Elks in the Community : Youth Activities
Partnering with Local Youth
Hopkins Elks members, family and friends are active in the community in a variety of ways. It may be our Veterans programs, Youth programs, Teaming Up 4 Teens or other charitable activities. Several of our community initiatives are funded through grant programs available through the Elks National Foundation. Below is one way we've used our grant money to support our local community.
Hot Meals for Teens
Hopkins Elks members, family and friends are active in the community in a variety of ways. It may be our Veterans programs, Youth programs, Teaming Up 4 Teens or other charitable activities. Several of our community initiatives are funded through grant programs available through the Elks National Foundation. Below is one way we've used our grant money to support our local community.
Hot Meals for Teens
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We are partnering with the St. Louis Park Treehouse Youth Organization to provide hot meals each month for local teens as part of a support program offered during the school year (photos above). This year we also volunteered with the teens for a "Day of Service" on June 21 to help senior citizens in the local community with household chores, yard clean up and gardening (photos below). It's been a great experience to work with the teens to provide a positive adult experience as well as provide the opportunity to learn about the value of volunteering and how to pay it forward.
Volunteering For Seniors
Volunteering For Seniors
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Emergency Food Backpacks
Due to a variety of circumstances, kids can find themselves without something to eat on any given night or any given week. As part of our community activities, we put together emergency food backpacks for teens through the Treehouse Youth group. The backpacks contained ready made meals, soup, granola bars, fruit cups and other nutritious items that were packaged into drawstring backpacks and made available to kids in need. |
Reducing Childhood Hunger
The Hopkins Elks have long been a supporter of ICA Food Shelf through food drives, financial donations and volunteering. ICA provides services to help people make ends meet whether it be food, employment assistance or financial assistance. In the upcoming year, we are going to partner with ICA to provide weekend food backpacks for elementary and junior high students to ensure they have enough food outside of the school day. In mid September and then again in January, we partnered with teens from the St. Louis Park Treehouse Youth Organization to pack over 300 food backpacks for distribution throughout the school year.
The Hopkins Elks have long been a supporter of ICA Food Shelf through food drives, financial donations and volunteering. ICA provides services to help people make ends meet whether it be food, employment assistance or financial assistance. In the upcoming year, we are going to partner with ICA to provide weekend food backpacks for elementary and junior high students to ensure they have enough food outside of the school day. In mid September and then again in January, we partnered with teens from the St. Louis Park Treehouse Youth Organization to pack over 300 food backpacks for distribution throughout the school year.
