Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Warsaw Elks Lodge #802, 310 E. Center St., Warsaw, celebrated some renovations during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday with the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce, as well as gave donations to two organizations.
Bill Hutchinson, leading knight and house chair of the Elks, said the Elks Lodge went on a pretty big membership drive to fund the renovations. The renovations included replacing all the lights on the second floor with the bar, putting in new wires and tearing out a wall.
“We wanted everybody to come together and be able to sit together instead of being separated,” he said.
Troy Reith, exalted ruler, said the renovations ended up making the area more welcoming.
There wasn’t an estimated cost to the renovations, as there were also items donated by Elks members, including new bar stools and pool tables. The Elks Lodge also bought new dart boards and new TVs.
Hutchinson said the renovations started about a year ago “and we’re not finished.” Reith said the main stuff is done. Hutchinson said there are some things the lodge wants to do, including with the carpets.
“We’re hoping to get downstairs and get that whole banquet room done down there so we can start renting it out. And right now, we’re renting out the upstairs and holding all kinds of events,” Hutchinson said. “It’s all about giving back to the community and you gotta have a place to, you know, get together and be able to raise money. And it just wasn’t very inviting when I first joined and we needed to make it more inviting to get more members and raise money so we could support Young Tigers and Fellowship Missions and other organizations.”
Reith said the core idea of opening up the area was to be able to welcome back the whole family unit. “So now we’ve got the kids coming up with the parents,” he said.
Before the ribbon-cutting Tuesday, the Elks had check presentations with the Young Tigers Football and Fellowship Missions. Young Tigers received $1,750 and Fellowship Missions received $6,000.
“That’s money that we raise through grants ... That’s what we do as Elks, we give back to the community,” Hutchinson said.
“That comes from the membership. The membership gives money and then in return, the grand lodge gives us grant money to use within the community,” Reith said. Grants are an annual donation, but giving back to the community is a quarterly goal.
There will be an application process where people can give recommendations of where the Elks can give donations to “and then we’re going to try and do a quarterly contribution,” Reith said.
Scott Rodewald, grant coordinator, said he’s the liaison between the lodge and the grants and he takes care of all the applications and things like that.
“The board will decide on who we’re going to issue money,” Hutchinson said, adding they want to make sure the Elks are giving to a good cause.
