2011 - 2012 GOALS OF THE PRESIDENT
Accident Prevention/Risk Management
·
To have all Lodges file Claim Reports that are filed on a timely and complete
basis.
·
To have all Lodges submit
the Grand Lodge Self-Inspection Form on a quarterly basis.
·
To have the state chairman
communicate information on the Grand Lodge Insurance Program to the
Lodges quarterly.
·
To have all Lodges review
and report to the state chairman their insurance coverage on Property
and Contents.
·
To have the state chairman
inform all Lodges of the need
for bonding or coverage against discrimination suits and other actions
that may endanger the Lodge, its Officers, and Members
(Directors and Officers
coverage).
Americanism
·
To have all Michigan Lodges
conduct the Mandatory Flag
Day Ceremony, maintain a Heritage Corner and fly or display the American
Flag at all times.
·
Promote patriotic
activities such as, entering Fourth of July Parades, Memorial Day
Parades, and holding Law and Order nights.
·
To have all Lodges submit
the State Americanism report.
·
To have all Lodges in each
District submit an entry in the Grand Lodge Americanism Essay Contest.
·
To have at least one Lodge
in each District participate in the new Flag Day training program for
students.
·
To have every Lodge award
Flag recognition certificates in their area.
Business Practices
·
All lodges will accept or
reject an offer of help from the business practices committee. This
committee will offer its services and expertise to Lodges that may be
having financial difficulties. This committee will review the Lodge’s
operation and make suggestions, which should help with its problems.
Calendar
Program
·
To have all Lodges
participate fully in the Calendar Program and to pay for calendars, in
full, no later than December 31 each year.
Drug Awareness Program
·
To have every Lodge conduct
at least one Drug Awareness Project involving the community.
·
To have all Lodges have a
Drug Awareness booth set up at all Hoop Shoot, Soccer Shoot, or other
youth-oriented activity.
Elks National Home
·
To have all Lodges participate in the National Home Christmas Card Program.
·
To have all Lodges verify publication of at least one article in their Lodge
publication on the National Home and to have
all Lodges place the National
Home on the Lodge publication mailing list.
·
That all lodges publish in
their bulletin residence information and a residence application for
residency at the National Home.
Elks Training Program
·
To have 100% of the Lodges
participate in the Elks Training Program and to have every Lodge Officer
participate in the training program.
·
To have all Exalted Rulers
and Elks Training Chairmen invite and encourage all members, through
their Lodge bulletin and Lodge meetings, to take the training course.
·
To have an “Elks Training
Session” at the state fall round-up available to all interested
attendees.
Government
Relations
·
All lodges will
know that
this committee is responsible for being aware of any legislation on the
local, district, state or national level, which would adversely affect
our Order. Areas of concern are our membership policies, Bylaws, Lodge
House Rules or any other infringement upon our
rights.
·
Any local legislation
pertaining to these matters are to be directed to the attention of the
District and State Government Relations Chairmen. Lodge and District
Chairmen should also inform the State Chairman immediately of any
inquiries received from any local, state or national agency questioning
any of our policies.
·
To have all Michigan lodges
maintain accurate records in the “Charity Records Booklet” for all
Volunteer, Youth, Charitable and Community Service Programs, and to
submit the report on time to the Grand Lodge.
·
To have all members of our
association understand and assist in protecting our guaranteed
constitutional rights. These
rights were granted to us under the First and Fourteenth amendments of
the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights (especially the
right to “Private Assembly” and the exercise of freedom of choice with
regard to these rights).
·
To provide Lodges with
charitable statistics for their
publication in the community and Lodge bulletins.
·
To provide form letters to
Lodge members for organized write-in
campaigns as suggested by Grand
Lodge.
Hoop Shoot
·
To have 100% participation
of all Lodges in the Hoop Shoot Program.
·
That Lodge Drug Awareness,
Americanism and Membership Committees set up information booths at every
Lodge, District, and State contest. This committee should also provide
the Michigan Elks News and Michigan Elks Website with a list of winners
at the State contest and an article, including pictures, concerning the
event.
