Yes, we’re fast approaching the holiday season. Our private homes have that pleasant smell of cookies baking in the kitchen, mistletoe hanging over doorways and holly lying around the home. The neighbors decorated their homes with beautiful ornaments in the yard and bright lights about the house.

It seems to me we get caught up in the commercial arena with stores opening at 4 AM, some even at midnight with larger than normal sales until 10-11 AM on Black Friday to improve their year-end bottom line. This is also the time of year when some of us who do not attend a house of worship regularly attend. Remember, we should be cele-brating the birth of our Lord and give him thanks for all of the many blessings he has already given us. While say-ing your prayers, please include the sick, the homeless , the less fortunate, and the heroic men and women in uni-form serving us on foreign soils so that we can continue to enjoy the many freedoms we take for granted in this won-derful country of America USA.

November was a busy and successful month. Our Halloween party and party honoring our state Elks president were huge successes. Compliments were in abundance if you missed any or both you had a very bad loss. Thanks to the numerous persons involved to make these parties successful. The south central district meeting was held at our Elks lodge with ten new members being initiated, four of which are ours – James Allen, Matthew Horne, Daniel Galla-gher, and Scott Wullbrandt. Introduce yourself to them and welcome them to our lodge. We did welcome and served all veterans at the brunch on Veterans Day. Thanks to Tom for serving brunch.

A few dates to remember for December are Sunday brunch on December 2 from 11 AM until 1 PM with the annual Elks Memorial Service to follow. Regular Elks meetings will be held on December 5 and December 19. Matthew Clarke will be balloted on for membership on December 5. December 22nd will be our lodge Christmas party.

As I promised in the November newsletter, you will find elsewhere in this newsletter a friendly list of members who have not yet paid their 2007 dues. If you see your name on the list and you did pay your dues, please contact our lodge secretary immediately at 829-6812 or email crine2@hotmail.com. If you notice anyone on the list that you previously sponsored for membership, please give them a call and remind them. Some of us do not read this news-letter in its entirety.

Finally, I wish every one of you a very healthy and joyous holiday season and we’ll see you next year.

Sincerely and Fraternally,

Roger G. Kramer

Exalted Rulers Message

SPECIAL POINTS OF INTEREST:

We have initiated 12 new people since April 2007.

Halloween Fund Raiser for Elevator Fund and Special Olympics was a huge success!!

Happy Birthday to mem-bers who were born in December. See list on page 2.

There is a member survey in this newsletter. Please take the time to fill it out… let your voice be heard.

Christmas Party is De-cember 22.

VOLUME 6 ISSUE 9

DECEMBER 2007

From The Secretary 2

Prop For Membership 2

November Birthdays 2

Halloween Update 3

Hoop Shoot 4

Unpaid Members 4

Pictures 5

Trustee News 5

Member Survey 7-8

Calendar 9

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

2007-2008 Officers

Exalted Ruler

Roger G. Kramer Secretary ------------------------------------------------- Charles Rine

Trustee --------------------------------------------- Ron Lenker, PER

Trustee -------------------------------------- Cynthia Strachan, PER

Trustee --------------------------------------- RD “Bullit” Martindill

Trustee ------------------------------------------------ Brian Graybill

Trustee --------------------------------------------------- Stan Richart

Organist ---------------------------------------------------- June Lahr

Leading Knight ------------------------------- Richard Jacobs, PER

Loyal Knight ------------------------------------ Granville Strachan

Lecturing Knight ------------------------------------------- Chris Ray

Esquire -------------------------------------------- Robert Kohl, PER

Inner Guard ------------------------------------------- Clyde Bateman

Tiler --------------------------------------------------- Betsy Goodman

Chaplain ---------------------------------------------- Barry Firestone

Treasurer ----------------------------------- Thomas Fleischer, PER

VOLUME 6 ISSUE 9 PAGE 2

Candidate Occupation Proposed By Matthew Clarke Telecommunications Specialist Ally Hubler

The above APPLICATIONS are in the hands of the Investigation Committee and when reported by the committee at the next Lodge meeting, will be balloted upon.

Our membership count has increased to 264. We have initiated 12 new members since April 2007 and have 2 candidates awaiting initiation. We also elected three new members who transferred from another Elks lodge. A special thanks to those who have done their part in growing our membership. We will end the year with a net gain in membership.

