Waynesville Lodge achieved a per capita of over $16 per member during her first year as Chairperson and they haven’t had trouble meeting the goal since! Mary’s fundraising motto is to try anything and if it works, do it again. She’s held raffles, dinners, and candle sales, but finds she has the most success when she simply asks people for a donation.
Mary works hard to educate her Lodge about the ENF and what it does for their community. She believes the best part of the Foundation is the diversity of the programs they support. She states, “I am sure for everything that we do know about, there are many ways it has changed lives that we will never know.”
Mary finds that her biggest obstacle to raising money is that many Elks don’t even know what the ENF is. She combats this by introducing them to the Foundation and explaining what it does for their community. She uses local scholarship winners as examples of how their money can make a difference locally.
You can find Mary helping out at any activity that involves children, who she describes as “our Elks of tomorrow.” She volunteers at her Lodge’s Christmas program for needy kids, as well as Easter egg hunts and Halloween parties.