On Friday, March 11, 2016, Arlington-Fairfax Elks Lodge 2188 hosted Thanksgiving in March for wounded service members and their families.  Over 145 guests in attendance including wounded service members, families, volunteers, and one service dog (Houston) enjoyed our Thanksgiving in March dinner. This was Elks 2188 2nd Thanksgiving in March dinner to show our appreciation for the service and sacrifices these military members have made.  The Exalted Ruler, Brenda Slingerland welcomed all the members and guests and said “the Lodge was truly honored to hold this special dinner for the service members who have served our country and sacrificed so much in doing so.”

 

Elks lodge 2188 was honored to also host 15 ENF Elks Scholars, under the direction of service trip coordinators Maryann Slater and Jenna Johnson from the ENF office in Chicago. The Elks Scholar Service Trip is an opportunity for scholarship recipients to come together in service with Elks scholar peers. For the year 2016-2016, the Elks National Foundation launched three Elks Scholar Service Trips - one to Manistique, Michigan, one to Oakland California and one to Washington, DC. The scholars stayed in DC and worked with the Youth Service Opportunities Project serving local organizations that serve those experiencing hunger and homelessness as well as our nation's veterans. At our lodge, they shared dinner and a service opportunity while serving the wounded warriors at the event. The scholars had all received at least a $4,000 scholarship as part of the Most Valuable Students Scholarship Contest, a legacy scholarship or an Emergency grant scholarship from ENF.  From the elks.org website at  http://www.elks.org/ENF/scholars/spring.cfm: "We will cap off the week at the Arlington-Fairfax, Va., Lodge No. 2188 where we will serve and share a meal with guests at a dinner sponsored by the Aleethia Foundation for wounded warriors. What better way to serve than alongside our Elks family? 

 

A special thanks to Freedom Petals who provided fresh flower centerpieces for the tables. Freedom Petals is an all volunteer organization that provides fresh floral arrangements for various activities for wounded service members. 

 

At the end of the evening the scholars sat down with District Deputy Frank Burns, Scholarship Committee Susan Mekenney, Chair, Committee members Fredi and Ken Hensley, Art Wyman and Exalted Ruler Brenda Slingerland. The scholars introduced themselves and their ambitions/aspirations one by one and then the members did likewise. It was a very informative session.  Our young people bring us such pride and hope for our the future of our country. With youth like these - we are in good hands!

 

The Arlington-Fairfax Elks Lodge is very proud to have had the opportunity to share the evening dinner with both the Aleethia Foundation and the Scholars trip participants.      

 

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Elks Care – Elks Share