Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Sweet Home Elks Lodge is considering selling its building, located at the south end of First Avenue off Highway 20, a building used often by other community groups and programs.
The Elks membership will vote on the proposal tonight, Oct. 10.
The facility was built in 1962, replacing the original lodge, built in 1955 where the VFW Hall stands now, Exalted Ruler Dennis Bechtel said.
He said the Sweet Home Elks Lodge is not in debt, and it is not asking for help from the community.
“This building is larger than what our membership can support,” he said. Rising energy costs as well as the costs of maintaining such a large building are making it difficult to sustain the Elks in such a large facility. Imagine a roof repair project on a residential, Bechtel said.
“It’s a lot more on a building this size.”
Right now, he is looking ahead and seeing where things are going, he said. The proposal is a chance to downsize before the cost of the existing facility becomes an issue, while the Elks are financially sound.
The Elks have close to 400 members, Bechtel said. As some have gotten older, they are not as active as they used to be, and about 100 live outside of Sweet Home but still maintain memberships and help with major charity events. In both cases, the members have maintained their memberships out of loyalty to the Elks.
To make the Elks facility sustainable, the Elks would need to put on a major function at least a couple of times every month, Bechtel said. If the Elks had events such as the Fireman’s Cookout and the Sweet Home Rodeo coronation every month, it would sustain the facility.
During the summer, the Elks Lodge hosts many class reunions. The Elks also host the Sportsman’s Holiday Court coronation and, often, the Fire District’s annual awards banquet, along with a number of other community events.
“It just hurts me that this potentially might not be there,” he said, but “because we put the building up for sale doesn’t mean we’re going to sell it.”
The question the membership will decide is only the first phase, he said. After that, the Sweet Home Elks will have to receive the approval of the Grand Lodge, sell the building and then find a new, smaller facility.
If things turn around and some idea makes the Elks more prosperous, they’ll be able to take the building off the market, Bechtel said.
Bechtel reminds people that the Elks Lodge is not a building but rather the members who meet in the facility, he said. With or without their existing building, they’ll be out keeping their oath, “promising to be a good member of society. That’s what we do.”
That means they’re involved in a wide variety of charitable activities, much of it anonymously, Bechtel said. Among them is Operation Santa Claus, helping put together boxes for Marines serving in Iraq.
They also help pay for local eye exams and glasses for people who need help several times a year, Bechtel said. They provide support to patients at the Roseburg Veterans Hospital.
With Oregon State Elks, they have helped contribute well more than a million dollars to the Casey Eye Institute at Oregon Health Sciences University Hospital. They also support the Meadow Woods Speech Camp in Eastern Oregon, paying for a child to attend and maintaining one of the cabins. The camp helps children with speech and hearing problems.
The Elks provide scholarships to local high school students.
On Nov. 10, the Elks will hold their Purple Ball, which raises funds for the 65 food baskets that members deliver to needy families for Christmas.
“The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks was founded in 1868,” Bechtel said. “The Sweet Home Elks Lodge received its charter in 1955.
“We love our country and desire to preserve its cherished institutions and values; respect our neighbors and constantly seek to promote their well-being; and love and enjoy life and believe this enjoyment is increased by sharing it with family, friends and all with whom we come in contact with.
“Elks are truly democratic and distinctively American, and the will of the majority can and will prevail.”