Elks deliver Christmas baskets to those in need
Rich Sinatra, left, and and Jim Moore, center, are among the Elks Lodge volunteers who delivered Christmas baskets to community members in need this year. Photo by Paul Howard
The Lakewood Elks Club #1350 has been located in Westlake for more than 12 years. Elks lodges invest in their communities through programs including drug awareness, scholarships, charity, and honoring our veterans. We have a long tradition of delivering Christmas baskets to families in our surrounding communities.
Through fundraisers we hold at our Lodge, we use the proceeds to buy a full Christmas meal, presents, hats and gloves for families in the surrounding communities that have fallen on hard times. The volunteers of our Lodge purchased and wrapped a present for each child in the family and spent the weekend before Christmas packing these baskets. During Christmas week, they organized at our Lodge to deliver the baskets to the families' homes. Through the hard work of all of our volunteers, this year we were able to deliver baskets to almost 100 families.