Greetings and Aloha!

I hope all of you are having a wonderful summer, enjoyed a “Happy 4th of July†and celebrated the birth of our nation.

Shortly after the holiday many of us headed for New Orleans (Nawlins), LA to attend the 150th Annual Grand Lodge Convention of our Order. 8,344 members, guests and vendors attended the Convention this year. That was over 1,000 more than last year’s Convention in Reno, NV. I guess the draw of the ‘Big Easy’ outweighed the downside of NOLA’s high humidity and rain. It was a great Convention where many interesting and informative workshops were available for the members to attend. We heard speeches from the Hoop Shoot and Scholarship winners and great reports from the Chairmen of our Major Programs.

I was personally impressed that our newly elected Grand Exalted Ruler, John D. Amen, selected Membership and Retention as his primary programs for this year. As you are aware, these are also my primary programs for the year. We can no longer allow our new members to become disinterested in Elkdom and slide out the back door. We must step up our Lodge Activities to provide reasons for these new members to remain and “Feel the Glow of Elkdomâ€. Our efforts to contact our delinquent members must become more personal – and not just be a delinquent billing notice from the Lodge Secretary. The delinquent members are “Our Friends†and we should not appear to just be “Bill Collectorsâ€. They need that personal contact.

Soon, Karen and I will be visiting in your respective districts and we hope to see “Old Friends†and “Meet New Friends†along our journey this coming year. We are both proud to be representing the California-Hawaii Elks Association during our travels this year and we look forward to “Feeling the Glow of Elkdom†with all of you.

Fraternally and Sincerely,

Floyd “Skip†Henke, President
California-Hawaii Elks Association