LOYAL. LOCAL. COMPLETE.
PARIS—On Nov. 2nd, the Paris Elks Lodge #812 held a dinner to thank and honor local veterans. The homemade meal is becoming a tradition according to the lodge’s secretary Marci Irwin, who had the honor of cooking the meal this year.
“Early in 2023, our lodge felt that we needed to do more for our local veterans,” Chad Stevens explained. “One easy thought to thank our veterans, we felt, as a lodge, was to have a dinner. Marci started reaching out to other lodge members and asked if this was something they would also like to see our lodge do.”
After a successful first year serving local veterans, the lodge unanimously decided the dinner needed to become an annual event.
“Whether we have 25 veterans show up or 100, this is something we felt strongly to continue doing,” Stevens said. “It’s a simple gesture we give, but (it) fills our hearts with joy.”
The meal the Elks provided last week consisted of two choices; ham and beans with corn bread or chicken and noodles with mashed potatoes and corn. Participants could dine in, carry out or pick up their meals, Jennifer Daugherty explained.
“The menu is discussed at one of the meetings prior to the event,” Daugherty said. “It’s usually something filling and easy to prepare…It’s all hands on deck the evening of the event. Members help with registration, set up, serving, delivery, tear down and clean-up.”
Not only was the hot meal available to veterans at the Lodge, but meals were also delivered to veterans at Twin Lakes Rehabilitation Center, Paris Healthcare and Brookstone Assisted Living.
“We used to have eight to 10 veterans, now we only have one,” Jill Finchum explained.
Finchum works at Brookstone Estates in Paris where a single veteran was the recipient of a dinner from the Elks. Despite the fluctuating number of veterans in the care of the assisted living facility, Finchum said the facility has always received a tremendous amount of care and support for service members.
“Regardless of how many vets we have had over the years, we have always had really great amounts of support from all of the organizations in town, especially the Elks,” Finchum said. “(They) call and ask about sizes for clothes and some ask about things like favorite pops and drinks … we get a lot of support and we appreciate all of the support.”
Stevens, and other members of the benevolent organization, claim their mission is about much more than serving up grub and making deliveries, it is “dedication to the service of the community and country.”
“It’s truly not about feeding our veterans, but more of showing them our appreciation and letting them know we have not forgotten about them and their service to our great country,” Stevens said. “Our motto as an Elk is ‘So long as there are veterans, the Order of Elks will never forget them.’”
The Elks’ work supporting veterans is not limited to serving and delivering hot meals either. The order is heavily involved in Christmas in July, Wreathes Across America, donations to honor flights and donations to the VFW and American Legion auxiliaries.
This past spring, the Lodge donated more than 700 bottles of body wash to the VA Illiana Health Care System in Danville, Ill. in a newly established fundraiser.
The animal the order took its name from was chosen because a number of its attributes were deemed typical of those to be cultivated by members of the fraternity. Elks live in herds; they are quick and keen on perception while also being gentle and valiant in defense of their own. The Elks of Edgar County are no exception, the group’s action mimics its namesake, down the commitment to veteran care, community support and even the use of dinner leftovers.
“We decided that all of the leftover, unopened food (from the dinner) would go to the Soup Kitchen,” Daugherty said.
“The Paris Elks #812 has a very strong foundation and continues to build on giving back to our community,” Stevens said. “Most Elk Lodges have clubs, Paris does not, but not having one, allows us to focus on giving back and support our community in ways other lodges can’t afford to do. We strive to support our veterans, youth, special needs children, scholarship programs, along with other outreach programs in our community.”
For those who want to learn more about the fraternal organization and what they are doing in the community Stevens suggested browsing www.elks.org and clicking on the ‘who are we’ tab.
“Why not join an organization that spends more than $80,000,000 annually for benevolent, educational and patriotic community programs?” Stevens asked.