[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 7] [Senate] [Pages 9433-9435] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]OSWEGO ELKS Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask that the following statement be printed in the Record. The statement follows. [[Page 9434]] [From the Elks Magazine, Apr. 2008] All-American Lodge--Oswego Elks Shining Forth in New York State (By Mark Hagland) Just because something is old doesn't mean it's tired. In fact, in the case of Elks Lodge No. 271, in Oswego, New York, the opposite is, most vigorously, true. The Oswego Lodge, with over eleven hundred members and a very large contingent of core active members, has been for years a leader lodge in its region, its state, and the nation. Showered with awards for outstanding achievement in such key areas as youth programs, veterans activities, and ritual ceremony, the Oswego Lodge was designated an All-American Lodge in 2006- 2007 by the GL Lodge Activities/State Associations Committee. In fact, in the key area of youth programs, the Oswego Lodge has won first or second place in the state of New York every year for more than twenty years, confirms John Rinaldo, Oswego's exalted ruler. ``We're absolutely committed to the youth of this community,'' Rinaldo says, and all the awards are evidence of the lodge's long-term commitment, a commitment that actually goes back nearly to the beginning of the lodge's history, he notes. That history is a long and storied one. The Oswego Lodge was inaugurated on June 24, 1894, at a time when Grover Cleveland was in his second term as president, during the nationwide depression of 1893 to 1896. That the Oswego Lodge should have come into being during a time of community--and nationwide--need should surprise no one who understands and upholds Elks' values. For the 114 years of its existence, the lodge has been deeply involved in supporting its community through a wide range of programs and activities. Because of all the hard work and constant participation of its active members, the Oswego Lodge exemplifies the motto Elks Care--Elks Share. Just ask some of those who have benefited from lodge members' volunteerism. Sheri Valle, Voluntary Service Program Assistant at the nearby Syracuse VA Medical Center, for example, points out that ``local Elks lodges have donated the equivalent of more than $18,000 just this year in activities, items, and cash donations, and this particular lodge has donated more than $5,000 in items, time, and cash donations.'' And though the monetary amounts are gratifying, Valle immediately adds that ``the biggest benefit to us is always the time the Elks spend with our veteran patients, especially in our nursing home care unit. Patients live there and really don't have a lot of opportunity to see people outside the medical center.'' The Oswego Lodge members, in addition to volunteering to transport patients and residents to various places, visit the nursing home residents virtually every day. Among numerous other activities, the lodge supports a playing card club in the nursing home; regularly hosts the distribution of T-shirts and golf hats to residents; and makes sure to create special activities for the various holidays. ``They've been wonderful during the holidays,'' Valle enthuses. ``It's wonderful to see the faces of the veteran patients when the Elks are here. They're a lot happier, and they're asking, `When are they coming next?' '' The same kinds of comments come from school officials in Oswego. ``There doesn't appear to be anything that they've been asked to do that they've said no to, if it benefits kids,'' says Bill Foley, public relations director for the Oswego School District. ``And,'' Foley adds immediately, ``practically everyone asks them for help, but they're always more than willing to give.'' Foley cites the smaller size of the Oswego community, and the interconnectedness of its residents, when describing the generosity of the Elks' giving and volunteerism there. ``Almost all of them went through our schools,'' he notes. ``So they're giving back to the community in which they've grown up, and that is just tremendous.'' Among the recognitions and awards the Oswego Elks bestow in the local school system are Teen of the Month awards and annual scholarships for graduating seniors. In a smaller community like Oswego, which serves about forty-five hundred students, such awards and recognitions are by definition high-profile and resonate strongly. Indeed, Foley can speak of them with personal zeal, since his own son, Michael, was named Teen of the Month during the 1996-1997 school year. ``Michael was very proud,'' Foley recalls. ``He held his head so high when he achieved that; it meant so much to him to be recognized.'' From such experiences, Foley says that it's clear that ``students need to receive some recognition. Being named Teen of the Month or receiving a scholarship builds confidence, morale, and self-esteem. There's nothing but positive value in this, and the Elks are having a major impact on our youth through such programs.'' a special culture Because of all the activities that the Oswego Elks Lodge is involved in, there is always a buzz of volunteerism humming around the lodge itself. If there were a single word that would best describe the lodge's atmosphere, it might be ``enthusiastic.'' ``It's all about an enthusiastic, community-focused outlook,'' says Rinaldo. ``What you've heard from these folks,'' he explains, referring to community