Forida Elks Children's Therapy Services

We now have 32 therapists, and I am pleased to tell you that our 32 therapists treated 637 children each week in May 2024, and 27 of our contract speech therapists treated an additional 27 children, for a total of 664 children in May. Great job, FECTS therapists, and great job, Florida Elks, for your continued support of our program.

Our 2024 Unmasking Autism Gala was an incredible success. Once again, it was a sellout, bringing the St. Petersburg and Tampa medical community together with many of our great Elks in Florida. A special thank you goes to Dan and Casey Masi and their 20+ volunteers for making this the best event ever. We started Friday night with a cocktail party at the hotel for all the guests staying Friday and Saturday nights. On Saturday, the committee worked very hard getting everything set up for this very special event, putting the focus on autism. Rey Garcia, PSP Rudy and Dolly Masi’s grandson, was the keynote speaker, and he did a very fine job. He finished by singing a beautiful song for us.

At this event, it was announced that the Florida Elks for Autism initiative we have been working on for a couple of years had been approved and was ready to move forward. Many families have been on a waitlist for their child to be evaluated for autism. Some families have waited up to two years to be tested. Florida Elks for Autism will test 10 children every quarter. FECTS patients will receive top priority when it comes to the testing schedule. Effective June 17, we started our first round of testing. We tested two children each day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Testing takes place at the Florida Elks Youth Camp. We used the lobby in the Smith Center. We set up a toy station for the younger children and a game station on the other side for the older children. Each family was offered a room to stay overnight at the Smith Center and meals while they were there. The families I have spoken with are absolutely amazed at what the Florida Elks are doing to help their children with testing, which sometimes they have waited years for.

Our FECTS families currently being treated by our therapists are already so grateful for the therapy their children are receiving and the fact that we have taken it a step further and are helping them with the autism evaluations is overwhelming to these families.

This round of testing was the first of many, and for the first time, things went incredibly well. Thanks go to Carl Seibert, Susan Engel, Jessica Yeager, Chef Victor and his staff, and Jay Crouch and his staff for making everything go so smoothly at the Smith Conference Center. I doubt very seriously anyone knew that that was the first time we had conducted this testing. Everyone worked together to make it an incredible success. A special thank you goes to our leadership for their forward thinking when it comes to helping the children and families in our state get the help they need with autism.

May was a busy month, spent planning for the state convention. As we have for the past seven years at the state convention, we introduced our CHAMP (Child Having Achieved Magnificent Progress) of the Year. Everett Feger, along with his parents, Barbie and Andre, and his sister, Clara, were our guests at the Friday night awards banquet and the awards luncheon Saturday. Our Elks always enjoy meeting our new CHAMP and visiting with them. Everett’s occupational therapist is Tressy Guadagno. Jane Russo, PT was the therapist who spoke to us and shared some of the stories and successes of the patients she has treated. We also celebrated our 25th anniversary with 10 of our therapists who were able to join us at the convention. PSP Sean Maguire introduced our Ben Brown Physical and Occupational Therapy Scholarship winner, Carolina Mahecha Millan, who spoke to everyone at the awards luncheon about her goals after graduation. Carolina has just completed her first set of clinicals for occupational therapy and has one year left until she graduates.

Larry Lester, physical therapist, and I attended the national convention in Austin, Texas. We set up the major projects booth Friday and welcomed members from all over the country. Special thanks go to Laz Suarez, who designed everything in our booth, and Dan and Casey Masi and Laz, who drove the trailer to Austin. Once again, Florida’s major projects booth was a five-star winner! A special thank you also goes to all the Florida Elks who donated some of their time to help in our booth. This gives our members an opportunity to greet Elks from other states while bragging about our major projects.

Our therapists continue to be incredibly active in their communities. Please remember that if you would like a therapist to attend your event, you must complete a Therapist Participation form when you start planning your event so that we will have time to have a therapist put it on their calendar.

Finally, while at the national convention, it gave us an opportunity to see what Elks do around the country. While each state has their own major project, and everyone is proud of what they do, Florida stands out as one of the leaders in Elkdom with two amazing major projects — Florida Elks Children’s Therapy Services and the Florida Elks Youth Camp. It is a result of your hard work that Nick and I, along with all the employees of FECTS and FEYC, are able to work with so many children in the state. So, with all my heart, I thank you for your support of our major projects.

Colleen Gallant