Noblesville Elks Doing Good for Boys & Girls Club Kids
Noblesville Elks Lodge members Cindy King (from left), Phil Anderson, Jason Snyder and Annette Snyder and a Boys & Girls Club of Noblesville volunteer (back) serve pizza to a Club kid during the monthly Elks pizza meal for the Club.
Once a month, Noblesville Elks Lodge members serve pizza to kids at the Boys & Girls Club of Noblesville.
Elks members’ greatest satisfaction comes in watching the Club kids come through the door of the Club cafeteria and head to the serving counter to pick up their slice of pizza, and return to the counter for seconds.
The Elks members serve about 25 pizzas during each monthly pizza meal at the Club.
Last fall, a $3,500 Elks National grant, which came to the Boys & Girls Club in the form of a check, and presented by the Noblesville Elks to the Club as a giant check, at one of the pizza nights, would pay for the pizza from September 2022 through February 2023.
“We enjoy the kids. They’re a lot of fun,” said Noblesville Elk Geoff Robinson, who is also the state president, sworn in June 4, for Indiana Elks Association. Locally, he is also the Lodge secretary, membership chairman, orientation chairman and scholarship chairman.. Robinson said the Noblesville Elks were required to submit a project plan to Elks National on how the club members would use the money. He was thrilled when the Lodge learned of the grant.
On this particular serving day, Robinson was joined by other Elks members volunteering their time, Terri Sigman-Kennedy, Jason and Annette Snyder, Randy and Cindy King and Phil Anderson. Before serving pizza, they posed for a photo with the big check, along with Club staff that included Club unit director Wendy Casteel, Club program facilitator Emily Seig, and nearly a dozen smiling Club kids.
Robinson said he enjoys serving pizza each month. The Lodge has been serving pizza to Club kids for 10 years. The grant money covers pizza for the year. “We just have to do a report to Grand Lodge before the end of the Lodge year, and we have designated the end of February as the date of the final report.
Why he enjoys serving? “It’s very rewarding. Elks members and spouses enjoy it as much as the kids like to have pizza,” Robinson said.
While the pizza meals are served at the Club monthly, he tries to attend every other month “to spread the opportunity of our Lodge members to serve the community.”
In 2022, the Elks Lodge raised about $30,000.00 for cancer charities, to provide food for families in need around the holidays, while also supplying funds for food for FeedingTeam.org, and continued its partnership with the Lincoln Apartments in replenishing their food and hygiene pantries. The lodge gave thousands of dollars in scholarships to young people in our community, plus several donations to various other local community groups that help further missions that are very important to the Elks. The Elks organized another successful Hoop Shoot with shooters advancing in all six groups, boys/girls ages 8-9, 10-11, 12-13.
In 2023, the Noblesville Elks have already been busy, with a euchre tournament last weekend and will host a community blood drive from 9 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. this Saturday. Also, this Saturday, at 6 p.m. the Noblesville Elks will host a Texas Hold ‘Em tournament, with a $50 entry fee, for Elks members only. There are always activities going on at the Noblesville Elks Lodge on South Ninth Street, just west of Conner Street off of the Courthouse Square.
Noblesville Elks is among 1,800 Elks Lodges across the nation with a total membership of about 800,000 members. Elks members must be American citizens and at least 21 years of age and must believe in God.
Contact Betsy Reason at betsy@thetimes24-7.com. Read more about the Noblesville Elks’ 2023 projects in the Betsy Reason column in an upcoming edition of The Times.