Exhalted Ruler Message – November 2011

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.