Dear Red Phone,
“I’m wondering, the Gilroy Elks Club is always advertising for a dance or a meal, and at the very end it always says, ‘For members and their guests.’ Why do the members have to advertise to invite people to their events? Shouldn’t members already know they’re having an event? I tried to get in one time and was denied. Thank you.”
Dear Reader, the following is a response from John Berger with the Elks Club. We hope you find this helpful:
“We would like, first of all , to let you know that we are not an Elks Club, we are an Elks Lodge. We have been granted a Charter from the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the United States of America. Our Grand Lodge is located in Chicago, Ill. We have been an Elks Lodge in Gilroy since 1929. Because we are an Elks Lodge, we are subject to Statutes of the Grand Lodge and one of these is advertising to the public. We can advertise in local paper, to our members, inviting them to our functions.
We have two means of advertising to our members. One is through our monthly publication call the Garlic Press, which is sent to all our members and includes widows of members. In addition, we have a website at www.gilroyelkslodge.com.
Because we are a nonprofit organization, we must abide by the rules of our order. When we have private parties, we must obtain an ABC license for that function.
Since we are a nonprofit organization, we must advertise in papers like the Gilroy Dispatch and the Morgan Hill Times, an invitation to Elks members and their guests. We use the local papers because our members sometimes forget a function, so we give them the opportunity to see the ad once again. Since our membership is now at 463, we have to use all means possible to alert all of our members about functions.
I have been a member of this Lodge for more than 24 years and in that time, we have never refused anyone from attending a function. We need to point out that our Wednesday nights are for members only and this might have been the case about this person being refused admittance.”
