The Community

Garden Grove Lodge #1952 receives City of Garden Grove Proclamation declaring National Red Ribbon Week 2023 from City of Garden Grove Mayor Steve Jones and City Council members.  

From left to right, bottom row: Kieth Huff, Drug Awareness Program Co-Chair, Terese L Caiazzo, Drug Awareness Program Chair, Mayor Steve Jones, Elroy the Elk, and Exalted Ruler, Tina Duarte. Back row: City of Garden Grove District Council Members.

Garden Grove Elks Lodge #1952 Youth Activities Chairman Karen Garland, Exalted Ruler Tina Duarte,  Loyal Knight Chris Garland and Lodge members Charnee Johnson & Maria Cox, delivered 52 Pumpkins to the children at St. Olaf Preschool in Garden Grove.

Garden Grove Elks Lodge #1952 sponsored 50 members of the Seal Beach Naval Sea Cadet Corp to the Los Angeles Angels baseball game against the Detroit Tigers. There were 18 Members from the Lodge in attendance. 

Students of the Month for August and September, Ashley Lopez and Anthony Lopez, respectively, are pictured here with proud parents Tony Lopez, PER and his Past First Lady Alma, with their other sister Nicole Lopez with Karen Garland and Tina Duarte. 

Malana Pelasky received the August Junior Teen Award for collecting 800 pencil boxes to give to kids in need in the Anaheim School District. Our Lodge participated in her pencil box drive. Pictured here is Malana with her parents Paul Pelasky, past Exalted Ruler of Orange Elks Lodge #1475, his wife Deanna, Karen Garland, Youth Activities Chairman, and Exalted Ruler Tina Duarte.

Garden Grove Elks Lodge #1952 Operation Playground donated playground balls and hula hoops to six Title 1 schools in the Garden Grove School District.  Pictured here are Exalted Ruler, Tina Duarte, Principal Kyle Benham, Lodge Youth Activities Chairman, Karen Garland, and Esteemed Loyal Knight, Chris Garland at Peters Elementary School.

National Elks Youth Week, May 1-7

May 1, 2023

The Garden Grove Elks Lodge #1952 received a proclamation from the City of Garden Grove to declare May 1-7 as National Elks Youth Week to honor our junior citizens for their achievements and contributions to the betterment of our communities. Accepting the proclamation were Garden Grove Elks Americanism Chair, Stephanie Janji, and Kenton Hoang Bach, a senior at La Quinta High School, Eagle Scout recipient, and future West Point Military Academy cadet, from Mayor Steve Jones and the City Council.

Kolina Janji, a senior at Rosary Academy with a GPA of 4.0, has been involved in several community and church activities.   These include:  Lector and server at Blessed Sacrament Church, recipient of Presidential Volunteer Service Award for 4 years with over 1600 community service hours, volunteered at Orange County Food Bank and with care packages at Long Beach Veterans.   In addition, Kolina has been involved with the Garden Grove Elks with being Elroy the Elk at several events, Easter Bunny, Grinch at the Elks children’s Christmas party, and Veterans Wreaths Across America.  She also donated $500 to Wags Animal Shelter in Westminster from her online Lazy Dog Slime business. Stephanie was presented our Teenager of the Year award along with Student of the Month in recognition of her impressive community service efforts and outstanding academic achievement.

Ronald McDonald House Orange County recognizes The Garden Grove Elks Lodge # 1952 for their generous donations to the “Together Campaign.”  Garden Grove Elks donated Gratitude Grants from Elks National Foundation to Ronald McDonald House Orange County for the last five years.    Shown Left to right:   Exalted Ruler, Eric Skillman, Karen Lewin PER and Chairperson for Grants, Dannie Assistant to the Operations Director and  Ronald McDonald Operations Director, Katie Russell.  

Garden Grove Elks collected pallets of donated canned foods from local schools, Lodge members, and other agencies for sorting by Lodge members on Friday morning, December 16.  Pacifica High School and Naval Sea Cadets loaded the food boxes with all types of cans, celery, potatoes, carrots, and onions on Saturday.   Food boxes with an added ham  were placed into family vehicles on Sunday with the Emblem Club adding Christmas toys for the children.

 Photo: Pacifica High School Varsity and Junior Varsity Baseball Teams posed on stage after distributing all the food items into the food boxes.

