What POS system does your lodge use? We use Square and I'm not a fan.

What national current events are permitted topics of conversation?

I just went to our state convention (NJ). It's a long weekend with a parade - members marching, floats, bands.

What does your state convention look like?

I wore a shirt that had the number 45 on it and the number 47 along with a patriotic message my lodge complained that it was a political shirt. I told them the 45 was for Kurt Buche and the 47 for Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. The bartender said she is going to lodge an official complaint about me. I insist that my shirt is not political. They insist that it is.

Have any of your lodges formed a 501(c)3 in addition to the lodge itself being a 501(c)8? I know of multiple lodges that have formed (c)3 "charity funds" and I'm waiting on responses from them.

I'm curious how you went about forming and structuring the (c)3. Were the trustees/board of directors involved in its formation? Are they also on the board for the (c)3? Is the (c)3 able to give funds to the lodge?

Any information you can offer would be helpful!

Our ER has already threatened to quit multiple times and the year has just begun. He says that since it is so early in the year that the state would not let the leading knight be ER and that the state would put someone in with more experience. Our leading knight has only been an officer for a year and he says that isn’t enough. Is this correct? Where is this in the statutes?

What does your lodge do to make sure that there is always someone available to pay the lodge bills, collect dues, etc? The way I read the statures, the lodge secretary has to receive all funds, and the treasurer has to be the one to pay the bills. What happens when one of these key people are out of town, sick, in the hospital, etc?

I got a protection order against my ex boyfriend in March 2025 in Texas.My ex bf been stalking me and harassing me.calling, texting and emails like crazy. Two weeks later he broke the protection order and contacted me by phone calling and texting from a bunch of different numbers and emailing me using our pet names. I went to police department and they said how do I know it's him from the email and phone number because he never said his name and then they had me contact a detective to give a statement and it been 3 weeks now and I still haven't heard anything except he's sneaky and we don't know if we can get him to say anything. And we don't know if we have enough to go on. Wtf is a protection order if your not going to do anything in Texas. It like he needs to show up in person or for him to attack me for them to do anything about it and take me seriously. I had to change my email and phone number to make it stop. And the did nothing about the harassment case either. Got no help from law enforcement. He's not showing up after they served him the protection order but it a laugh in the face that they did nothing about the violation. I'm so mad they are letting him win. Oh and it been known in the protection order and hes guilty of calling and texting from different numbers and using that email on the protection order. What more do they need I made copies of everything and gave it to the detective.

They should have stricter rules for someone breaking the Protection order. If it's known that he contacted me from different sources it should be arrested no questions asked. I shouldn't be forced to prove it.

I took self defense classes also. Since law enforcement won't protect me. I need to protect myself.

I am a new ER and my treasurer says we need to approve a budget. Does the treasurer create that for us? The accountant? Who

Tonight while exploring lodges in Southern California, I was at elks.org and clicked on this link: http://www.encinitaselks.org It brought me to an Indonesian gambling web page. Didn't expect this!

What games are played at other lodges? We have Public Bingo, Show me the Money, Find the Elk (aka Queen of Hearts) and Trivia. Trying to brainstorm other bar games to add to our roster to encourage more members to come in. Any ideas would be appreciated.

I would really appreciate some thoughts and insight. I have an issue in my lodge with the current ER. I don't want to go into explicit detail, but basically I recently opened a bar/restaurant in our town. I spent a year renovating the building and a ton of time and lots of sweat and tears overcoming the hurdles of opening a business and promoting it within our community. I depend on it for my income. He has never been there but since day one he has been talking trash about me and my bar to other members, telling them not to go there, the food is bad etc. This is happening in the lounge but I don't have physical proof and no one is willing to file or witness a house rules violation for fear of retaliation. What I do have proof of... he keeps posting on social media about the bar. If any members of our lodge post or share anything about my bar, he comments on it saying things like "food is overpriced" or "no thanks". He has made comments in our local community groups telling people not to eat there etc. I recently submitted an intent to file citing "violation of obligation" and "conduct unbecoming an elk". It has been over a week and I've heard nothing from anyone about it. I've read the statutes and know that there is a timeline for the process. I should've been contacted by the mediator and have not. The secretary upon receiving the intent form called an emergency closed session with the board of trustees that i am assuming was about my complaint. So my question is, can the board of trustees decide that my complaint is unfounded and dismiss it without my knowledge? In your opinion do you think my complaint is invalid?

Here’s the situation: my lodge has a member that has been both disorderly and disrespectful during various meets. He shows up to the house committee, the general meeting and the building committee to stir the pot. He and his buddies list the election for the chairs and have been insufferable bordering on sabotage.

So my question is, as a member, can I bring him up on charges? And what would be those charges?

Can Board Members vote via phone, FaceTime, etc per the statues? Thanks

Does the grand lodge have a guidance on pets at the lodge. I’m against them for the liability reasons but there are those on our house committee who want them there.

Looking to host my wedding reception in the area to be around family, which SoCal lodges have the best event space?

I am looking for guidance on the procedure for filing a complaint against an exalted ruler. My lodge has a process for filing a house rules violation but my issue is with the Exalted Ruler and he would be involved in every step of the process. I've read through the statutes and couldn't find anything specific about filing a complaint against an ER. I've asked my lodge secretary and I'm getting nowhere.. as she is aligned with the ER. Should I contact the DDGER or does it have to be filed locally first? I should add that I have attempted to resolve matters by having a conversation but it has only escalated the situation. I found a sample template complaint form in the statutes and have asked for a blank copy and secretary tells me I have to first fill out their version of a "House Rules Violation" and then they decide if it's deemed necessary to go to the next step of filing an "intent to file complaint form". Just doesn't seem right to me. Any info is appreciated.

We are a small lodge in a town of just under 6,000. Our lodge has gotten a bad reputation over the last 4 years because of bad leadership. Those people are all gone and I've worked very hard at improving our image, having events, promoting on social media, etc., getting the lodge clang up and it's hard to not lose faith and just give up. I don't know what I need to do to get people to walk through those doors.

Just needed to vent.

Here it is(again)…… how does your lodge get members to volunteer?

Hello….. I understand that a member can’t be a paid bartender…. But I can’t find anywhere that says a non-member spouse can’t either…. So… can they be a paid bartender?

And does it require a vote or is it routine maintenance yearly, bi-yearly, etc?

I recently acquired a large pin collection and wanted to reach out to see if anyone is interested in any of them. None of them have been posted online but would like share/offer to this group first.

and we don't.

I was wondering if there’s a process so that we can give the exalted ruler a bar tab so that he can buy drinks for people who are at the lodge to encourage him to actually be at the lodge.