State Elks organization gives Charles City Lodge top honors

By Mary Pieper, Special to the Press

In an era when membership in some community organizations is dwindling, the Charles City Elks Lodge is growing.

That’s one of the reasons why the club was named Iowa Lodge of the Year during the state Elks convention earlier this year.

The Charles City Elks currently has around 440 members and is the third-largest lodge in the state. Only Iowa City and West Des Moines, which are far larger cities, have bigger Elks lodges, according to Eric Whipple, past exalted leader of the Charles City Lodge.

The state currently has 32 Elks lodges, according to Whipple, who was the vice president for the Iowa Elks Northeast District last year. He said there used to be more, including one in Mason City, but they have closed “for one reason or another.”

However, the Charles City lodge was able to keep going even during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was a tough time for everyone, let alone organizations like our own that rely heavily on having our lodge open and people reserving it and having events out there,” Whipple said.

But even when public facilities were shut down due to COVID constrictions, the Charles City lodge kept its Thursday night suppers going for members. Instead of everyone gathering inside the lodge building, the meals were served curbside.

Around 80 to 100 meals were served every Thursday night for a freewill donation.

Whipple said the members were generous when it came to making those donations because they understood they had to do so to keep the lodge going.

One of the biggest draws for Elks Lodge membership in Charles City is its private lake, according to Sally Mills, who served as exalted leader last year.

“We are getting a lot of younger members with kids that come out and fish and kayak,” she said.

There’s plenty of room around the lake to walk around it and enjoy the scenery, according to Whipple.

The Charles City Elks Lodge number is 418, meaning it was only the 418th to be chartered in the entire country back in the late 1890s. Today there are 2,100 lodges in the United States.

Next year will be the Charles City Elks Lodge’s 125th anniversary.

Youth and veterans are the main focus of the Charles City lodge.

Every year the lodge hosts a Veterans Day program and soup supper.

The lodge also participates in the Elks’ Deer Hide program, in which lodges collect deer hides so they can be turned into leather items for veterans such as gloves, moccasins, hats and purses.

This year the Charles City Elks collected more than 1,000 hides, more than any other lodge in the state.

“That was awesome for us,” Mills said.

The Charles City Elks also help local veterans more by sponsoring shopping trips for them so they can get what they need but can’t afford, including food, hats, gloves, coats and boots.

“We find a lot of veterans who are in need, even in our area. Most people don’t realize that,” Whipple said.

Every year the Charles City Elks hold a youth hoop shoot, which is a basketball free-throw contest. The winners of the local contest have the opportunity to move on to district, state, regional and national competition.

The lodge also has a drug awareness program for youth.

“We hit that pretty hard” during the Spookwalk event the Charles City Chamber of Commerce does for Halloween, Whipple said.

The Charles City Elks gives dictionaries to all the third-graders in Charles City and New Hampton, and holds a youth banquet in May.

During the banquet, Elks scholarships are awarded to graduating high school seniors.

On the state level, the Elks Lodge awards several $1,500 vocational grants that allow not only graduating seniors but also adults to attend a trade program at a community college, such as HVAC, electrical work or plumbing. They can complete either a certificate program or a two-year associate degree.

Through its charitable trust, the Charles City Elks Lodge provides grants to community organizations. Last year a total of $6,000 in grants was distributed. The amount this year was closer to $5,000.

The Fall Fling, held every year in October, is the big fundraiser for the foundation.

Now that pandemic restrictions have eased, the Charles City Elks Lodge is renting out its building more for events such as weddings and class reunions.

The Thursday night meals for members are also being held inside the lodge once again, but members can still get the meal to go if they wish.

In addition, the Charles City Rotary Club meets at the Elks Lodge every week.

The lodge at 2111 Clark St. was completed in 1970 to replace the Elks building that was destroyed in the 1968 tornado.

Whipple said the Elks have quite a few pictures of the exterior of that building, but haven’t been able to find any from inside it.

Anyone who has a photo taken in the former lodge building during an event such as a wedding is asked to contact the Charles City Elks at secretary@charlescityelks.org or call 641-228-1257.