Bemidji hosts Elks

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

June 29, 1997

By Devlyn Brooks

Staff Writer

Bemidji is playing host this weekend to its second major convention in as many months with the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks Minnesota State Convention.

According to Elks officials, about 400 state members have attended various activities throughout the 93rd state convention, which featured the installation of new state officers for 1997-98 on Saturday and business meetings that were held Friday.

Some 650 Rotarians from three states and Ontario, Canada, converged on Bemidji in early May for the Rotary International District 5580 Convention.

This weekend's Elks gathering is the second state convention to be hosted by Bemidji's Lodge 1052 -- the first in 1908 when the club was less than two years old.

In addition to state and district officials who are still in town today, the convention played host to the Elks' national president, Grand Exalted Ruler Gerald L. Coates of Harnett County, N.C.

Coates, an Elk for 27 years, said the visit to Minnesota's state convention was his 58th trip to various state Elks affairs, and that he has probably flown between 150,000 to 175,000 miles traversing the nation in the last year.

Coates, 69, and retired from the banking industry, was elected to the national presidency -- a one-year position -- last year at a convention in Las Vegas, and will relinquish the title next week at the national conference in Chicago.

"I've seen a lot of people, shook a lot of hands and seen a lot of good things our members have done," he said of his presidency at a reception Friday at Lake Bemidji State Park. "We've (he and his wife) only had about 45 days, give or take a day, at home this year. This is a full-time job."

The Elks organization is a fraternal service group that is active in more than 2,200 communities nationwide and boasts more than 1.3 million members, including women -- with the Elks the first fraternal order to allow women into their ranks.

The organization is also the sponsor of the widely recognized national Hoop Shoot contest, in which 3 million children participate annually. It is the largest co-educational sports program in the country. Last year, the group also contributed $2.1 million in scholarships nationwide, $12.7 million toward veterans services and $12 million toward drug awareness programs.

Recently, by executive order, Coates established a Red River Valley relief fund to aid families affected by the Red River's April flooding. Elks nationwide donated more than $200,00 to be disbursed to families in need.

In Minnesota, 27 lodges work on community service projects, host fund-raising and social events and work to send kids to summer camp. The camp, owned and operated by the Elks, is located near Brainerd and hosts 400 children free of charge annually.

"We've never really tooted our own horns much," Coates said about the order's charitable work, "but when asked, we can talk."