Middleboro Lodge #1274 Elks Care, Elks Share
Lodge Archives - (in process)
Massachusetts Elks Scholarship Fund
Elks State Associations provide tools, resources and funding related to education in their state.
Our House Committe Members and Volunteers working together to make a difference while the Lodge has been closed down.
Our Lodge Keeps Busy
Sprucing Up In Downtime
After three decades of state and local celebrations, many of which were sponsored by Elks Lodges, President Woodrow Wilson, on May 30, 1916, officially established June 14 as Flag Day. Finally, on August 3, 1949, President Harry S. Truman, a member of the Order, permanently designated June 14 as Flag Day by signing an act of Congress.
Patriotism has characterized the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the United States of America since the early days of the organization. Allegiance to the flag of our country is a requirement of every member. In 1907, the Grand Lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks designated, by resolution, June 14 as Flag Day. The Grand Lodge of the Order adopted mandatory observance of the occasion by every Lodge in 1911, and that requirement continues. The Elks prompted President Woodrow Wilson to recognize the Order's observance of Flag Day for its patriotic expression.
But it was not until 1949 when President Harry Truman, himself a member of the Elks, made the proclamation that thereafter June 14 would be a day of national observance for the symbol of our country. It was through his Elks Lodge in Independence, Missouri, that President Truman got the idea for a national observance of Flag Day.
Middleboro Elks & Kiwanis
Join Together
in
Pill Bottle Recycling
"A" is for "Altar," where proudly repose The Three Precious Symbols that every Elk knows.
"B" is for Brother, a word that we love; It makes us all kin, does the term from above.
"C" is for "Charity", nobilist of deeds; it carries a blessing in each of its seeds.
"D" is for "Discord" we have known, and "Duty," that bids us to take care of our own.
"E" is for "Eleven," the hour of prayer, When "Our Absent Brothers" our loving thoughts share.
"F" if for "Fidelity," Ne'er does it lag; Just now it bids us to stand up for our Flag.
"G" stands for "God," the Omnipotent King, Whose children we are, and whose praises we sing.
"H" is for our "Home," where a welcome awaits, The "Wandering Elk" who has come to our gates.
"I" is for "Initiate," waiting the words, That makes him and Elk, with a place in the herds.
The "J" is for "Justice," impartial and free, Yet tempered with Mercy, as Justice should be.
The "K" is for "Knowledge," that thrills you and me, That all the world honors the "B.P.O.E."
"L" is for "Lodges," all over the land, About fifteen hundred and many more planned.
"M" is for "Mem'ry," of each bygone prince Who helped found our Order, just fifty years since.
"N" is the "Nation" of which we're a part, And love for it burns bright in ev'ry Elk's heart.
"O" is our "Order," and likewise our "Oath," as long as life lasts, we'll be faithful to both.
"P" is our "Pockets," that we reach in, and quick, To help the distressed, and the poor, and the sick.
"Q" is the "Queens" of our hearts and our lives, Our Mothers, and Sisters, our Sweethearts and Wives.
"R" is "Religion," we know only ONE: To do good to all, and do evil to none.
"S" is the "Star" that looks down from above, And sheds on our Altar the radiance of love.
"T" is for "Time," with his scythe and his glass; He bids us remember,"Do good as ye pass."
"U" is the "Unknown," where are Brothers of old, Found rest when the story of life was all told.
"V" is the "Vision" that sometimes seems plain Of that Other World where we'll meet them again.
"W" the "Widows" who call not in vain; We've helped them before, and we'll help them again.
"X" that's the "Xample" we set to the world. Wherever the standard of Elkdom's unfurled.
"Y" is for "Youngsters," for someone has told How Elks are all children who never grow old.
"Z" is the "Zeal" that we have.
The Elk's Alphabet
Dan Levine
Elk
of
the
Year
,
Massachusetts Elks Scholarship Fund
At the Massachusetts Elks Association Convention held in Haverhill, a very dedicated Past Grand Exalted Ruler from Massachusetts who was also known as the father of the Elks National Foundation saw his dream of a scholarship foundation become a reality.
On June 6, 1927 our membership voted to organize a new corporation known as the Massachusetts Elks' Scholarship Foundation, Incorporated. The original plan was to raise a permanent fund of at least $100,000.00, which shall be invested and the income to be used for distribution in scholarship loans to worthy young men and women of Massachusetts to assist them in obtaining a college education.
Past Grand Exaleted Ruler John F. Malley, who fathered the plan and was the new corporation's first president, hoped that in time the Scholarship Foundation would become an important factor in educational work in Massachusetts.
In a 1928 edition of the Worcester Sunday Telegram, a staff writer stated, "the new foundation established by the Elks is a state-wide humanitarian movement which grants scholarship loans to worthy boys and girls, the out-growth of a new self-help movement instituted by the fraternity to assist higher education".
Little did PGER Malley or the Telegram staff writer dream that this program would foster and grow to what we know it is today.
A core component of being an Elk is a dedication to service.Joining the Elks is a great way to remain active in your community.
The Elks offer a variety of opportunities for giving back through charitable programs and our Community Investments Program.
As an Elk, you'll always be welcome at any Lodge, no matter where. Become an Elk to meet new friends and connect with your community! How to join
Elks Care - Elks Share
Throughout its history, the Order of Elks has endeavored to maintain itself in readiness, as a national body, to extend its aid in cases of major catastrophe and misfortune. Through its official agencies in all parts of the country, it has been able to render such assistance with a promptness, effectiveness, and a lack of red tape, which have tremendously enhanced the practical helpfulness of its adopted measures.
For many years the aggregate expendatures of the Subordinate Lodges for charitable purposes have run into millions of dollars each year, covering humanitarian services of infinate variety.
Among the most usual of such activities may be mentioned the following: food to the hungary; shelter for the homeless; clothing and fuel for the needy; milk for the under-nourished babies; medical attention to the sick; baskets to the poor at Christmas and Thanksgiving; outings for underprivileged children; entertainment for shut-ins; education for young people; artificial limbs for the maimed; hospital beds; free clinics; night schools. And the list might be indefinately extended.
All of the State Elk Associations have undertaken important and extensive charitable works within their own several jurisdictions, determined by the particular conditions therein existing and the preferences of their constituent members. They include rehabilitation of crippled children, treatment of indigent tubercular patients, provision for scholarships to worthy students, maintenance of orphans, boys' camps, training of the blind, eyeglasses for needy boys and girls, cerebral palsy clinics, cancer clinics, and other state wide projects of similar character and of equal worthiness, which are being carried on as continuing activities.
No history of social service in the United States would be complete without an inspiring chapter devoted to the achievements of the Order of Elks in this field. In the field of patriotic service the Order of Elks has likewise proved itself an agency of singular force and effectiveness. Organized at a time when the bitterness and rancor of the Civil War had left their wounds on every heart on both sides of the Mason and Dixonline, the Order patiently taught its members through the years, drawn as they were from all sections of the country, that bitterness ought to be sweetened; that rancor ought to be assuaged; those wounds ought to be healed.
Through the widening influence of its members, thus bound together by the ties of brotherhood, and thus fraternally schooled, the restoration of national accord was assuredly hastened, and a patriotic service of superlative importance was thus performed.
Never an altar is erected in all its jurisdiction, but that the first emblem to be benevolently placed beside it is the American Flag. No man is permitted to stand in front of that flag and altar and assume the obligation of membership unless he be an American citizen.
And at the close of every Lodge session he attends, he is required to renew his pledge of allegience to that flag and all for which it stands.