The St.  Albans Elks Lodge, working with the Special Olympics of Vermont provided a BBQ lunch for the competitors and guests at the Special Olympics Unified Sports Bocce competition held at the BFA St. Albans Collins Perley complex on May 22, 2014.

The Special Olympics Unified Sports® brings together athletes with and without intellectual disabilities to train and compete on the same team.  By pairing peers with and without disabilities on the same team, students are given the opportunity to build more inclusive schools.  Unified Sports promotes equality on and off the field.  The motto for Unified Sports is “On the field we’re teammates and off the field we’re friends”.

Hamburgers, Veggie Burgers, Hot dogs, chips, sodas, juice and milk was available along with all the trimmings expected of a BBQ. Desert consisted of Strawberry and Chocolate Ice Cream.  Seconds were welcomed!   Over 500 people were served.

The St. Albans Elks volunteers were honored to be able to provide a good time for the competitors and guests.

The St. Albans Elks Lodge #1566 will partner with Northwestern Medical Center (NMC) and Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity (CVOEO) and our local food shelf, to expand affordable access to fresh, healthy and locally grown produce. Citizens of all ages and economic circumstances will experience the benefits of community, while becoming healthier through improved diets, exercise, education and positive social interactions. This garden will have exposure through the Hospital’s community newsletter Insight, which is distributed 6 times annually and The Headliner, a monthly publication of hospital staff and volunteers. This project will also be promoted through coverage in local media outlets and recognition on the Gardening Shed, located at the garden site.

This project will establish 14 new raised beds for hospital patients, visitors, community members and local citizens who benefit from the food shelf. Specific efforts will be made to include Hawk’s Nest, a residential retirement community of 100 senor residents, adjacent to the garden. Additionally, Northwestern Counseling and Support Services utilize the Garden for client support groups and programming to encourage wellness and community.  As described above, our lodge will have coverage in local media outlets, Northwestern Medical Center publications as well as publications from our local food shelf. This will be collaborative effort by all parties and we are looking forward to working with these agencies to provide a much needed resource in our community.

Thanks go to St. Albans Elks National Foundation Chairperson, Kimberly Bourbeau for her efforts in obtaining this grant.

Barre Lodge recently hosted DREWSTRONG, a dinner, dance and silent auction to benefit Drew Bernier, 5 year old son of new member Marie and Josh Bernier.

Drew and his family headed to Boston Children’s Hospital in April and Drew started chemotherapy to kill his current immune system and bone marrow.  Thanks to a very generous bone marrow donor, Drew received his bone marrow transplant on May 8th.  Drew will have to stay in the hospital for 4 to 6 weeks post-transplant to make sure his body does not reject his new bone marrow.  After this, the entire Bernier family will stay at the Ronald McDonald house and go to daily doctor appointments for 4 to 6 weeks.  If all of this goes as planned, the Bernier’s will then be able to come back to Vermont.  For 6 to 9 months following, only family members can have contact with Drew.