West Central District

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Written by Rita Smith

Tampa Lodge members were chaperones for Career Day at Robinson High School. Club Chivalry for Success members attended their on-campus field trip for a full day of career exploration. Lunch was prepared and purchased from the school’s culinary department. Pictured is a representative from Erwin Technical College’s electricity department.

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Written by Rita Smith

At Club Chivalry for Successful Students’ November meeting, the guest Speaker was U.S. Navy CW5 Ron Carpenter. He described his climb out of the south side of Chicago to become a top officer in the Navy. Tampa Elks Lodge #708 sponsors this student group.

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Written by Kathy Traina

Again this year, Largo Lodge’s Christmas angel tree was a huge success. Members took one of the tags from the tree with an area child’s name who is in foster care. Their age, hobbies and wish gift request were included on the tag. Members provided a gift for their sponsored child, and the presents were distributed to the children before Christmas.

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Written by Largo Elks

Largo Elks Lodge’s bartenders held their second annual blind auction Nov. 10. The bartenders took a portion of their tips to buy fun gifts. In two and a half hours, over 170 items were auctioned off, raising $1,850 which was used to purchase Christmas gifts for underprivileged children. Pictured is Marcia Lowe, bar manager.

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Written by May Graci

Thanks to the Elks National Foundation Promise Grant of $2,500 and deep discounts from Walgreens, St. Petersburg Lodge volunteers went Christmas shopping for toys for kids ages newborn to 10. On Dec. 1, the lodge hosted their annual community kids’ Christmas party. Christmas music was provided by elf Johnny Miller. There were stations for games, Christmas ornament craft decoration, cookie decorating and balloon making. A free lunch and dessert were served to 86 kids and 141 parents, grandparents and elves present. Santa and Mrs. Claus arrived when they heard the sound of sleigh bells being rung by the excited boys and girls. Santa spent time with each child and gave each child an especially selected toy.

The lodge was also able to provide toys to make Christmas a much brighter one for 60 children sheltered at CASA (Community Action Stops Abuse). CASA provides safety, empowerment and prevention programs to help domestic violence survivors and stop the generational cycle of violence.

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Written by May Graci

On Dec. 2, St. Petersburg Lodge presented a check for $500 to Suncoast Safe Kids. The Suncoast Safe Kids Coalition was established in 1991 and is led by Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, Fla., and serves five counties in the Tampa Bay area. It is an affiliate of Safe Kids Worldwide, a global organization dedicated to preventing injuries in children, the No. 1 killer of kids in the United States. The coalition unites health and safety experts, first responders, educators, local agencies, civic groups, businesses, and volunteers from each community served. Each county elects officers who meet monthly with the Safe Kids membership to review childhood injury data and to develop strategies to combat specific childhood injuries.

Pictured are Charlene Cobb, chairperson of Pinellas Coalition; Martin Sharp, Lecturing Knight; and Petra Vybiralova Stanton, Johns Hopkins/All Children's supervisor to Pinellas Coalition.