Garden Grove Elks donated $500 to the veterans support organization, Patriots and Paws located in Anaheim.    They offer miscellaneous household goods given freely from their warehouse to any military personnel, past and/or currently serving.  Over 1318 military families have been served this year.

Shown left to right are: Sharon Violano, Elks Lodge Veterans Services Chairman, Penny Lambright, Patriots and Paws Founder & Chairman of the Board, and Leading Knight Tina Duarte.

The Garden Grove Elks provided hotdogs, pizza, cookies, Christmas gifts, and drinks to 150 local children this last Sunday.   The event was a Children’s Christmas Party with The Grinch, Cindy Lou Who, and other characters from Whoville.   The Santiago High School choir entertained the children with ROTC members distributing beverages and food to the kids.  Games for the kids, photos with Santa, and Christmas gifts to all the children.  Eight bicycles were raffled off to different age groups.   Toys were collected from the Tiki Marketplace and from Lodge members.   This yearly successful event was organized by Karen and Chris Garland. 

Abigail Sangren (pictured on right), a senior at Pacifica High School, was selected as our November Student of the Month. Abigail was chosen for her charismatic leadership and involvement with school clubs, such as Junior State of America and is a three-sport, varsity athlete.  She maintains a 4.3 GPA and would like to attend UCLA to study pre-law in hopes of one day running for a political office.   

Valentine Nguyen (pictured on left), a senior at Rancho Alamitos High School, was selected as our December Student of the Month. Valentine is the club president for Peer Support, which is an outlet for students to have conversations about any topic they are facing in life. She is also a member of the Red Cross, where she has actively volunteered many hours in the community. She has a 4.39 GPA and would like to attend Stanford University to study Biochemistry and become a surgeon. 

Lodge Trustee and reserve firefighter, Kieth Huff presents Firefighter of the Year award to Orange County Division Chief Craig Covey.

The Elks have a National Drug Awareness Program (DAP), was formed to teach children and parents about the dangers of illegal drugs in 2100 Elks Lodges across the country. Red Ribbon Week Oct. 23rd through Oct. 30th is being recognized here by the city council of Garden Grove.    Shown is Mayor Steven Jones presenting the City of Garden Grove Proclamation declaring National Red Ribbon Week in the City of Garden Grove to DAP Chairperson Terese Caiazzo, accompanied with “Elroy the Elk”, the program mascot to remind kids that hugs are better than drugs.

(Left to Right) Exalted Ruler Eric Skillman, Tuan Tran Seal Beach Battalion Operations Officer,
parents and brother of Gia Le, the October Student of the Month, Damian Nguyen, the September Student of the Month, with his mother, and Stephanie Janji, Lodge Americanism Chairperson. Gia is a a sophomore from Santiago High School with a 4.4 GPA and planning on attending UCLA to become an IT programmer. Damian is in 8th grade at Walton Intermediate with a 3.8 GPA and would like to become an airline pilot. Congratulations to our Students of the Month!

David Elder gave a PowerPoint presentation in the Lodge to approximately 40-50 young people of the Navy ROTC.  His presentation covered many areas of amateur radio, to include its uses in our community, and potential careers that can result from involvement.  After the presentation, participants were given tours of the ham shack, the types of radios and antennas that are in use, and how repeaters function.  Stephanie Janji (Americanism Chair) sent in about five people at a time into the ham shack.  Rick Freidel, Dave Summers, and Cory Brown were responsible for providing this information.  We discussed repeaters, the International Space Station and amateur radio, sunspot cycles, radio wave propagation, emergency communications, volunteering, and the various types of ham radio.  Skill sets that can be learned by young people were also presented that could benefit future job prospects.  Some of the young people chose to talk on the radio!  This was a wonderful opportunity to introduce young people to the Elks and to amateur radio as a hobby.

The Garden Grove Elks Lodge was pleased to have Garden Grove Police Department Canine Support Dogs Nellie and Mischa come for a meet and greet with members last Thursday evening at the Lodge. The support dogs’ partner with School Resource Officers Derek Link and Patrick Julienne to calm people down when they are having a stressful event, de-escalate situations and bring smiles to faces. They and their handlers were on the scene within 12 hours after the Texas Uvalde School shooting and were instrumental in helping the adults and students deal with the grief and shock afterwards. Nellie and Mischa along with their handlers spend hours with the community to render support. The Support Canine Program works in partnership with Garden Grove Unified School District and other agencies when requested. GG Elks was delighted to present a check to the John Reynolds Youth Support Foundation for $1,000 to help support this non-profit program to help with training costs for the team. The Foundation is a non-profit and all donations go directly to help provide training, lodging, and costs for Nellie and Mischa.

