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Bill Neessen
Elk of the Year, POY, Public Relations Chairman
Posts: 2619
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Posted on: Dec. 13 2020,12:48 pm |
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The Orange Elks Lodge #1475 are proud at Christmas to continue a tradition of assisting our community by donating Christmas Baskets to families in need. Again, this year our goal was to supply 200 Christmas Baskets (boxes). While we focus is on families with young children, we will also have boxes for the elderly and the unemployed that do not have the means to provide a meal to reflect the holiday cheer. In the spirit of Elkdom, we can perform a miracle and make this Christmas a little more magical for the residents of our community.
In March, the Coronavirus hit and everything changed. Our Christmas basket committee, Don Westerfield , Colin Smith, Adam Thomasson and Mike Cash had to come up with a plan to have the program and follow all the Covid-19 guidelines. They did it by “Improvising, Adapting and Overcoming” the problems the Covid-19 virus created.
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| Post Number: 2
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Bill Neessen
Elk of the Year, POY, Public Relations Chairman
Posts: 2619
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Posted on: Dec. 13 2020,12:50 pm |
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Because of the pandemic guidelines we had to drop the packing the Christmas Basket in the lodge, cancelling the dinner and the delivery of the boxes to their homes.
The first order of business was to make sure that we followed all Covid-19 guidelines making the safety of the public and our members priority number 1.
Working with the City of Orange, the families were able to pick up the Christmas Boxes by driving though the City Hall parking lot.
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| Post Number: 3
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Bill Neessen
Elk of the Year, POY, Public Relations Chairman
Posts: 2619
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Posted on: Dec. 13 2020,12:51 pm |
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The lodge members came through by donating over ten thousand dollars to purchase the items for the Christmas Baskets (boxes).
We handed out over 25,000 lbs. of food that included a non-perishable food box, a box of fresh produce, dairy, meat items and four prepared frozen meals per car.
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| Post Number: 4
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Bill Neessen
Elk of the Year, POY, Public Relations Chairman
Posts: 2619
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Posted on: Dec. 13 2020,12:52 pm |
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Additionally, there was a $20 gift card, a Christmas toy, some bikes, and pet food & supplies for the families that had dogs or cats.
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| Post Number: 5
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Bill Neessen
Elk of the Year, POY, Public Relations Chairman
Posts: 2619
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Posted on: Dec. 13 2020,12:53 pm |
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Our Community Partners the OC Food Bank, Waste Not OC and Spoof Dawgs to the Rescue were a big help in suppling many of these items.
With the generous donations, our committee went to several local business to purchase the other items needed. Toys were obtained from Tiddlywinks in downtown Orange. We obtained 200 $20 gift cards from Orange Grocery Outlet. This year’s Christmas Basket Program, the Orange Elks were able to get $4000 back to our local Orange business.
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| Post Number: 6
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Bill Neessen
Elk of the Year, POY, Public Relations Chairman
Posts: 2619
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Posted on: Dec. 13 2020,12:54 pm |
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Over 50 of our members including their families and friends showed up
to load each vehicle with a box of non-perishable food; a box of dry goods; a box of produce, meat and dairy, four prepared frozen meals and a bag of pet food, treats and samples and a gift card and Christmas Gift for each family.
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| Post Number: 7
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Bill Neessen
Elk of the Year, POY, Public Relations Chairman
Posts: 2619
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Posted on: Dec. 13 2020,12:54 pm |
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Santa Elroy waved to all the kids!
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| Post Number: 8
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Bill Neessen
Elk of the Year, POY, Public Relations Chairman
Posts: 2619
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Posted on: Dec. 13 2020,12:55 pm |
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The members of the Orange Elks Lodge want to wish everyone in our local community a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
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