April began with our annual Easter festivities with games and face painting in the lodge room concluding with an Easter egg hunt around the pool. A job well done and appreciated by our Kupuna Committee led by Gloria Yau.
I am happy to announce the opening of our fitness center, including the pool bathrooms just in time, as May brings us the start of summer and increased activities around our Lodge. I am sure many of our members can recall the “old” pool bathrooms, lockers and saunas – Take a tour and enjoy the upgrades. This month our members will see the gradual including reopening of the dining areas. Staff will be busy relocating the upstairs pantry which houses our utensils, condiments, refrigerators, ice machines and prep stations to their new locations. Please reach out and thank our staff for all they have done during this renovation.
Now that we have taken and will continue to take care of our aging facility, we need to be- come active in our community which also deserves to be cared for. Our committee chairs are hard at work identifying and focusing on areas of need such as; youth activities, drug awareness and ENF community investments. In fact, Chair Ron Lockwood applied and was recently approved for an ENF Gratitude Grant; congratulations Ron! As veterans and military members are always in our hearts, visit this website and see how you can make a difference in 2018!
https://www .elks.org/vets/news. cfm?StoryID=109724
In keeping with my theme of identifying communitybased needs and collaborations, Honolulu Police District 8’s Community Policing Team attended our April 10th lodge meeting. HPD provided community brochures, updates as well as Kupuna I.D. cards. At our May 8th lodge meeting the Domestic Violence Action Center will give a brief talk story session – please attend these informative sessions.
Lastly, in a few weeks your lodge officers will be attending the 2018 California-Hawaii Elks Association annual convention in San Diego. This conference is where lodges are recognized for their charity efforts in supporting the California Hawaii Major Projects – (CHEMPI). This unique program funds 32 paid therapists and preschool vision screeners, hired by CHEMPI, to help disabled children when no other organizations can or will. These CHEM- PI professional therapists and preschool screeners travel, sometimes great distances, to help children get care they need.
Our State is fortunate to employ 3 therapists- 2 on Oahu and 1 on the Big Island. In fact last year’s theme child Aya is from Hawaii – read about her story at this link.
https://chea-elks.org/wp-content/up – loads/2017/05/Theme-Child.pdf
Please continue to support CHEMPI with your generous tax-deductible donations.
E Hana Kakou – Let’s work together!
Mahalo
Byron A. Apo – Exalted Ruler
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