Happy New Year!!! It’s hard to believe that 2011 is now past and we are starting another whole new year of fresh beginnings in 2012. This is always an exciting time in reflecting on what our shortcomings may have been and setting our New Year’s resolutions with high hopes for a prosperous 2012.

December was a very busy month at our lodge. A BIG thank you to all the wonderful staff who worked hard during the year to make your experience at the Elks an enjoyable one, as well as those who worked in making all the Christmas parties a success.

December 3rd was the annual Elks Hoop Shoot Contest. A big thank you to Scott Volkert, Esteemed Leading Knight, in this being another huge success for all his efforts and organization as well as his volunteer helpers in organizing this event.

The annual Elks Memorial Service was held on Sunday, December 4th. This is a lodge ritual of remembrance of those who have passed away during the year. It is an honor for the officers to perform this ritual for the families of our departed members. A special thanks to Pastor Paul Nather, Minister to Youth Families at Century Baptist Church for his message that was delivered during the service.

On Saturday, December 10th was the annual Children’s Christmas party which was organized by Mike Lindblom, Chaplain, as well as the many volunteers who helped make this another successful party that was enjoyed by many families and children in their chance to visit with Santa and convey their “wish list” to him.

Let us celebrate the New Year with free Tom and Jerry’s and Bloody Marys on New Year’s Day to all members. This is a time to come down for some fun and fellowship and visit with those who are home for the holidays.

Let me also urge everyone to purchase their car raffle tickets for the 2012 Chevrolet Convertible Camaro, which is a 45th anniversary edition, to be given away in March. This is a big fundraiser for our lodge in which it allows many things to be done and given to Camp Grassick, as well as for other causes and needs in our community. I want to thank you in advance for your loyal and continued support of this event.

We hope you begin your new year at the Elks and look forward to your continued support of the nation’s largest membership lodge in the nation.

Rick DeBolt
Exalted Ruler
Bismarck-Mandan Lodge #1199

It is my sad duty to announce the death of John Yonker, Roger Peters, Ed Doyle, Max McMullen. May their Virtues be written on the tablet of love and memory.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, fellow Elks!
As we have just completed digesting our Thanksgiving meals, I trust you survived the holiday shopping days that followed. The kid’s gift lists have been fun this year as my 6 year old son, Colby, has already gone
thru the sale ads and circled all of the many gifts he wants, just like I did many years ago.

It will be a busy month for all of us as we enter this Christmas season.

Before I get to the current month, let me remind you of some of the events we have just completed in November. We celebrated the dedicated service our Veterans did for us with Veterans Day. On Homecoming night, which was November 18th, we honored all Elks members with pins that have been members of our Lodge for 25 and 50 years.

Let me remind you of the regional Hoop Shoot which will be held at Wachter Middle school on December 3rd at 8:00 a.m. This is for all the winners who have already won their local school’s contest. I wish all the contestants, the best of luck. Thanks to all volunteers, and especially to our Leading Knight, Scott Volkert, who is the Chairman and always does a great job making this a successful event.

We will hold our annual Memorial Services on December 4th. This is a service in which the officers remember all our members who have passed away during this year; our Men’s Chorus will sing two wonderful selections. The speaker this year will be Pastor Paul Nather, whom is
Pastor to Youth Families at Century Baptist Church.

On December 10th Santa Claus is scheduled to make his annual visit to our lodge to get the kid’s wish lists that they are hoping he will bring to them this Christmas. He is scheduled to land his sleigh on the roof
of the Elks around 1:00 pm and leave around 3:00pm. There will be face painting, balloon critters, and treat bags for all the kids who sit on Santa’s lap. This will also give you the opportunity to have your picture made with Santa if you bring your camera. Please be sure to put
this on your calendar, as this is a fun time for all who attend.

I wish all who will be traveling this holiday season a safe and prosperous holiday and a Happy New Year.

Last, let’s all pause to remember the true meaning of Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and savior and may God Bless you.

Rick DeBolt
Exalted Ruler, Bismarck-Mandan Lodge #1199

It is my sad duty to announce the death of Conrad Kirmis, Milford Stephenson and Michael Robb. May their Virtues be written on the tablet of love and memory.

Greetings fellow Elks,

“As the year has begun to turn its full circle, the season of fall is upon us. The fields and trees are bare, as their harvest is all gathered in. Now we get ready for the chilly north wind to blow, and bring us our winter snow.“ — Author Unknown

If you have been a little chilled, come on down and warm up at the Elks. I would like to invite everyone to come and enjoy some oyster stew, as we have started the weekly seafood and hamburger bar on Saturdays which includes college football games, then on Sunday the NFL games.

Since November is the month of Thanksgiving, let me start off by thanking the Bismarck Cancer Center, who hosted on October 14-16 their annual hunting with Roosevelt fundraising event. In attendance there were some influential people, including Ted McKnight, retired NFL Kansas City Chief’s football player; Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO; Tweed Roosevelt, President Roosevelt’s great great grandson, National Guard soldiers and many others.

Let me commend Roger Krueger and your constituents on a job well done for a successful event.

A thank you also goes out to Larry Larson, who is serving as the District Deputy for the Grand Exalted Ruler for Western North Dakota, and his wife, Phyllis for being at our Lodge on Thursday evening, October 20th to inspect our lodge and review our records to make his report to the Grand Lodge. We are anticipating a favorable report.