Judiciary (Law & Bylaw Committees)
·
The committee
shall notify all Lodges of what it does and who to contact.
These committees have the responsibility
to examine all proposed amendments to the Constitution of the Michigan
Elks Association and all resolutions, memorials or motions relating to
its bylaws, with respect to the form, purpose and legality. These
committees may present recommendations at the Annual Meeting for any
changes or amendments of the “Constitution
and Bylaws, as the committees deem desirable.
Lodge Activities/Star Lodge Award Program
·
To have 100% participation
in the President’s Star Lodge Award Program.
·
To have all Exalted Rulers
or verified lodge alternate
attend the Grand Lodge Convention in Phoenix, Arizona. Attendance is a
requirement of Grand Lodge for the Exalted Ruler to become a member of
Grand Lodge.
·
To have all Lodges qualify
for the G.E.R. Special Citation Award.
·
To have all Lodges present
an "Elk of the Year", "Officer of the Year", and "Citizen of the Year"
award (at a minimum, 2 of the 3), plus at least two G.E.R. Special
Commendation Awards to worthy Lodge members.
Membership / Lapsation
·
To involve all Lodges and
members in an active Membership program, inclusive of Membership
procurement and Membership retention.
To encourage the use of all prescribed reward incentive programs
for new Membership.
·
To involve all Lodges and
members in an active Membership program, inclusive of Membership
procurement and Membership retention.
To encourage the use of all prescribed reward incentive programs
for new Membership.
·
To teach all Lodges about
the new member mentoring program.
·
For each Lodge to have
initiations of new members of at least 7% of their April 1, 2011
membership.
·
To reduce the Lapsation in
our State to 3% or less.
·
To have all Lodges develop an active Stray Elk
program utilizing the Stray Elk Report from Grand Lodge.
Results should be reported to the state chairman in September and
April.
·
Lodges are to submit, via
CLMS, quarterly Membership/Lapsation
Reports on time.
·
To have each Lodge work
with the Grand Lodge “Membership
Control Manual” to obtain these goals.
·
To have Lodges that have a
membership/lapsation program that is working, share that program with
the state chairman.
Michigan Elks Major Project
·
To aid and assist “Special
Needs Children” and solicit the aid of all members to attain the goals
as set forth by the Major Project Commission.
·
To have all Lodges
remit the mandatory contribution of $1.00 per member by the April 1st
due date, and other collected funds on at least a quarterly basis, and
to encourage the continued support for all Major Project fund-raising
projects on a voluntary basis.
·
To have all Lodges submit at least one case to the Major Project Commission.
National Foundation
·
To have 100% participation
of the Lodges with at least 50% of new initiates starting a
subscription.
·
To have every Officer in
every Lodge and every Officer and Chairman in the State Association be a
member of the National Foundation.
·
To state chairman is to
inform every Lodge of the voluntary dues subscription program to
increase Lodge National Foundation Contributions.
·
To have all Lodges meet the
per-capita goal of contributions to the Elks National Foundation as set
forth by Grand Lodge or, at a minimum improve their contributions from
the prior year.
·
To have a
year-end State per-capita that meets or
exceeds the Grand Lodge per-capita goal
National Veterans Service Commission
·
To have monthly
Elks-sponsored activities at every
Veterans Hospital in the State of Michigan.
·
To have every Lodge conduct
an activity for Veterans Remembrance Month during the month of November.
·
To have every Lodge collect
recommended items throughout the year to be distributed to the Veterans
Hospital in their area and to have each Lodge send its monthly bulletin
to the area Veterans hospital.
·
To adopt Veterans in every
Veterans Hospital in the State of Michigan and to support these
adoptions with holiday cards, donations and gifts
Public/Member
Relations
·
All lodges will understand
that good public relations are extremely important today. The Public
Relations Committee is responsible for conducting a program that will
project the true image of Elkdom to the public through our benevolent,
charitable and patriotic programs.
·
To continue the publication
of the Michigan Elks News. To encourage the members of our association
to submit newsworthy articles to the Michigan Elks News.
·
To have all State Chairmen
provide an article for publication in at least two editions of The
Michigan Elks News.
