WHO WE ARE
The Huntington Beach Elks Lodge 1959 is a pillar of community service and fellowship. Our mission revolves around charity, patriotism, and community engagement. We’re dedicated to making a positive impact in Huntington Beach by supporting local schools, organizing events for veterans, and assisting families in need. With a strong sense of camaraderie and a commitment to service, we aim to leave a lasting legacy of compassion and goodwill in our community.
CHARITY • JUSTICE • BROTHERLY LOVE • FIDELITY
CHEMPI – THE PURPLE PIG
In 1950, the California-Hawaii Elks Association created an organization within it to help children with disabilities. The fundraising arm of CHEMPI is the Purple Pig. All donations are TAX DEDUCTIBLE!
The organization is called the California-Hawaii Elks Major Project, Inc. This unique program funds 32 paid therapists and preschool vision screeners, hired by CHEMPI, to help disabled children when no other organizations can or will. These CHEMPI professional therapists and preschool vision screeners travel, sometimes great distances, to help children get care they need.
Further, many times the children will have tests, e.g. Vision Screening, that catches early signs of amblyopia (“Lazy Eye”), a medical problem that, once caught, can be corrected early on and save a child from going blind, quite literally.
2024 Theme Child – Rudy
2024 Theme Child
Rudy from Ridgecrest, California
Rudy Augustus was born at 9:59 PM on March 2, 2023, with Down syndrome. After a difficult home birth and a subsequent transfer to the NICU due to respiratory failure, he spent 26 days receiving critical care, including a blood transfusion and support for low muscle tone and feeding challenges.
A year later, Rudy is thriving thanks to in-home therapy from specialists, including Michelle Bychek from the California-Hawaii Elks Major Project. Michelle’s expertise has helped Rudy overcome feeding issues, enabling him to enjoy solid foods despite the challenges of Down syndrome.
Rudy’s family is deeply grateful for the Elks’ support, which has been crucial for his development. They look forward to a bright future filled with outdoor activities and shared family meals, thanks to the significant impact of the Elks’ generosity.
The Elks Support Our Veterans
Never Forgotten
Elks pledge “So long as there are veterans, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks will never forget them.” The Elks National Veterans Service Commission takes that pledge one step further, and promises service to our nation’s veterans and military members, with a special focus on service to those in need.
Thousands of Elks volunteers give generously of their time, energy and resources to serve veterans and military members each day, to ensure that pledge is not an idle one.
Today, our volunteers provide direct service to veterans in more than 330 facilities each month. Through our grants to Elks Lodges, we connect with veterans and military members in their communities, providing them with services where they live. We help veterans rehabilitate and thrive through adaptive sports programs and therapy kits. And our Welcome Home initiative is reaching out to some of our most vulnerable veterans: those who are experiencing homelessness.
Our Mission
To inculcate the principles of Charity, Justice, Brotherly Love and Fidelity; to recognize a belief in God, to promote the welfare and enhance the happiness of its Members; to quicken the spirit of American patriotism; to cultivate good fellowship; to perpetuate itself as a fraternal organization, and to provide for its government, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the United States of America will serve the people and communities through benevolent programs, demonstrating that “Elks Care and Elks Share.”
WE ARE
A fraternal order with hundreds of thousands of members and a 150+ year history.
A network of nearly 2200 lodges in communities all over the country.
A generous charitable foundation that each year gives millions in scholarships, an inspiration to youth, a friend to veterans and more.
Origin
The Elks organization was founded in New York City on February 16, 1868 under the name “Jolly Corks” by 15 actors, entertainers and others associated with the theater. In ensuing years, membership expanded to other professions.
Purposes
This Fraternal Order was founded “To promote and practice the four cardinal virtues of Charity, Justice, Brotherly Love and Fidelity; to promote the welfare and enhance the happiness of its members; to quicken the spirit of American Patriotism and cultivate good fellowship.”
Membership
The Order is a non-political, non-sectarian and strictly American fraternity. Proposal for membership in the Order is only by invitation of a member in good standing. To be accepted as a member, one must be an American citizen, believe in God, be of good moral character and be at least 21 years old.
What We Do
The Order spends more than $80,000,000 every year for benevolent, educational and patriotic community-minded programs in such fields as benefitting special needs children, sponsoring Elks National Foundation scholarships, scouting, athletic teams, veterans’ works, a national “Hoop Shoot” free-throw contest involving more than 3 million children, physical and occupational therapy programs and patriotic programs.
The youth of our country have always been important to the Order. It is for this reason the Elks Drug Awareness Education Program was launched to warn primary grade students and their parents of the dangers in drug use. Additionally, every lodge observes June 14th as Flag Day, a tradition which the Elks began in 1907 and was later adopted by the Congress as an official observance.
