ELKS GIVE BUCKS TO LOCAL PROGRAMS

Thousands Given To Boys Clubs, Girls Clubs In Hayward, San Leandro

These days, amid ongoing budget slashings, local youth program leaders such
as Lance Frederick aren't used to getting phone calls from people saying
they want to send a check.

But Frederick was grateful for the surprising news last week that the Drug
Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program he runs in Hayward would be
getting a $2,500 donation from San Leandro-Hayward Elks Lodge No. 2795.

The nonprofit Elks group voted earlier this month to distribute some
$25,000 worth of bingo proceeds to local youth programs.

"This year we said, 'Let's go for the kids," said Hayward resident Richard
Kelly, the lodge's public relations chairman.

Kelly received the honor of calling leaders of each of the recipient
groups. "They were elated," he said.

The lodge is giving $9,000 to the Hayward and San Leandro Boys and Girls
Clubs; $2,500 to the San Leandro and Hayward police DARE programs; and
$2,000 to Boy Scouts of America for activities in both cities.

For the DARE programs, the donation will help provide supplies that have
been scaled back lately such as workbooks and T-shirts, according to
program leaders from both cities.

Kip Lewis, director of operations for the Boys and Girls Club of Hayward,
said the donation probably will go direct to club operations. recently had
to cut back hours.

"We're keeping our heads above water," Lewis said, adding that there's more
competition for grants, and regular donors have been unable to give. "So
the $9,000 was a godsend."

For the Boy Scouts the $2,000 donation will help send about 10 kids to
summer camp or buy about 100 field books, said Aaron Bedell, finance
director of the San Leandro headquarters for Boy Scouts in Alameda and San
Francisco counties. He, too, said it's rare these days to get surprise
donations. "It was like an Easter egg," he said.

Kelly said the lodge has given out the money annually to different
charities as part of its community services program. But this year, in
light of the economy, Elks members decided to focus on youth.

The lodge no longer hosts bingo, because about nine months ago it sold its
building near Chabot College in Hayward. The lodge has had trouble finding
another building and is considering merging with the Fremont Elks Lodge,
Kelly said.