The Wrangell Elks Lodge has been around since 1935, putting on community programs for kids, veterans and others over the years. But it’s just as well known for Friday night hamburgers and Saturday night steak dinners.
As popular as the dinners have become over the years, the Elks are not immune from the same problem confronting many other community groups in town — they need volunteers.
It takes at least three volunteers to staff the Friday burger night and at least two for the Saturday steak night, said Dawn Angerman, who co-manages the lodge with Karl Gladsjo.
“Friday is our busiest night of the week,” Angerman said, as members are increasingly attracted to the lower price of a $15 burger dinner than $32 and $40 steaks.
Volunteers handle cooking and serving, while the bartender is a paid employee, she said. It’s easier with state liquor licensing laws to rely on a trained bartender, Angerman explained.
A volunteer shift runs from set-up around 5:30 p.m. to taking it all down around 9 p.m., she said. Volunteers, who don’t have to be a member of the Elks Lodge, get a discount on their dinner.
Helpers also are needed at special events, such as the upcoming Jimmy Buffett party on Aug. 24, when the lodge will serve special foods and drinks to commemorate the popular songwriter and singer who died last year.
Fourth of July events at the lodge particularly rely on volunteers, Angerman said. “Toward the Fourth of July my Facebook posts were getting more and more desperate.”
Angerman has helped manage the lodge the past eight years, Gladsjo the past few years. Both are lodge trustees. They handle ordering the food and drinks, managing employees and volunteers, and Gladsjo and others help with maintenance.
Late summer and fall are always hard times to pull in volunteers for the dinners, Angerman said. “I get a lot of ‘call me after moose hunting.’”
The lodge is holding steady with almost 440 members, she said, though about 150 to 200 live out of town. For a lot of members who live in town, they are older “and have done their volunteer work already,” she said.
Like many fraternal and community service groups, the Elks want to recruit new, younger members, but it’s not easy. “They’re raising families and have two kids,” and are short on time, Angerman said.
People used to join the Elks so they could bowl in the fall leagues, but even that is less of an attraction than it used to be. “Last year we didn’t have enough bowlers to have a women’s league,” she said.
Bowling starts mid-October, and new members and volunteers are needed year-round. Anyone interested can call or text Angerman at 907-305-0552.
The next special event at the lodge will be a visit by the national Grand Exalted Ruler of the Elks and state officers on Aug. 28. They are coming to Wrangell to visit the Anan Wildlife Observatory, with a special surf-and-turf dinner that evening at the lodge.
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