As the school year comes to a close, so has the 2016 Fresno Elks Lodge No. 439 Mt. Olympus Challenged Expelled students from throughout Fresno County competed with one another to convince community judges and Elk members to support a charity idea that they created to help meet a need in their home community.

Nicholas proposed the winning idea for a charity he titled “No Place To Play”. His project would repair broken playground equipment at his apartment complex.  The 1^st runner up, Yenices, proposed an idea for her charity titled “We Are Not For Sale” that would help victims of human trafficking. The 2^nd runner up, Fernando, proposed an idea for his charity titled “Giving a Helping Hand” to provide services to our Veterans. Finalist Ronald proposed a charity to help the homeless get off the streets titled “A Place To Call Home”.  

The students, who were expelled from their home schools, received twelve weeks of hands-on coaching and mentoring from lodge members as they created their charities, prepared PowerPoint presentations and helped plan and execute the first fundraiser for Nicholas’ project.

The program is funded through a $10,000 Impact Grant from the Elks National Foundation.  Fresno Elks Lodge members Susan Good and Jack Geiger served as Project Managers for the grant.