Thank you, Veterans, for your sacrifices you gave for our freedom. The things that the National Guardsman have done for us this past year will never be forgotten, from helping serve during the flooding throughout the state to serving overseas. Thank you all current military members and all retired veterans.

A special thanks goes out to all our long time Elk members, whom we will be recognizing at our annual homecoming ceremony on Friday, November 18th. I invite you to come down and congratulate them on their long-term commitment to our Elks Lodge.

Lastly, as a thank you to all who has patronized our lodge this past year, as we start off the Thanksgiving weekend, I invite you to reunite with family and friends; we will be serving FREE Tom & Jerry’s on the Wednesday, November 23rd on the lodge floor starting at 7:00 pm.

In closing, I remind you to purchase your car raffle tickets for the 45th Anniversary Edition of the Chevrolet Camaro that is displayed in our lodge.

Rick DeBolt
Exalted Ruler
Bismarck-Mandan Lodge #1199

It is my sad duty to announce the death of Dale Irwin, Peter Hogue, Jon Good. May their Virtues be written on the tablet of love and memory.

Greetings fellow Elks.

The fall season is upon us and I am sure each of you are enjoying this beautiful time of the year. This is definitely a great reminder of why we live in North Dakota. There are many things going on this time of year, such as hunting, football and the start of indoor activities at the Elks, such as trivia, pinochle and the Sunday NFL package.

September was an eventful and successful month with the outdoor flood relief party on the patio which included the two bands, Low Down Dirty Dogs and Joe Friday, who donated their time and talent to our packed patio which was a very worthwhile cause. For a great evening out, please watch next spring and summer’s newsletters for future activities on our ever-expanding patio.

On the weekend of September 24th, Elk’s volunteers were very busy with the parade and the boy’s fall soccer shoot. We thank all those who gave so generously of their time and effort in making sure these were a great success.

Let me make mention of the membership committee’s scheduled open house which will be held on October 27th. This is to open up the Elk’s for any future members to see and tour our great lodge and answer any questions there may be for possible future members. We are excited about and most honored to be the largest lodge in the nation membership-wise and we are always looking for ways to preserve that respected title.

In last month’s newsletter you may have seen that we have started our annual major fundraiser, the car raffle. The committee has chosen a 2012 Chevrolet 45th Anniversary charcoal gray convertible Camaro, which will be on display in the front lobby soon. We are very excited about this year’s choice and are looking forward to making up the monetary difference we incurred due to this year’s flooding.

We have been severely hampered in giving to some of the great organizations in which we are honored to support but are hoping we can make up a vast majority of the loss in asking that each member purchase just one extra book of five tickets to help offset our losses. In that $15 extra dollars per member at 4,600 members that equals $69,000. Just imagine with that all the many worthwhile organizations we could help. Be looking for your booklets in the mail soon.

Come on down to the Elk’s and see the beautiful special edition Camaro that will be on display in our lodge.

Rick DeBolt
Exalted Ruler, Bismarck-Mandan Lodge #1199

It is my sad duty to announce the death of Mike Schumacher, Ed B. Harrison. May their Virtues be written on the tablet of love and memory.

Hello fall and good-bye spring and summer. The summer started with a wild Memorial Day weekend and hopefully ended with a great Labor Day weekend. It is a story that we can tell our kids and grandkids, “that we survived the spring and summer of 2011.” Something to look forward to is the Lodge’s flood charity relief party scheduled for September 9th. We are still planning, but have scheduled a parking lot dance with two bands, burgers and lots of fun. Look for the schedule of events in this newsletter.

I recently returned from the National Elks Convention in Phoenix, AZ, this past July. I attended several meetings and visited with people from several states on the success and failures of their lodges. They were all impressed when told of our four thousand six hundred plus members. While there, it was confirmed that we are still the largest lodge in the nation. This time we received notice of it in the Wednesday’s front page of the convention newspaper. An article was written about our lodge being the largest in the nation. Please see the whole article in this newsletter. Thank you for your help in this great accomplishment, six years running.

Some of us recently attended the State Convention in Devils Lake. It was good to see their lodge succeeding as they moved into their new building.

It was there we learned that Camp Grassick had another successful year. Dan Mimnaugh, Camp Director, and his helpers are already planning for their next season. The State trustees informed us that the Pontoon has been fixed with donations from several people from around the state. They have replaced the shingles on the infirmary with a metal roof with the help of the Dickinson Elks.
Their scheduled projects for next year include a new bathroom with showers, in which a blueprint has already been drawn up. Also, a new playground is in the works with some specialized playground equipment for the children to play on. A fund has already been set up for this and it is starting to grow. So if you have any special talents you would like to share or wish to contribute monetarily with these two projects, please feel free.

I look forward to seeing you at the Elks this fall during one of the many events scheduled or just hanging out with friends.

See you at the Elks.
Rick DeBolt, Exalted Ruler, Bismarck-Mandan Lodge #1199

It is my sad duty to announce the death of Bill Keller, J.C. Rondeau, Eugene Doll, Lee K. Jueth, Hubert Freise, Mylo Mehlhoff, Alan Traeholt, Ludwig Feist, Robert Stenehjem, Maurice Arves, Robert A. Kuntz, Clayton Carr, Robert B. Ulmer, Lois Schmidt. May their Virtues be written on the tablet of love and memory.