Loyal Knight (rear left) Ray Holsing, ER/PER (right rear) U10 Boys Samuel Pollick First place Tom Crist, Loyal Knight (left) Ray Holsing (right) U10 Girls Lillian DePaul First place (left) Camryn Miller Second place (right) Tim Crist, Loyal Knight, left rear Ray Holsing, ER/PER, right rear Under 7 Boys Parker Owens First place (center) Tom Crist , Loyal Knight (left) Ray Holsjng, ER/PER (right) Under 7 Girls Evelyn Beckwith First place (center) Shown with Jackson Beckwith (left) and Austin Beckwith (right) The First Place winners in each age group now advance to the Elks District Soccer Shoot. Thank you to the Bellefonte School District for the use of the athletic field, to the volunteers for running the event, and to Dick’s Sporting Goods for donating the soccer balls. And good luck to these young people who will compete at the next level.

Begun in 1868, to provide community service, the Elks are dedicated to community-involvement at a variety of levels. The Bellefonte Elks Lodge # 1094, through a recent $1,000 Garver Fund Grant to the Greater Buffalo Run Valley Food Pantry, further illustrated its commitment to community service in its service area. Shown here, from left to right, are Bellefonte Elks Head Trustee Cathy Hoffman, Food Pantry representative Ed Grubb, Food Pantry Executive Director Nancy Poorbaugh, and Bellefonte Elks Exalted Ruler Ray Holsing. Elks Care! Elks Share!

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED AND WILL BE RESCEDULED Date: August 19th Time: 8:30 am – 4:30 pm Location: East Stroudsburg Elks 319 All Lodges are invited for a day of training Blue Book, General Ritual Rules Eleven O’clock Toast and Flag Charge Contests Lunch Initiation Performed by Bridgeport Lodge Q & A - Rich Dunay and Bridgeport Please RSVP Kelly Kelley, ER #319 (570) 620-7553

This week, the Bloomsburg Elks Lodge donated $10,000 to Camp Echo and Camp Hero. "It's just so special to see what this camp does. It's been in our area for many years, and we're so excited to get involved with them," Kocher said. Camp directors are thrilled with the donation. https://www.wnep.com/article/news/local/columbia-county/bloomsburg-elks-donate-to-camp-victory-millville-echo-hero-elks-club-donation-michaela-lopatosky-ema-straub-ginnie-kocher-michelle-paonessa/523-d199f550-4024-483e-aba3-ece3a1e74e51