At the request of the Exalted Ruler, a list of the 34 members who have not yet paid their dues for the 2007-2008 Lodge Year is printed elsewhere in this newsletter. If your name appears on this list and you think you have al-ready paid your dues for the current year, please contact me at 829-6812 or crine2@hotmail.com. If your mem-bership card is current, it should have a purple, not green, background.

Sincerely,

Chuck Rine, Lodge Secretary

Propositions For Membership

From the Secretary

December Birthdays

Newly Elected Members Please welcome our newest members, James Allen, Matthew Horne, Daniel Galla-gher, and Scott Wullbrandt. They were elected to membership on November 18th at our district initiation. If you see them around the lodge, please introduce yourself and give them a proper welcome to the Harrisburg Elks Lodge.

2 DAVID D BOGDANOVIC

4 ANTHONY C BUSILLO II

ROBERT S KOHL PER

6 PAUL M J BRADL PER

JOHN I SWEIGART

8 WILLIAM G SUTTON

11 RICHARD A JACOBS PER

LEWIS A STRAW

12 TIMOTHY A HENNINGER

13 LISA ROBISON

16 RONALD A LENKER PER

17 JAMES M ALLEN

JESSE CARST

JAMES E GALLAGHER

20 SOTIRIS BOZAKIS

20 JOSEPH GARY MALLOY

21 OTTO V BANKS

MICHAEL A HAHN

28 F M RICHARD SIMONS

PATRICK T SULLIVAN

29 PATRICIA KIBE

30 EDWARD E BERKEBILE

STANLEY M RICHART

Meetings for the month of December will be held on the 5th and the 19th of the month.

Come out and get involved in your lodge! Dinner is served at 6:30 pm, cost is $6 per person.

ELKS TALE PAGE 3

The Halloween fundraiser for Special Olympics and the Elevator was a huge success. Those who attended were dancing until the wee hours and had a BOOtiful time. With around 100 people attending, we were able to raise a substantial amount of money. In addition to the money raised for the elevator, the Harrisburg Elks will be presenting the Special Olympics with a check for $450.

Congratulations to the following costume contest winners:

Best Overall Costume - Captain Morgan and his girls (If you were there, you know who we mean)

Funniest Costume—Gretchen Stevens, she was a UPS delivery person with stuffed dogs biting at her shirt.

Most Surprising—Christopher Ray, we’ll just call it the “Disco Inferno” costume

Scariest—Joe Lahr, dressed as the “Very Creepy Sorcerer Guy”

Original Hand Made Costume—Gary Malloy, dressed as a penguin

Cutest—Ally Hubler, in her “She Devil” costume—complete with horns

Most Cliché—Tom and Steph Maurer, dressed as tourists

A special Thank You goes out to the following individuals for their decorating expertise: Ally Hubler, Sally Langanese, Stan Richart, Chuck Rine, Gary Malloy, Jen Young, Jane and Barry Firestone

Thanks to the following people for their food donations: Jen Young, Jane Firestone, Sally Langa-nese, Lisa Robison and Jackie Lahr

Thanks to the following businesses for donating gift certificates: Paxtang Grill, The Firehouse, Boro Restaurant, Rookies, Sophia’s, Gilligans and Boscovs

Halloween Party Update

Atlantic City Bus Trip Signup

VOLUME 6 ISSUE 9 PAGE 4

Another bus trip has been scheduled for January 13th, 2008. There is a sign up sheet on the bulletin board at the lodge. Come reserve your spot soon, first come first serve! This years cost will be $45 per person. It is unknown at this point the exact amount, but each person will get gambling credits and a food voucher when we arrive in AC. In addition to the rebate when we get to there, there will be food, drink and some gambling on the bus. Anyone who has been on one of our bus trips knows how much fun they are, even when the bus breaks down! You don’t want to miss this trip.

