(L to r): Standing: Event Chairman Ed Repic, Santa Ana Elks Lodge; Melody Leonard, Newport Harbor Elks Lodge; Jan Genelle, Orange Elks Lodge. Seated Pat Repic and Valarie Fisher, Santa Ana Elks Lodge, ready to hand out 300 T-shirts and 300 Gold Medals.
Buena Park Elk’s Lodge member Lou Belanger with Anaheim South Jr. High students (l to r): James Mendoza, Michael Rio, Sarah Beasley, and Christian Sotello proudly showing off their Elk’s gold medal awards.
Members representing Elks Lodges in Buena Park Garden Grove, Fullerton, Huntington Beach, La Habra, Mission Viejo, Newport Harbor, Orange, Santa Ana and Westminster, supervised the Hoop Shoot and awarded prizes to all who participated.
Two hundred seventy-five (275) Orange County boys and girls recently gathered at the American Sports Center in Anaheim to show off their basketball skills. The event sponsored by the Orange County Special Olympics Committee, featured basketball round robin competitions and a special Hoop Shoot competition put on by the Elks of Orange County. Funding for the Hoop Shoot came from individual members of Orange County Elks Lodges and an annual Elk’s golf tournament.
The mission of Special Olympics of Southern California is to empower individuals with intellectual disabilities to become physically fit, and productive and respected members of society through sports training and competition. This is done through year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports, giving athletes ongoing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, and experience joy in sharing of gifts, skills, and friendship. The school games allow students with special needs to experience a Special Olympics competition.
The Hoop-Shoot included in the tournament was sponsored by The Order of the Elks, who participate in many local and state Special Olympics programs throughout the nation. The Order, along with their local Lodges, donates approximately $200 million every year in cash, gifts and time for the betterment of communities nationwide. Their programs involve assistance to children with disabilities as well as physical and occupational therapy programs for adults.
Every participant was a winner in this special day of sports activity. Olympic style gold medals and colorful T-shirts were awarded by the Elks and displayed proudly by the happy recipients. Twenty-nine Elk’s volunteers from the ten (10) Orange County Elks Lodges supervised the Hoop Shoot making certain that every youngster had an opportunity to handle and shoot the ball.
“Organizing and managing the large number of participants is a lot of work for us but the smiles and cheers of these special children make it a labor of love,” said Elks Special Olympics Hoop Shoot Chairman Ed Repic. “When it was over, everyone was a gold medalist.”
The Elks District of Orange County is one of nineteen (19) districts in the state of California. The national headquarters of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE) is in Chicago, Illinois. The BPOE is a charitable organization with a 142 year history of giving, “Elks Care, Elks Share.”
