It’s a bit harder than it looks to keep track of what you’ve done over the previous 125 years.
Perhaps that’s because since its formation in 1900, the Iola Elks Lodge No. 569 has maintained its focus as an organization built on community service, and not necessarily on worrying about who gets credit.
On Saturday, the members learned just how much the Elks have meant to the Iola community.
Since the Iola Elks received their charter, the members have provided about $2.5 million worth of aid to the community.
The number caught exalted ruler John Booth off guard.
“We were thinking it was closer to $750,000,” he said.
But while the Elks members may have been a bit short-sighted with their record-keeping, they’ve kept their status of a group willing to lend a hand to the community through a number of means, from hosting regular dinners for local groups, distributing food baskets and purchasing gifts for children at Christmas, promoting drug awareness and hosting other events for youth, including the annual Hoops Shoot contests.
On top of music provided, first by the Iola- and Chanute-based rock group The UnChosen, and then provided by DJ Milton “M.C.” Ivy, members and guests enjoyed a meatloaf dinner, cake and punch.
Highlights included a proclamation from Iola Mayor Steve French declaring Saturday Iola Elks Lodge No. 569 Day, and the opening of a time capsule sealed during the Elks’s 100th anniversary celebration in 2000.
Among the artifacts were several photos and papers denoting the club’s century of service, old Iola Register newspapers and an electronic voice amplifier.
Booth said members are gathering mementos for a new time capsule to be sealed for a future generation to unearth.
