(L) Andy Dumont, Dave Beall, First Sergeant, USMC.
(L) Andy Dumont, Deane Landis, Sheri Moberly.
Teens for Marines.
Mission Viejo / Saddleback Valley Elks Lodge No. 2444 (“Elks Lodge”) supported Marine Appreciation Day at Lake Mission Viejo. The Elks participation in this event was organized by its Veteran’s chairman, Andy Dumont.
The Marines and their families were given free admission to Lake Mission Viejo. They were provided free bottled water, burgers, hot dogs, chips cookies, oranges and soda. They could also enjoy a free ride around the lake on a pontoon boat and could go fishing.
At a table framed with the American and Elks Flags, Elk members and volunteers distributed small American Flags, baseball caps, Frisbees, mini-flashlights, drug awareness stickers and a variety of children gifts to hundreds of Camp Pendleton based Marines and their families. The gifts to the Marines were donated by the Elks Lodge and Elk members Bill and Stephanie Bongartz of Bongo Inc, Lake Forest. Throughout the day, a raffle was also conducted in which free tickets to the Elks Lodge Father’s Day Brunch were awarded to six (6) Marines and their immediate families. The brunch will be held at the Elks Lodge on Father’s Day, June 19th.
In addition to the Elks gifts, the Marines and their families were treated to gifts by the Teens for Marines group who distributed children’s toys, footballs, basketballs and soccer balls.
The Mission Viejo / Saddleback Elks Lodge No. 2444, celebrating forty-one (41) years of service to the Saddleback Valley communities, is one of ten lodges in the Orange Coast District of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE) whose headquarters is in Chicago, Illinois. “As long as there are veterans, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks will never forget them.”
