WESTFIELD — The Westfield-West Springfield Elks Lodge 1481 on 5 Franklin St. is holding a comedy night fundraiser on Sat., Feb. 28, featuring Charlie Nadler, Paul Nardizzi and Kristy Kielbasinski. The host for the evening is comedian Jim Ruberti of Cape Cod.
Tickets are $25 and available at the lodge. Doors open at 6 p.m., and the show starts at 7:30 p.m. There will be raffles, including a 50/50 raffle, a cash bar and a limited menu available.
Secretary Pat O’Connor said the money raised at the event will help the lodge, which serves Westfield, West Springfield, Agawam, Southick-Tolland-Granville region and the Gateway region, to support its charitable works, as well as the Lodge itself.
“We were founded in 1924 and currently have 384 members,” O’Connor said, adding that last year, they presented grants totaling over $12,000 to Soldier On, Project New Hope, Friends of the Springfield Vet Center, Our Community Kitchen (Westfield), the Westfield Food Pantry and the Huntington Food Pantry.
“We also use grant money to host veteran lunches and bingo in our lodge for residents of the Holyoke Veteran Home and at Westfield Gardens. We just received grant funding for the meal services program at the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Westfield. Members of the lodge will be purchasing and packaging weekend meal bags for food-insecure families to take home,” O’Connor said.
“Last year, through the Elks National Foundation and the Massachusetts Elks Scholarship, Inc., our lodge was able to provide college financial assistance totaling approximately $15,000 to 10 students. We expect that number to double this year. In addition, through our Student of the Year program, we present a $100 award to one graduating senior from each of our seven area high schools. The awards are given to those students who best exhibit good citizenship, leadership, and community service, as those mirror the cardinal principles of the Elks — charity, justice, brotherly love and fidelity,” O’Connor added.
Their largest community event this past year was their build-a-bed project, for which they partnered with A Bed for Every Child to provide safe, comfortable beds to children who are sleep-insecure. O’Connor said they collected many donations of bedding and stuffed animals, and with the help of 50 Elks and community members, built 20 sturdy wooden bed frames, which were fitted with new box springs and mattresses for delivery to the children.
Other projects they fund and provide to area youth include The Literacy Project, through which they provide over 1,200 dictionaries to third-grade students each year. “These are books for the students to take home and use during a time when they are learning skills that will take them from ‘learning to read’ to ‘reading to learn,’“ O’Connor said.
The Elks Lodge 1481 also delivers over 200 backpacks with school supplies to their five school districts every year, and sponsors an Americanism Essay Contest, inviting students in grades 5 to 8 to submit essays, with awards presented to the top three at each grade level.
O’Connor said these projects are only some of the events and services that members of the Elks Lodge provide every year to the community. To reserve tickets and or more information, call 413-563-7286.