Back-To-School Backpack Drive for Success

August 4, 2022

Community Service Officers Allyson Kimberly on the left and Reyna Cruz on the right with center Stephanie Janji Americanism Chairperson show backpacks and $200 donated for raffle prizes for our Garden Grove city Police National Nite Out.

Back-To-School Backpack Drive for Success

August 1, 2022

Shown (left to right) are Dina Cuppinger with Stephanie Janji, Americanism Chair, both holding backpacks from the 148 backpacks, $1,000 Education Grant, and $300 cash donations with supplies of pens, crayons, pencils, notebooks and other miscellaneous items to the Back-To-School Backpack Drive for Success.

Hoop Shoot Winner

June 27, 2022

Garden Grove Elks Lodge honors Allyson Tan (age 12) with Father Alvin Tan for her Hoop Shoot competition successes, advancing to the California State competition the last three years.    Allyson is an excellent student with one year of eligibility left.    We have high hopes that Allyson competes in the Regional and National Hoop Shoot competitions next year.  Presenting the award is CHEA Hoop Shoot Chairman Henry ”Rick” Ross.

Ethan Allen Elementary School student, Harry Phi (5^TH grade) was awarded a Certificate for his Americanism winning essay “What Does It Mean to Love Your Country” along with a $20 gift card. Garden Grove Elks Lodge member Judy Bainto surprised Harry and his teacher, Ms. Benedict with thanks for participating in the essay contest this 2021-2022 school year.

Other award winners who also received certificates and $20 gift cards from other participating schools were: David Nguyen from Ralston Intermediate, Paige Dalton and Ryan Dalton from Bell Intermediate. 

Garden Grove Elks Recognizes Pacifica High School‘s NJROTC Team

May 28, 2022

Judy Bainto, presented Certificates of Appreciation to the Pacifica High School 5-member team who participated in the Garden Grove Police Memorial Service last week. The entire group of NJROTC members were on hand along with parents to attend their Awards Ceremony at Pacifica High School. Also present was Teri Rocco, GGUSD Trustee.

Garden Grove Elks donated four bicycles on May 12th at Evan’s Elementary School in Garden Grove. Students earned raffle tickets for a chance to win a bike. All the students and staff were treated to a BMX bike show too. The Garden Grove Police Department fitted the winners with bike helmets. Eric Skillman and Assistant Esquire, Judy Bainto were on hand to draw the winning tickets. Principal Adam Bernstein called the winning names from grades K-2 and 3-6.

The Garden Grove Elks Lodge honors Maranda Castro as the Student of the Month for May 2022, a senior at Rancho Alamitos High School, for her academic and community activities.   Maranda was the Youth of the Year with the Boys and Girls Club of Stanton, her community services included services with We Give Thanks on Thanksgiving Day, distributing lunches at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Christmas baskets with the Garden Grove Elks Lodge, Rock-N-Recovery Inc with the Christmas Toy Run, and distributing food with California Highway Patrol and Salvation Army.    Shown (left to right) are Eric Skillman, father Johnny Castro, Maranda Castro, mother Patricia Castro, and coordinator Stephanie Janji.

Hoop Shoot winners from the Garden Grove Elks Lodge were Julianna van Ulden and Dirk J van Ulden. Each won their age divisions at the local Boys and Girls Club in Garden Grove in December and advanced to the regionals in January. Julianna won her division in the regionals and competed in the Southern California State Tournament at Whittier Christian High School in February. Their mother, Michelle Palmisano had previously participated as a kid and advanced to the regional division in Los Angeles. She was so impressed by the program and wanted her children to be involved. Next year she will have all three children competing in the Garden Grove Elks Hoop Shoot.   Shown are (left to right) Eric Skillman, mother Michelle Palmisano, Julianna van Ulden, Dirk J van Ulden, father Dirk P. van Ulden, Nico van Ulden, and Rick Ross, Hoop Shoot Coordinator. Congratulations Julianna and Dirk!