Greetings and Aloha!

The thrills and excitement of our 99th CHEA Convention fade into the sunset and the glow of Elkdom brightens the future. I am extremely proud and humbled to be your California-Hawaii Elks Association President, and I look forward to a fun and exciting 2014-2015. My First Lady, Karen, and I had a wonderful time and enjoyed meeting many of you who attended the Convention.

My heart felt thanks and congratulations go out to the Convention Committee from the South District. They created a wonderful Convention in an absolutely beautiful setting. Barbara and Chuck Knox, Carol and John Lieser, my hat is off to each of you for your hard work and leadership in preparing and coordinating this Convention. Also, a special thank you to the members of the South District who worked so hard to assist in making the Convention a success.

My slogan for this year is “Feel the Glow of Elkdomâ€. The many things that we do for our Communities and our Association gives us pause to reflect on our efforts and to enjoy the warm ‘Glow’ that comes over us as a result of those efforts.

As your President, I have selected the following programs as priorities for this Association year: Membership, Lodge Activities, the Major Project, the Elks National Foundation and Public Relations. These programs compliment each other in ways that will help our Lodges and Association to grow and prosper.

This year, your Vice Presidents have opted to be known as “Skip’s Recruiters,†and, as they complete their visitations in your Districts, they will be promoting the programs I have selected with a special emphasis on membership. Last year, we almost achieved a “Plus†in membership in our Association. I have no doubt that with some dedicated effort this year we will succeed and really “Feel the Glow of Elkdomâ€. Remember, you too can be a recruiter!

Next year, at our 100th Anniversary Convention, the Lodge and the District with the highest gain in membership and lowest percentage of dropped members will receive an award from me as President. Stay tuned for details and remember that the year started on April 1, 2014.

This year, our members have contributed the most donations ever to the Major Project ($3,234,413.53) and we did that at a time when our membership was dwindling. Just think what we can do with a growing membership!

Karen and I both look forward to seeing you as we travel throughout our great Association this year and attend the Grand Lodge Convention in New Orleans.

Floyd “Skip†Henke
Feel the Glow of Elkdom