[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 80 (Thursday, May 15, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4280-S4281]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              OSWEGO ELKS

 Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask that the following statement 
be printed in the Record.
  The statement follows.

                  [From the Elks Magazine, Apr. 2008]

    All-American Lodge--Oswego Elks Shining Forth in New York State

                           (By Mark Hagland)

       Just because something is old doesn't mean it's tired. In 
     fact, in the case of Elks Lodge No. 271, in Oswego, New York, 
     the opposite is, most vigorously, true. The Oswego Lodge, 
     with over eleven hundred members and a very large contingent 
     of core active members, has been for years a leader lodge in 
     its region, its state, and the nation. Showered with awards 
     for outstanding achievement in such key areas as youth 
     programs, veterans activities, and ritual ceremony, the 
     Oswego Lodge was designated an All-American Lodge in 2006-
     2007 by the GL Lodge Activities/State Associations Committee.
       In fact, in the key area of youth programs, the Oswego 
     Lodge has won first or second place in the state of New York 
     every year for more than twenty years, confirms John Rinaldo, 
     Oswego's exalted ruler. ``We're absolutely committed to the 
     youth of this community,'' Rinaldo says, and all the awards 
     are evidence of the lodge's long-term commitment, a 
     commitment that actually goes back nearly to the beginning of 
     the lodge's history, he notes.
       That history is a long and storied one. The Oswego Lodge 
     was inaugurated on June 24, 1894, at a time when Grover 
     Cleveland was in his second term as president, during the 
     nationwide depression of 1893 to 1896.
       That the Oswego Lodge should have come into being during a 
     time of community--and nationwide--need should surprise no 
     one who understands and upholds Elks' values. For the 114 
     years of its existence, the lodge has been deeply involved in 
     supporting its community through a wide range of programs and 
     activities. Because of all the hard work and constant 
     participation of its active members, the Oswego Lodge 
     exemplifies the motto Elks Care--Elks Share.
       Just ask some of those who have benefited from lodge 
     members' volunteerism.
       Sheri Valle, Voluntary Service Program Assistant at the 
     nearby Syracuse VA Medical Center, for example, points out 
     that ``local Elks lodges have donated the equivalent of more 
     than $18,000 just this year in activities, items, and cash 
     donations, and this particular lodge has donated more than 
     $5,000 in items, time, and cash donations.''
       And though the monetary amounts are gratifying, Valle 
     immediately adds that ``the biggest benefit to us is always 
     the time the Elks spend with our veteran patients, especially 
     in our nursing home care unit. Patients live there and really 
     don't have a lot of opportunity to see people outside the 
     medical center.'' The Oswego Lodge members, in addition to 
     volunteering to transport patients and residents to various 
     places, visit the nursing home residents virtually every day. 
     Among numerous other activities, the lodge supports a playing 
     card club in the nursing home; regularly hosts the 
     distribution of T-shirts and golf hats to residents; and 
     makes sure to create special activities for the various 
     holidays. ``They've been wonderful during the holidays,'' 
     Valle enthuses. ``It's wonderful to see the faces of the 
     veteran patients when the Elks are here. They're a lot 
     happier, and they're asking, `When are they coming next?' ''
       The same kinds of comments come from school officials in 
     Oswego. ``There doesn't appear to be anything that they've 
     been asked to do that they've said no to, if it benefits 
     kids,'' says Bill Foley, public relations director for the 
     Oswego School District. ``And,'' Foley adds immediately, 
     ``practically everyone asks them for help, but they're always 
     more than willing to give.''
       Foley cites the smaller size of the Oswego community, and 
     the interconnectedness of its residents, when describing the 
     generosity of the Elks' giving and volunteerism there. 
     ``Almost all of them went through our schools,'' he notes. 
     ``So they're giving back to the community in which they've 
     grown up, and that is just tremendous.''
       Among the recognitions and awards the Oswego Elks bestow in 
     the local school system are Teen of the Month awards and 
     annual scholarships for graduating seniors. In a smaller 
     community like Oswego, which serves about forty-five hundred 
     students, such awards and recognitions are by definition 
     high-profile and resonate strongly. Indeed, Foley can speak 
     of them with personal zeal, since his own son, Michael, was 
     named Teen of the Month during the 1996-1997 school year. 
     ``Michael was very proud,'' Foley recalls. ``He held his head 
     so high when he achieved that; it meant so much to him to be 
     recognized.''
       From such experiences, Foley says that it's clear that 
     ``students need to receive some recognition. Being named Teen 
     of the Month or receiving a scholarship builds confidence, 
     morale, and self-esteem. There's nothing but positive value 
     in this, and the Elks are having a major impact on our youth 
     through such programs.''


