Greetings Brother and Sister Elks:

Warm greetings as we head into the holiday season. I say this with a joyous but also a heavy heart as we had to say goodbye to an amazing Elk and someone I considered a dear friend, PDDGER and our Lodge Treasurer, Robert Giglio. Robert was very much an Elk through and through. From his many terms as an Exalted Ruler to his appointment as District Deputy Grand Exalted Ruler, Robert always gave 100% to Elkdom. Robert was also very active in many Veterans affairs and

was truly invested in everything he did concerning our veterans. He will be greatly missed. In Robert’s absence, I would like to personally thank Anthony Vitale and Frank Cappa for stepping up to continue Robert’s good works in Veterans Affairs.

In other Officer news, regrettably, due to health issues, Michael Dolan, our Lodge Tiler had to step away from the position. I want to thank Michael for his service to the Lodge, but his health supersedes all. I have appointed PER Joseph Sanchez to fill the chair for the remainder of the Lodge year. After a meeting of the Trustees and Officers, we have all agreed that PSVP/PER Robert Ponzo will fill the role as acting Treasurer. Robert will step away from his duties as Lodge Esquire and I will be appointing Giovanni Ramos to complete the year as Lodge Esquire. I am truly amazed at the fraternal bond we share as I watch so many good Elks step up to the plate to keep our Lodge strong. Thank you all!

We have a lot of big functions coming up during the remainder of the year. I want to mention two of them, but all can be found in our event calendar On November 20th, we will welcome home our own District Deputy Grand Exalted Ruler, Brian Diaz. Let's all turn out and give Brian the Elk welcome he deserves.

On December 14th, we will welcome our first female NY State President, Tania DeFrank from Liberty Lodge #1545 along with her husband, Marren. Tania has been doing an amazing job for our State Association and I encourage you to come meet her. On a serious note, our attendance at Lodge events has declined which is causing us to look at other avenues, and yes, even cancel some events. You, the membership, are what keeps this Lodge going and strong. We strongly encourage you to attend meetings, participate in our functions, even invite your neighbors and friends. You all get to do what you could not do before you yourself became a member, propose them for membership. I know that I personally don’t like to see any functions cancelled so we must all do our part to keep our Lodge thriving.

In closing I would like to say how proud I am to serve this Lodge, of our membership, and of my Lodge Officers. I want to wish you all a very happy holiday season and hope to see most of you at our great upcoming events.

‍ Fraternally,

Christopher Petrella, PER
Exalted Ruler