The other day I passed by a closed-down Moose Lodge and it got me wondering:
Does anyone under 50 years old join the Moose Lodge or Elk’s Lodge these days? Why? It seems to me to be one of those clubs that will die out as the WWII veterans die out. Is there any advantage to being a member as a younger person, professionally or personally? Is it one of those men’s only clubs? What the hell do they do anyway?
I joined the Moose Lodge when I was in my 40’s, and we had many members in their 20’s and 30’s. That was in Alaska however, and the Moose was a major social activity for many people. We had sports teams (darts and pool in the winter, softball in the summer) lots of social event like BBQ’s, live bands on Saturdays, special dinners for holidays, the annual golf tournament & pig roast. We also performed a lot of community service events, like providing hats & coats to kids at the elementary schools, the annual bike safety rodeo, as well as $6,000 worth of scholarships to local high school seniors.
It was the friendliest place in town. Not just old foagies by a long shot.
“Fraternal Benefit Societies” (FBSs), which is what the lodges usually are, also provide mutual insurance for their members. Most of the state insurance codes have a separate chapter on how these enterprises are allowed to operate. If nothing more, FBSs will probably remain in existence as insurance organizations.
Somewhere in my town–I think it may be Hollywood–there is a Masonic temple called the Ionic Masonic. What a great name.
I’m applying for membership in the VFW, myself. I’ll probably be on the young side of the membership there.
There’s a large, active post close by.
I joined the Fraternal Order of Eagles at age 21 and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at age 23. I guess that since I am now 42, I may qualify as one of the old guys whose deaths you wondered about.
As for what happens at the lodges, they are mainly bars where you can go and have a quiet drink in a riff-raff free environment. Many lodges also have dinners available Friday or Saturday nights. There are holiday dances and annual family picnics to attend as well. Did I mention that prices at the bar tend to run substantially lower than at public facilities? At the FOE where I am a member you can still get a 16oz draft beer for a little over a buck.
A friend of mine joined a Moose lodge over ten years ago when he was in his late 20’s. He did it because his father-in-law was a member and he thought he could make good business contacts through the other members.
Haj
I’m also a social member of an Italian-American club south of Pittsburgh. Most of my family belongs to this club.
I’m in for the cheap drinks and activities there. Membership isn’t hard to maintain, at only $5/year.
For the several times a year I’m in Pittsburgh, it’s nice to have this.
I joined the Knights of Columbus at age 30, and am still an active member today, ten years later.
This seems to be more of a survey than a factual question, so I’ll move this thread to the forum for that sort of thing, In My Humble Opinion.
bibliophgage
moderator GQ
Joined the Moose at 21. My mom’s a member, so I joined to be able to go to the lodge with her when I’m down visiting. The closest lodge here is in Boise, and I haven’t been to it yet.
Howyadoin,
I joined the Elks at age 24. I was sponsored by my father-in-law, who was once a District Deputy to the National President, and has been the Secretary of our since Christ was in knee pants. I quickly got involved in the charitable activities, and became an officer shortly thereafter. The social aspects are excellent; my Lodge is the kind of a place where you could leave your wallet on the bar and find it there a week later.
The opportunities to do charitable work locally are numerous, things like veteran’s services, youth programs, community improvement and beautification, drug awareness education and senior services. Nationally, among other programs, the Elks is second only to the Federal Government in providing scholarship grants to high-school seniors. Note that these are grants, not loans.
Where the average age of Elk members nationally is around 60 and climbing and membership has been declining for a couple decades, my Lodge has seen a decrease in the average age to around 54. We sponsor several dart teams and pool teams, and they’ve been a good way to expose potential new members to what we have to offer when visiting teams play at the Lodge. My Lodge has not had a net membership decrease in the 14 years I’ve been a member, in fact we’ve gained about 15% over that time. We’re fortunate to have a core of older, experienced members augmented by a series of new members that choose to become involved and learn the ropes from the old hands.
The Elks differs from some of the other fraternal organizations in that we have no insurance programs, unlike the Foresters or Knights of Columbus. We also forbid in our vows the use of our membership for business or commercial purposes, and expressly ask in our membership application if the applicant expects any pecuniary interest as a result of membership. Answering “yes” is grounds for rejection of the application. As a matter of course, tradesmen do tend to attract business on the basis of relationships they form with friends they make at the Lodge, but solicitation of business is forbidden. None of our officers draw a salary for their work, although our Lodge’s treasurer and secretary do receive a modest stipend.
New members need to be sponsored by an existing member, and need references from 2 other members. Our only membership restrictions are that the applicant be over 21, not have any felony convictions, and acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being (your choice). The Supreme Being requirement is necessary because of the requirement of swearing an oath of membership which we call “the Obligation”.
Check out http://www.elks.org/AbouttheElks.cfm for more information.
Oh, and did I mention that we have big cheap drinks, AND we’re one of the few places you can still smoke in Massachusetts? 
The_Raven, PER
Beverly, Mass. Lodge #1309, B.P.O.E