Mayor Sue McKortoff on Monday proclaimed the week of Sept. 16 to 22 as Osoyoos Elks Week. The proclamation highlights the 60th anniversary of the Osoyoos Elks Lodge 436 and the contribution of Elks both in Osoyoos and across Canada. (Richard McGuire photo)

The Osoyoos Elks Club is celebrating its 60th anniversary this Saturday.

Dick Flintoft, one of the longest-serving members, showed the Osoyoos Times a list of close to 50 different projects, activities and local causes the club has been involved with over its 60 years of helping the Osoyoos community.

“It’s a great organization,” said Flintoft. “It’s probably one of the best kept secrets in town.”

The club will be holding a supper for members, guests and dignitaries, including Mayor Sue McKortoff this Saturday, Sept. 22, said Flintoft.

He estimates the club has nearly 60 members.

Among those members are some former members of the Osoyoos Royal Purple Lodge, which disbanded over a year ago, he said. Not all former Royal Purple members joined with the Elks after that group disbanded.

Flintoft, 77, said he joined the Osoyoos Elks in 1980 and has seen changes over the decades.

“In 1980, there were more young people involved in service clubs,” he said. “They could do more physical stuff… One time we got up and re-roofed. There’s no way we could do that now.”

As an older club, the Elks still run their weekly bingos, raising money for community projects, he said. They also generate some revenue by renting their hall to other community groups.

Among its many community projects for all ages, the club has contributed in many ways to local seniors.

“We were an original sponsor of the senior citizen society, we were original sponsors of the Sagebrush Lodge when it started,” he said, noting that the Elks provided start-up funds for the Osoyoos Senior Centre.

“We built the low-cost housing development for senior citizens. We ran that and maintained it.”

Most recently, with the help of grants, the club has spent more than $1.7 million to upgrade the Elks Golden Villa, the housing for seniors, Flintoft said.

But the club has also made numerous contributions for youth sports and activities, ranging from purchasing curling rocks for junior curlers to supporting minor hockey and contributing to events such as Rockin’ With Santa and Halloween Howl, among numerous others.

Flintoft said even some of the Elks members were surprised to see the list of projects the club has contributed to, not realizing how much they’ve done.

He’s personally proud of Elks Golden Villa, which he’s been involved with for about 20 years, including serving as its president.

While there are other service clubs in Osoyoos, Flintoft said one of the differences is that virtually all the money the Elks raise remains in the Osoyoos community.

“I think that the Elks have probably put into the community as much as the other service clubs combined, if not more,” he said, also emphasizing the diversity of their projects.

Among the club’s other fundraising activities, it holds beer gardens on Canada Day, and it also now runs Music at the Elks, featuring top-calibre Canadian blues performers.

One major change for the club came at the end of 2008, when the Osoyoos Elks and Osoyoos Baptist Church agreed to swap buildings. The Baptists, who took on the larger of the two buildings, also added a cash payment to the Elks.

“The other hall just got too big for us to maintain,” Flintoft said of the building now used as the Baptist church.

He notes that the club’s youngest members are now around 50.

“I think the biggest thing is that sometimes I wonder why young people will not contribute their time to a service club,” said Flintoft. “If the young people don’t take over and become totally involved, and put all that money into the community, it disappears. There won’t be anybody left to run it.”

He quickly adds that people in the community, especially young people with fresh ideas, are more than welcome to come out and join the Elks Club.

RICHARD McGUIRE

Osoyoos Times