Melbourne Elks Lodge #1744 used its $3,500 Elks National Foundation Beacon Grant combined with the $3,500 matching Florida State Elks Association grant and some additional funds ($7,054.05 in total) to provide 280 families from four area schools with groceries for the Thanksgiving holiday. Groceries were delivered to the schools by two Elks per school. Families arrived later in the day and stayed in their cars. Personnel at the school loaded the bags of groceries into the trunks to keep contact to a minimum. The lodge purchased turkeys that were 60% off and all other groceries were on sale as buy one-get one free. Groceries included a 13-15 pound turkey, five pounds of potatoes, two cans of green beans, a can of cream of mushroom soup, a can of French-fried onion rings, cranberry sauce, dressing, gravy, and bag of cookie mix. Pictured Nov. 19 during packing are an unidentifiable non-Elk helper; B.J. Black, PER; Sam Casella, PER; and Dolores Casella, PSP-FLOE. Elks not pictured are Cathy Underwood, PER; Tom Wojnar, Esquire; and Gerald Leman, grant coordinator.