What We Do

Our children are Wyoming’s future. It’s vital that we have children’s programs that keep our kids out of trouble, engaged in positive activities and headed down the correct life path. We have seen too many of our kids slip down the path of substance abuse instead of staying engaged in life. Our children’s programs seek to do keep our kids on the right path through sports and other activities.

The Elks National Hoop Shoot® Free Throw Program is the largest non-commercial co-educational sports program in the United States. It offers youth ages 8-13 regardless of race, color or creed an opportunity for character and skill development, healthy spirited athletic competition, social relationships, quality family time, camaraderie and travel with minimal expense to participants and their parents.

The volunteers for the Hoop Shoot® Program provide a fun, fair and rewarding experience for everyone involved. We take great pride in encouraging the leaders of tomorrow to strive for and achieve their goals. It is our belief that every Wyoming community has a National Champion free throw shooter: our objective is to find them and encourage them.

Wyoming has three National Champions: Tonya Jorgenson (Mirts) from Douglas (1981), Tommi Olson from Worland (2009), and Kyler Battleson from Thayne (2011). The names of all National Champions are inscribed on a plaque on permanent display in the Naismith National Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Wyoming local contests are typically conducted in December and January, allowing for time to prepare and practice for the District and State Competitions. The 6 winners of each lodge’s local contest continue on to their District Contest, and the winners of each of the four Wyoming Districts then compete at the State Championships in February. The 6 Wyoming State Champions continue up the ladder, locking horns with the winners of Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado at the Region 8 Championships in Denver in March. Regional winners from across the United States gather in Chicago for the National Finals in April.

For more information and to find a local contest near you, visit elks.org/hoopshoot.

Sports give children focus and help keep them out of activities that can derail them from a healthy, happy future. From toddlers to teens in both urban and rural areas, soccer is the sport of choice for our youth. Our Soccer Shoot Program takes advantage of soccer’s continuing growth in the U.S. and gives our kids a chance to shine.

The Elks Soccer Shoot program tests children in different age groups (U-8, U-10, U-12, U-14 and U-16) with two distinct and fun challenges. The Five Goal Contest for U-8 contestants features five goals of decreasing size to shoot at. The Grid Goal Contest for U-10 through U-16 contestants divides a full-size goal divided into different target areas to shoot at.

The State Soccer Shoot normally takes place in Casper Wyoming during the month of October. The winners of each local contest are invited to compete in the state competition. Check your local lodge for a contest near your area or contact Starla Kuhrt at starla1014@gmail.com.

The Elk’s Angels Trail Riding Weekend and Poker Ride is a fundraising event to provide scholarship assistance to the children of fallen Wyoming servicemen/women who lost their lives in the War on Terror.

The 2017 Elk’s Angels Trail Riding Weekend and Poker Ride will be held Friday September 1st through September 4th, Labor Day. This year it will be held near Lake Owen and Rob Roy Reservoir.

For more information, please contact Robert L McKee at 10703 E Polo Place, Cheyenne, WY 82009, 307-638-0098. We are also selling banners for $100; please contact Robert on those also.

We all honor our country by flying the flag at our home lodges whenever we are there for our meetings or the clubs are open and by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance at all our lodge meetings and ceremonies.

We invite the Boy Scouts to help us with Flag Day ceremonies, which include a review of each flag in our history and the stories surrounding those flags. And we put together a number of events for community heritage, Flag Day, Law and Order Night (or Day) at the Lodge, National Patriotism Week and for veterans in hospitals and nursing homes. For more information, please contact William Jauncey at william_jauncey@hotmail.com.

Every year, we visit schools around Wyoming and give free dictionaries to students who can’t afford them on their own. It may not seem like much, but a dictionary is a doorway into a new world of literacy, especially when students don’t have a computer or a smartphone. Through this program, students have their own dictionary—theirs alone—to develop vocabulary, spelling and knowledge.

The Dictionary Project began over 20 years ago as an effort to improve literacy of students in South Carolina. Since then, it has grown into a nationwide program. We have adapted the program to the specific needs students have here in Wyoming. Representatives from our lodges visit schools, engage with students on the importance of literacy and provide much-needed dictionaries. We offer dictionaries great for younger students as well as expanded dictionaries (with some encyclopedic information) and thesauruses great for older students..

Every year brings new opportunities to help improve literacy for our students in Wyoming. For more information, please contact Cindy Marchitelli, WEA Dictionary Chairman, at cmarchitelli@msn.com or 307-761-1286.

None of us is immune to the heartache of substance abuse. If someone near you or in your community is suffering from addiction, you are suffering as well. We need to educate everyone about the dangers of illegal drug use and abuse of prescription drugs, legalized drugs and alcohol. That includes our family, our friends and our neighbors.

If your community is suffering from the effects of drug addiction, we can help get the word out. Our volunteers speak at health conferences and fairs, local parades and holiday events. We bring with us a trailer full of pamphlets and goodies for the young kids (rulers, bracelets, coloring books and more), and we tailor our resources to the drug or addiction you are hoping to address. We even have educational resources that teachers can use in their classrooms, including a unit lesson and a “Drug Quiz Show.”

Our efforts are part of the Elks National Drug Awareness Program, which is the largest volunteer drug awareness program in the country. By showing how drug addiction affects our bodies, lives, families and communities, we hope to inspire the children and adults around us to live a life free from substance abuse. In our efforts, we partner with experts at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Office of National Drug Control Policy and Drug Enforcement Administration as well as local school districts, law enforcement agencies and others.

For more information on the Elks National Drug Awareness Program, please visit www.elks.org/dap. You may also contact the Wyoming State Drug Awareness chairman, Nathan Soper (Casper, WY), for information, to request informational materials or to have us at your next event at nanas87@aol.com or 307-262-2783.