For the sixth year, Sebring Lodge has used the Elks National Foundation Beacon Grant to sponsor the Highlands Little Theatre summer camp. This year there were 86 children from the fourth through 12th grades participating. The camp was for four weeks, Monday through Friday for three hours a day. Ages 11-18 were at camp for four weeks and ages 8-10 attended the last week. From June 27-29, they participated in a play called “Seussical Jr.” The directors, Tracy Schuknecht, Laura Wade and Christi Hagen, teach them “to appreciate the arts, grow in personal confidence, develop effective communication skills, become problem solvers, and to collaborate well with others.” Lodge members Jim Mason and George Quel presented the $2,500 check, and Quel explained that the Elks order was started in 1867 by eight theatrical men led by Charles Vivian from England and called themselves the Jolly Corks. In 1868 the name was changed to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
Jim Mason, left, and George Quel, right, present Sebring Lodge’s Beacon Grant to the Highlands Little Theatre summer camp.