·
Encourage all Lodges to
maintain a publication to their membership concerning Lodge activities
and State and Grand Lodge programs.
·
To encourage all Lodges to
reprint articles from the Michigan Elks News and Grand Lodge Newsletter
in their Lodge Bulletins.
·
The State Chairman to write
an article each quarter regarding activities happening throughout the
State and encourage all Lodges to publish these articles in their Lodge
bulletin.
·
To have 100% of the Lodges
promote Elkdom’s image by
publicizing at least three
activities through their
local newspaper or radio/television station.
·
For all Lodges to have at
least one article printed in the Michigan Elks News and/or the Elk’s
National Magazine about their members or activities.
Ritual
·
To have all Lodge Officers
rehearse their ritual parts to insure that we will greatly impress our
new members.
·
To have all Lodges rehearse
all ritual ceremonies to improve their delivery, especially those
presented to the public.
·
To encourage the Ritual
Competition by all of the Lodges and to continue to conduct a State
Ritual Clinic at the Fall Conference.
·
Change district rituals to
regional ritual contests or a state ritual contest due to low
participation in the district contests.
Scholarship
·
To have 100% participation
of all Lodges in the Elks National Foundation Scholarship Program.
·
To provide assistance to
the Gold Key Scholarship Commission and aggressively promote the Gold
Key Scholarship program statewide.
Soccer
·
All lodges will know that
it is the responsibility of the soccer committee to organize and promote
Soccer Shootout Contests at the Lodge, District, and State levels. This
contest involves another sector of our young people and does much to
bring the good works of our Order to the attention of the public.
Therefore, it is important to bring the local Lodges’ involvement in the
contest to the attention of the local media. At the conclusion of the
State Contest, news releases should be sent to the Lodges sponsoring the
top three finishers in each of the groups of contestants.
·
Each lodge will understand
that their soccer committee should strive for an increase in
participation in this program by the Lodges in Michigan. The committee
should also provide the Michigan Elks News and the Michigan Elks Website
with a list of winners at the State Contest and an article, including
pictures, concerning the event. A copy of the article and pictures
should also be sent to the Elks Magazine.
Special Events/Community Welfare/Organ Donor
Program
·
To have every Lodge conduct
an “Elks Pumpkin Patch” Halloween party for our special needs children
and their families.
·
To have every Lodge conduct
activities for community awareness and wellbeing.
·
To have every Lodge
encourage their members to participate in the Organ Donor Program as
adopted by Grand Lodge and the Federal Department of Health and Human
Services and host an organ donor sign up event.
Webmaster
·
All Michigan Elk Lodges
will know that we have a web page and that the Webmaster’s
responsibilities will include creating a Website that serves to meet the
goals of the organization, maintaining and administering the systems,
generating Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and scripts, developing the
graphic design and layout of the user interface, and developing the
architecture of the information throughout the site. The Webmaster will
provide support within and across the information layers of the
organization
Youth Activities
·
All lodge members will understand that the Youth Activities Committee is
one of the most important committees in the Lodge, the State, and the
Nation. When the local Lodge has an active Youth Activities Committee,
the community becomes aware that the Order of Elks cares about its
youth. There are many excellent youth programs, which are available to
youth of all ages in your area. These programs are described in the
Grand Lodge Youth Activities Brochure, which is available from the Grand
Lodge Youth Activities Committee and should be on file in your Lodge
Secretary’s office.
·
To work with the State
Soccer Chairman in conducting Lodge, District and State Soccer contests.
·
To have all Lodges
conduct at least one Youth Program that involves the local
community.
·
To have all Lodges
participate in at least some of the various youth activities student
certificate awards.
·
To increase the number of
Lodges participating in
Scouting and to involve the Scouts in selected Lodge activities.
·
The state chairman will
inform all Lodges about the “Junior
Elks” and/or “Venturing” Programs within their communities and assist
those Lodges desiring to start these programs.
·
The state chairman will
inform Lodges about the Grand Lodge dictionary program and assist those
Lodges desiring to start this program.
Keith E. Alverson
President, Michigan Elks Association