leaders like Bill Foley and Sheri Valle, ``is what this lodge is all about. Everything has been geared toward the kids, toward the vets, toward the community. It all comes back to what the Elks are doing for the community. As far as the All-American Lodge Award goes, I think we've earned it. Everyone here is committed to this community.'' ``At the same time,'' says Daniel Capella, a past exalted ruler of the Oswego Lodge and a past president of the New York State Elks Association, ``we have a lot of fun, and that's part of what makes it go nicely. We know how to laugh.'' Still, Capella notes, a tremendous amount of work and energy go into all the lodge's activities, including the social activities that take place at the lodge itself: ``From the first Friday in January through April, we serve three hundred or four hundred meals every Friday night here at the lodge. Volunteers show up at four or four-thirty in the afternoon, we start serving dinner at five, and it goes on well into the evening. And yet we're never short of volunteers to support the Friday dinners.'' good citizenship magnified The Oswego Lodge demonstrates its Americanism and good citizenship in various ways, including very strong support for local law enforcement and broad community efforts. Those efforts and that support are clearly recognized and appreciated by law enforcement and municipal officials. In a community of seventeen thousand, such good works are very much noticed. ``In a smaller city such as this, everybody seems to know what everybody else is doing,'' says Edward Geers, Oswego's fire chief. ``And if there's a need in one family, everybody helps out. I visit other places, but love coming back here,'' he adds. ``Everybody here is interested in the city as a whole and the community as a whole. If somebody's in need, whatever it is, the community pulls together; and the Elks have always been a big part of that.'' The Elks' appreciation of the people and organizations that hold the town together is shown regularly through public recognition. For the lodge's annual public safety recognition event, called Lincoln Day in Oswego, Geers develops a profile of the personnel who might deserve the lodge's Firefighter of the Year Award, and then he ``lets the firefighters decide who they feel is worthy. And when the Elks recognize that person, it means a lot.'' Geers continues, ``I think everyone realizes that even though an individual wins an award, it's not just that one individual who's being recognized. It reflects on the entire department. We stand as one, and that perception is very important for us.'' Geers, an active Elk for twenty-three years, adds: ``I'm proud to say I'm a member of the Oswego Elks, because of the wonderful things they've done in the community. Other organizations do little things, but the Elks are trendsetters, who make sure everything's done right.'' Oswego's chief of police, Michael Dehms Jr., agrees that receiving the Oswego Lodge's public safety award is a distinct honor. ``It's good to be recognized, but when you're recognized by an organization like the Oswego Elks, it means a lot.'' Dehms notes that the Elks also have made numerous important contributions directly to public safety. For example, in the 1980s, the Oswego Lodge purchased a working police canine for the department's canine unit. What's more, Dehms points out, every year during the community's biggest social event, called Harborfest, the Elks ``supply meals for our officers and state police, for the officers who have to work through it and can't go home for dinner. Anything we've ever asked for, they've always helped us,'' he adds. According to Dehms, the Elks ``definitely set an example of community involvement.'' One of the Elks' programs, for example, honors the memory of a deceased police officer by maintaining an ongoing memorial fund in his name that provides college scholarships. Mayor Randolph Bateman easily summarizes the Oswego Elks' exceptional volunteerism by saying that ``the Elks' contribution to the community is great. They're involved in various activities, including youth activities. And last year, they hosted the New York Elks' bowling tournament, which brought significant income into the city.'' Another example of the Oswego Elks' civic involvement that Mayor Bateman cites is the Youth Community Day that the lodge sponsors every year in May. Youth Community Day includes an Elks-sponsored luncheon for students and local government officials. At the luncheon, the mayor and various city department heads speak to the students, explaining some of the functions of city government, and give the students the opportunity to meet public officials directly. Such events, Bateman says, are extremely important in helping reinforce the natural cohesiveness that already exists in a community like Oswego. As the school district's Bill Foley sees it, a smaller community like Oswego brings out the best in people, and the Elks of Oswego [[Page 9435]] help to encourage that. ``We look like a sleepy little town on the lake,'' he says, ``but what amazes me is the way this town always pulls together, whether during the ice storm of a few years ago, or during Harborfest. This is a caring community,'' he emphasizes. ``It's almost like a community of the past. We joke about Oswego maybe being a few years behind other places, but we care about each other and pull for each other. And to have folks like the Elks be so involved, it's tremendous.'' ____________________