BANKS, OTTO KIBE, PATRICIA NELSON, KEVIN BOZAKIS, SOTIRIS KNUDSEN, C ONUFRAK, GLORI BOZAKIS, NICK KOCH, JAMES PETRINA, FRANK BRINLEY, DENISE LONG, ROBERT RINESMITH, TERRY BRINLEY, DENNIS MALLON, ERIC ROSI JR, JOSEPH BUSILLO II, ANTHONY MARSHALL, ALBERT SAUERS, DR CLOUSER, JEFF MC MANUS, JAMES SMITH, PETER DEMBOWSKI, ERIC MCMICHAEL, DEBRA SMITH, KRIS GUY, STEVEN MILLER, ROBERT STUART, ROBIN HENNINGER, MICHELLE MIRENDA, STEVE WIDEMAN, WESLEY JORDANOFF, PETER NASTASE, ELLEN WILMOTH, HENRY

YUKICA, JOSEPH

Unpaid Members

The Elks National Hoop Shoot Free-Throw Program is the largest non-commercial, co-educational sports program in America and is sponsored by the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks. More than 3 million kids ages 8 to 13 participate each year. Kids advance through local, district, state, regional and national levels. One boy and one girl in each of the three age categories (8-9, 10-11, 12-13) wins a national title at the finals in Springfield, Mass. The top six national finalists’ names are inscribed in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The program builds character while promoting integrity, hard work, quality family time and good sportsmanship.

This year Harrisburg Lodge #12 will have two rounds of competition. Our preliminary round will be held on Saturday, December 29, 2007 from 1 PM to 3PM at the Manny Weaver Gym, Rowland Intermediate School, 19th & Derry Sts. It will be held in conjunction with the Harrisburg Horizon U.S. Army Youth Basketball Clinic. All levels of skills will be taught by the 2008 Harrisburg Horizon & Lady Horizon teams.

Three to five finalists from each age category will advance to the final round. The final round will be held during half-times of the Harrisburg Horizon’s women’s game 5:00 PM and men’s game 7:00 PM on January 5, 2008.

We will need score keepers and ball retrievers on both dates. Please support this major project by signing up at the Elks Lodge or call Tom Fleischer, PER at 564-4143 during the day.

Tom Fleischer

Hoop Shoot Chairman

Hoop Shoot News

NEWSLETTER TITLE PAGE 5

Lodge Event Pictures

Elks Pool Team Update The current Pool session is coming to an end. If there is anyone who would like to join a team or start up a new one, contact Betsy Goodman (717-545-3889) or Ron Lenker (717-979-9758) for more information.

We would like to wish the following individuals a speedy recovery:

Jane Firestone

RD “Bullit” Martindill

Maxine Nicholas

Please keep these people in your thoughts and prayers this holiday season.

Get Well Soon

Wondering what is happening at your lodge and can’t find your newsletter? Go to www.elks.org/lodges and type in “12” under “Lodge Number”. You will be taken to our lodge’s home page on the Elks USA web site. We have been working to keep these pages current, including the Lodge Calendar feature. So if you are wondering what is happening and when, check out the www.elks.org site. You do not need a password to access our lodge’s on-line information.

Can’t Find Your Newsletter?

First of all, thanks to everyone who responded to the request for questions and comments to assist me in putting together the survey that is included in this newsletter.

Please take a few minutes to complete the survey and return it to me by mailing it to the lodge, e-mailing it to smrichart@verizon.net, or dropping it in the locked box that will be on the table inside the door upstairs. You can also download a PDF version of the survey by going to www.elks.org, choose “Lodge Locator” on the sidebar, enter “12” next to “Lodge Number” and click the “Search” button. You will be taken to our lodge’s home page, where the survey can be downloaded by selecting “Member Survey” on the sidebar. You may also mail your comments to my attention at the lodge address: 2201 Woodlawn St, Harrisburg, PA 17104. Please note that your responses to this survey will be kept confiden-tial and your name is not required. Although there is no deadline for returning the survey, we would like to have some ini-tial responses by the end of this year.

If you have visited the lodge recently, you may have noticed that we have begun to make improvements. Chuck Rine re-placed several of the damaged and water stained ceiling tiles in the bar area and repaired the tear in the curtain at the back of the meeting room. Several weeks ago, Jon Cagle, Clyde Bateman and Chuck painted over all of the nasty graffiti on the outside back wall of the Lodge building.

Feel free to contact me either by e-mail at smrichart@verizon.net or by telephone at 717-829-6150.

