On Nov. 12, Tampa Elks Lodge hosted its monthly Motivated Mustangs meeting. This is an Elks National Foundation Beacon Grant project that runs the entire school year. It is an official school function at Madison Middle School, with the supervision of the school’s guidance counselor. As always, the Elks fed the students first — this month was a choice between two items from Chick-fil-A. The meeting’s main activity was addressing Thanksgiving cards to their parents or guardians. However, addressing an envelope is not taught in elementary school anymore, and this was more difficult and time consuming than expected. Many students did not know their ZIP code, and one student whose single parent recently passed had no idea where she would be spending Thanksgiving break. It was eye-opening for the volunteers to see how badly these students needed some extra support. After the students left, Patty Volpe, project manager, inserted a $50 Walmart gift card into each envelope. The social worker checked the addresses and mailed them in time for the adult in the family to get them early in the week of Thanksgiving. The ENF Community Investments Program staff agreed to allow the lodge to help the family with food, since there was no guarantee of food stamps and the students will not be receiving free breakfast and lunch at school. (When you are using a grant, any changes must be approved by ENF in advance.)

Lodge members pictured are Shelagh Gombarcik, PER; Bonnie Atwood; Carolyn Miller; Melissa Bertoch; Cheiatien Elkins; Patty Volpe, project manager; Rita Smith, PER; Laura Bell; and Robert Maloney Jr., Inner Guard.