Greetings, everyone. It is hard to believe that we are halfway through my term as FLOE President. The Florida Ladies of Elks have had a great year thus far and we have some fun things planned and would love to see you participate.
In February, FLOE held its meeting during the FSEA quarterly meeting at the Florida Elks Youth Camp. During the major projects meeting, FLOE presented a check for $9,000 ($4,500 for FECTS and $4,500 for FEYC), bringing FLOE’s total donations to the FSEA state major projects to $29,964.96, with Laura Sardella, PSP-FLOE, 2022-2023 President, at the helm.
FLOE has been faced with some hurdles at the start of 2024, but the ladies across the state of Florida are amazing women and have all stepped up to overcome the hurdles. In my last article I mentioned that I had suggested “We Are Family” be the theme song of FLOE, and I was unsure if everyone was on board with the idea. Well, I am pleased to say that although they may not have verbally expressed agreement, the actions of the ladies across Florida have confirmed that “We Are Family” (“We are family. I got all my sisters with me”). Over the years we have and continue to show we truly are sisters in FLOE.
Our goal this year was to increase awareness and visibility of FLOE throughout Florida, as we shared information on who we are and all the great things we do for the FSEA major projects. All our fundraising efforts benefit the Florida Elks Youth Camp and Florida Elks Children’s Therapy Services. Monthly articles promoting what we are doing in FLOE are being sent to lodges for inclusion in their monthly newsletters. I have heard some lodges have published the articles and I hope all lodges will soon follow. To increase awareness and visibility, I have been attending the FSEA State President visits when possible. I had the pleasure of attending the North, North Central and Northeast district visits, where I was given the opportunity to speak at the start of their program. I had a wonderful time at each visit and met some wonderful people along the way.
In trying to keep my promise to assist our lodges’ Ladies organizations, attend their events and represent FLOE as much as possible throughout the state, I joined the ladies from Lake Placid Lodge, selling strawberry shortcake with ice cream. In February, they participated in a weekend festival. I was not able to attend the event Saturday when they sold 755 orders, but I was able to attend Sunday. The Sunday rain prevented people from going out but they managed to sell a total of nearly 800 orders over the two-day period. The two-hour drive was well worth it, as I had a great time making new friends from Lake Placid Lodge. In March, the Deep Creek Ladies hosted a fundraiser with music by American Made. Let me tell you, this band is awesome, and the Deep Creek ladies know how to have a good time. Once again, I met new people and enlarged my circle of friends, or I should say “family.” I will make the three-hour drive to support their events anytime I can. At the time of this submission, I am planning to attend an event for the ladies at South Hillsborough Lodge in Ruskin. I am looking forward to a great time.
The third annual Ladies Weekend at the Florida Elks Youth Camp will be taking place after the writing of this article, so I will update you in the next magazine issue.
The second annual FLOE RV Rally (Camping for the Kids) is scheduled for May 31-June 2, 2024. All proceeds benefit the Florida Elks Youth Camp. If you do not have an RV/trailer, you should consider renting one. My husband went out and bought one just so we would never have to miss this event. This is a fun weekend for the entire family at the North Ocala RV Resort that you do not want to miss. More information and registration are available on floridaelks.org.
We are preparing for our next meeting to be held during the FSEA state convention Saturday morning, May 25. Please check the FSEA agenda for the location and time. We will have an election of officers for the 2024-2025 term. Packets for the upcoming FLOE conference will also be available. The FLOE Angel Reverse Draw tickets will be available with a donation of $20 each. This program benefits Florida Elks Children’s Therapy Services. Come to the meeting and hear more about all the wonderful things we do to support the FSEA major projects. We would love to see new faces at our meeting and look forward to making new friends and expanding our family.
Please visit the FLOE hospitality suite at the FSEA state convention May 23- 25. We will have the famous slushie machine and a craft beer for attendees to enjoy. The room will host a 50/50 drawing and we will have a scratch-off ticket fundraiser. Every ticket will be a winner.
The Grand Lodge convention in Austin, Texas, will have something new added to the schedule of workshops. That new workshop will be a meet-and-greet for the ladies across the country to meet each other and share ideas. Fundraisers are an important part of every lodge and let’s face it, the ladies are a huge part of the fundraising events, whether it is as a lodge member or a member of the Ladies organization within their lodge. This will be a great way to share fundraising ideas. I’m sure ladies in other states do things we have never thought of and vice versa. We can all get together and take innovative ideas back to our own lodges, increasing funds raised and increasing attendance at our fundraising events. Florida Ladies of Elks will be hosting the meet-and-greet, so I hope you will show your support while in Austin.
As a reminder, every lady Elk, wife of an Elk and widow of an Elk are members of FLOE. There is no application to complete nor dues to pay. How active a lady chooses to be is completely up to her, but she remains a member of FLOE.
Pauline