                           a special culture

       Because of all the activities that the Oswego Elks Lodge is 
     involved in, there is always a buzz of volunteerism humming 
     around the lodge itself. If there were a single word that 
     would best describe the lodge's atmosphere, it might be 
     ``enthusiastic.''
       ``It's all about an enthusiastic, community-focused 
     outlook,'' says Rinaldo. ``What you've heard from these 
     folks,'' he explains, referring to community leaders like 
     Bill Foley and Sheri Valle, ``is what this lodge is all 
     about. Everything has been geared toward the kids, toward the 
     vets, toward the community. It all comes back to what the 
     Elks are doing for the community. As far as the All-American 
     Lodge Award goes, I think we've earned it. Everyone here is 
     committed to this community.''
       ``At the same time,'' says Daniel Capella, a past exalted 
     ruler of the Oswego Lodge and a past president of the New 
     York State Elks Association, ``we have a lot of fun, and 
     that's part of what makes it go nicely. We know how to 
     laugh.''
       Still, Capella notes, a tremendous amount of work and 
     energy go into all the lodge's activities, including the 
     social activities that take place at the lodge itself: ``From 
     the first Friday in January through April, we serve three 
     hundred or four hundred meals every Friday night here at the 
     lodge. Volunteers show up at four or four-thirty in the 
     afternoon, we start serving dinner at five, and it goes on 
     well into the evening. And yet we're never short of 
     volunteers to support the Friday dinners.''


                       good citizenship magnified

       The Oswego Lodge demonstrates its Americanism and good 
     citizenship in various ways,

[[Page S4281]]

     including very strong support for local law enforcement and 
     broad community efforts. Those efforts and that support are 
     clearly recognized and appreciated by law enforcement and 
     municipal officials. In a community of seventeen thousand, 
     such good works are very much noticed.
       ``In a smaller city such as this, everybody seems to know 
     what everybody else is doing,'' says Edward Geers, Oswego's 
     fire chief. ``And if there's a need in one family, everybody 
     helps out. I visit other places, but love coming back here,'' 
     he adds. ``Everybody here is interested in the city as a 
     whole and the community as a whole. If somebody's in need, 
     whatever it is, the community pulls together; and the Elks 
     have always been a big part of that.''
       The Elks' appreciation of the people and organizations that 
     hold the town together is shown regularly through public 
     recognition. For the lodge's annual public safety recognition 
     event, called Lincoln Day in Oswego, Geers develops a profile 
     of the personnel who might deserve the lodge's Firefighter of 
     the Year Award, and then he ``lets the firefighters decide 
     who they feel is worthy. And when the Elks recognize that 
     person, it means a lot.'' Geers continues, ``I think everyone 
     realizes that even though an individual wins an award, it's 
     not just that one individual who's being recognized. It 
     reflects on the entire department. We stand as one, and that 
     perception is very important for us.''
       Geers, an active Elk for twenty-three years, adds: ``I'm 
     proud to say I'm a member of the Oswego Elks, because of the 
     wonderful things they've done in the community. Other 
     organizations do little things, but the Elks are 
     trendsetters, who make sure everything's done right.''
       Oswego's chief of police, Michael Dehms Jr., agrees that 
     receiving the Oswego Lodge's public safety award is a 
     distinct honor. ``It's good to be recognized, but when you're 
     recognized by an organization like the Oswego Elks, it means 
     a lot.'' Dehms notes that the Elks also have made numerous 
     important contributions directly to public safety. For 
     example, in the 1980s, the Oswego Lodge purchased a working 
     police canine for the department's canine unit. What's more, 
     Dehms points out, every year during the community's biggest 
     social event, called Harborfest, the Elks ``supply meals for 
     our officers and state police, for the officers who have to 
     work through it and can't go home for dinner. Anything we've 
     ever asked for, they've always helped us,'' he adds.
       According to Dehms, the Elks ``definitely set an example of 
     community involvement.'' One of the Elks' programs, for 
     example, honors the memory of a deceased police officer by 
     maintaining an ongoing memorial fund in his name that 
     provides college scholarships.
       Mayor Randolph Bateman easily summarizes the Oswego Elks' 
     exceptional volunteerism by saying that ``the Elks' 
     contribution to the community is great. They're involved in 
     various activities, including youth activities. And last 
     year, they hosted the New York Elks' bowling tournament, 
     which brought significant income into the city.''
       Another example of the Oswego Elks' civic involvement that 
     Mayor Bateman cites is the Youth Community Day that the lodge 
     sponsors every year in May. Youth Community Day includes an 
     Elks-sponsored luncheon for students and local government 
     officials. At the luncheon, the mayor and various city 
     department heads speak to the students, explaining some of 
     the functions of city government, and give the students the 
     opportunity to meet public officials directly. Such events, 
     Bateman says, are extremely important in helping reinforce 
     the natural cohesiveness that already exists in a community 
     like Oswego.
       As the school district's Bill Foley sees it, a smaller 
     community like Oswego brings out the best in people, and the 
     Elks of Oswego help to encourage that. ``We look like a 
     sleepy little town on the lake,'' he says, ``but what amazes 
     me is the way this town always pulls together, whether during 
     the ice storm of a few years ago, or during Harborfest. This 
     is a caring community,'' he emphasizes. ``It's almost like a 
     community of the past. We joke about Oswego maybe being a few 
     years behind other places, but we care about each other and 
     pull for each other. And to have folks like the Elks be so 
     involved, it's tremendous.''

                          ____________________