We had an awesome time in Austin! Thanks to everyone who attended our seminars and came to visit the booth. It’s always great to connect with the volunteers who make our programs possible.
For those who could make it and want to relive the fun, and those who stayed home and relaxed, here’s a recap of our Texas Convention.
We held our annual State Veterans Chair Training on Saturday, where we shared ideas and brainstormed ways to do better for veterans. Check in with your Chair to see what they learned and view the good-looking group at the bottom of this story.
Our Leather Program Chair and Co-Chair hosted the ENVSC booth while ENVSC staff hosted the training. They sold leather gloves, and spread the word about the program.
At Opening Ceremonies on Sunday, we said farewell to longtime Veterans Leather Program Chair Dennis McAleese, who is stepping down to finally relax a little. You can view the video honoring him at right.
We also highlighted the impressive growth of the Welcome Home Kit program at the Opening Ceremonies! Participation in this program grew more than 41% over the previous year. We traveled to North Carolina to catch Lake Norman Lodge No. 392 in action delivering a kit to a local veteran. Watch the video below.
Speaking of Welcome Home Kits, we also hosted a seminar all about kits. You can view our introductory slides here. After the short presentation, we were lucky enough to be joined by an expert panel of Elks: Kentucky State Veterans Chair Martin Harbolt, New Mexico State Veterans Chair Cheryl Kelly, and Nayda Fugee of CA Lodge. Thanks to these volunteers for sharing their experiences and advice with the crowd.
We also hosted the Ending Veteran Homelessness Seminar, which provided updates on the state of veteran homelessness in America, helping to contextualize the need for our programs. Since the Elks launched the Welcome Home program in 2015, veteran homelessness has decreased by 25%. It’s a complicated problem, and every unhoused veteran represents a challenge to be met. But every veteran housed is also a success, and the Elks have contributed to many of those successes. View the slides here.
We were honored to announce West Virginia State Veterans Chair Howard Boyd as the 2024 Elks Veterans Service Volunteer of the Year, in recognition of his constant, steady, and expert work in service to his fellow veterans. Read more about Boyd and his accomplishments here.
We were happy to host staff from the Veterans Crisis Line to share resources and discuss suicide prevention. Here are the slides from their seminar. And here is a link to the page where you can view and print Veterans Crisis Line materials for the Lodge.
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