Yours in Service,

Stan Richart, Trustee

From Trustee Stan Richart

We have a new jukebox at the lodge. It is hanging under the television in the back of the room. When you’re in, check it out. The music selection is very eclectic.

http://www.elks.org/lodgeshttp://www.elks.orghttp://www.elks.org

MEMBER SURVEY

HARRISBURG ELKS LODGE #12

LODGE MEETINGS

1. Is the 8:00 PM meeting time convenient for you to attend Lodge meetings?

Yes ( ) No ( )

If not, what time would you suggest: _______________________

2. If the Lodge meeting was held once a month, would you be more likely to attend the meeting?

Yes ( ) No ( )

3. Do you prefer one or two meetings a month? One ( ) Two ( )

4. Are the first and third Wednesdays of each month satisfactory for Lodge meeting dates? Yes ( ) No ( )

If not, what dates or days would you suggest? _______________________

On a scale of 1 to 10, please rate the following with 1 being the lowest and 10 the highest:

BUILDING APPEARANCE

Inside:

(a) Bar area ( )

(b) Lounge or Eating area ( )

(c) Restrooms: Men’s ( ) Women’s ( )

(d) Kitchen ( )

(e) Lodge Meeting Room ( )

(f) Downstairs bar area at back of Lodge Meeting Room ( )

Outside:

(a) Parking lot ( )

(b) Overall outside building appearance ( )

FOOD/BEVERAGE

Bar Food Menu

(a) Selection of food items ( )

(b) Quality of food ( )

(c) Price of food ( )

(d) Selection of snacks ( )

What items you would like to see added

to the bar menu? _________________________________________________________

Member Survey Page 1

Are there any items that you think should be removed

from the bar menu?

_________________________________________________________

Dinners

(a) Selection of food items ( )

(b) Quality of food ( )

(c) Price of food ( )

(d) Healthiness of food ( )

What items you would like to see added

to the dinner menu? _________________________________________________________

What items you would like to see removed

from the dinner menu? _________________________________________________________

Beverages

(a) Selection of Beers ( )

(b) Selection of Liquors ( )

(c) Selection of Soda ( )

If the beverage of your choice is currently not offered, please make a suggestion. _________________________________________________________

Are the bartenders and wait staff friendly and efficient? Yes ( ) No ( )

Comments: _______________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

ENTERTAINMENT

What types of entertainment would bring you into the Elks Lodge?

_________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

NEWSLETTER

Do you find the newsletter useful and informative? Yes ( ) No ( )

If not, what about the newsletter would you improve?

_________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

Return your survey by mail to the lodge or e-mail to smrichart@verizon.net.

Thank you.

Member Survey Page 2

NEWSLETTER TITLE PAGE 9

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1

2 Sunday Brunch

11-2

Elks Memorial Service

3 Lodge Open

5:30 PM

4 5 Lodge Meeting

8 pm

Dinner 6:30 pm

6 Pork &

Sauerkraut

Dinner 5:30 pm

7

Lodge Open

5:30 pm

8

9 Sunday Brunch

11-2

10 Lodge Open

5:30 PM

11 12 13 14

Lodge Open

5:30 pm

15

16 Sunday Brunch

11-2

17 Lodge Open

5:30 PM

18 19 Lodge Meeting

8 pm

Dinner 6:30 pm

20 All You Can Eat

Spaghetti Dinner

6 PM

21

Lodge Open

5:30 pm

22

Lodge Christmas

Party!

23 Sunday Brunch

11-2

24 25

Merry Christmas!

26 27 28

Lodge Open

5:30 pm

29

30 Sunday Brunch

11-2

31 1 2 Lodge Meeting

8 pm

Dinner 6:30 pm

3 Chicken &

Waffle

Dinner 5:30 pm

4

Lodge Open

5:30 pm

5

Primary Business Address Your Address Line 2

Microsoft PRESORTED STANDARD

U.S. POSTAGE PAID

HARRISBURG, PA

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

When: December 22, 2007

Time: Appetizers at 6 PM, Dinner at 7 PM

Where: 2201 Woodlawn Street, Harrisburg, PA 17110

What’s To Eat: Roast Beef and Ham Buffet

Cost: $15 per person

Entertainment: Forward Thrust

Come out and celebrate this wonderful and important time of year with your fellow Elk members.

Please RSVP before December 19th 717-564-7490