CANADIAN ELK CANADIAN ELK ´ELAN CANADIEN - Elks of Canada

ALBERTABrother Robert ShaveBrother and Sister Elks, Ladies of the RoyalPurple:My wife Diane and I would like to wish everyone aMerry Christmas and a happy and safe New Year.We have so much to be thankful for. Between naturaldisasters and man-made problems othercountries are in some scary situations. We arevery fortunate to be living in such a great country.I cannot believe how fast this year is movingalong. Between work and Elk meetings the timejust disappears. It is very rewarding when youwalk into a Lodge, where you never knew a singlemember and are made welcome and made to feelat home. I have learned that there are so manyways different Lodges do their meetings, but thereis one constant, and that is in the end, everymember is working for their community and thebetterment of Elks. Thank you to all the Lodges Ihave visited so far and I am looking forward to myremaining visits.So far, my provincial team has been busy withLeadership training, which is part of the four buildingblocks. Everyone that took the leadershiptraining course came away knowing how to thinkoutside the box about problems that might comeour way. We are always going to have problemsbut how we go about fixing them, should be better.Thank you to all that took the time out of theirbusy schedules to take this course. I believe it isan important step we have taken, for self-improvementand Lodge improvement. I am looking forwardto seeing better leaders in Lodges and in theAssociation.This year, Alberta Lodges have celebrated quite afew anniversaries. I chose to get some of myVice-Presidents to represent me at some of them.My work schedule was getting in the way ofattending all the functions to which I was invited.Having Vice-Presidents attend these functions letsyou see your leaders of the future and gives thema chance to see what is coming for them in thefuture.We have an exciting year coming up with the 100-year celebration in Chilliwack and across Canada.Here in sunny Alberta we are going to build ahouse as we are affiliated with Habitat forHumanity. There are many more projects fromother Lodges as well. When you have your projectsfigured out, let our Secretary or our PublicityDirector know about them. We will put them onthe web and in up-coming articles in “TheCanadian Elk”. It might get some of the otherLodges thinking of doing a project.Fraternally,Bob Shave, PresidentAlberta Elks Association14