The Muenster Elks heeded the call of their National Elks organization to show appreciation and support of pandemic front line workers. The Muenster Elks Lodge is about helping to support those in need in their community and providing resources for community charities. On Thursday, March 4, it was about an expression of gratitude for local teachers, retail workers, and health care providers who have stood in the fires of the pandemic for a year.

The Elks of Canada established the Essential Workers Appreciation Day for its approximately 250 lodges across Canada to take on some outreach for front line workers. 

Cory Blair, director of member services for the Elks of Canada explains the idea.

“Most of our communities are in rural settings, and in the pandemic, we wanted to come up with something to show our appreciation for those people in our communities - our teachers, our nurses, our truck drivers - anybody out there trying to help get us through these difficult times.”

While the actual recognition day selected for the event was March 27, Elks Lodges were given leeway as to when and how to celebrate those workers, given the logistical challenges of connecting during the pandemic.

The day started with a visit by Muenster Elks Lodge Secretary Glenn Korte to the Muenster Co-op Food and Gas Store where he provided each of the employees with a gift certificate for a meal from local grill, Hotel Muenster. Muenster Co-op Manager Wendy Benz expressed her gratitude and appreciation for the continued support from the community.

Next it was off for a lunchtime rendez-vous with the staff of the Muenster School, complete with pizza delivered from Hotel Muenster. During the pizza handoff, Muenster School Principal Dennis Gerwing had this to say about leading a school through the uncharted waters of the pandemic.“It hasn’t always been easy, but once we got the school year under way, things are going very smoothly. We deal with things as they arise, and we have systems in place for student safety and staff safety. We hope there's an end to this soon. And the pizza is very much appreciated.”

The Essential Workers Appreciation Day wrapped up with an evening presentation to the St. Mary’s Villa Foundation and the Humboldt and District Hospital Foundation. While the Elks considered other demonstrations of appreciation to honour their health care workers, current health restrictions prevented a delivery of food or other such gestures. The donation, they explained, was in honour of the workers’ efforts. 

Mary Hoffman represented the Villa Foundation and noted that the $500 cheque would be put to good use.

“The residents of St. Mary’s Villa are always needing new items for recreation and equipment that the health region doesn’t pay for.”

Janice Korte received the $500 cheque on behalf of the Humboldt District Hospital Foundation.

“Every month we have a new list of things that we need for the hospital, and with the OR doing more, we are investing in more equipment, so thank you very much to the Muenster Elks.

Grand Exalted Ruler of the Muenster Elks Lodge, Marvin Renneberg, summed up the day’s activities. 

“It was important because these workers have done so much for us through all this time. While some of us didn’t have to, they were always there to help us out. When the Elks Association of Canada suggested a day to show support for essential workers, we (Muenster Elks) had a short meeting and quickly got on board.”

Renneberg says the four groups to receive the gesture of thanks represented four key cornerstones to the success of the local effort through the pandemic.

The Muenster Lodge of the Elks of Canada remains one of the largest and most active in the country. Similar events will be planned by other lodges through the month and on the Essential Workers Appreciation Day on March 27.