Elks Lodge #2733 - Atascadero, California

Volunteer Board

Get Involved!

Make a difference

The Atascadero Elks has National, State and Local programs and many charities to suit all interests. Community, Youth, Veterans and Americanism are our focus. Learn more and plan your involvement. Initiation is your special day. Experience our ritual that conveys our cardinal principles of Charity, Justice, Brotherly Love and Fidelity. You are now on your way!

  • Get Involved:
    1. Participate in meetings to learn about the lodge. Get involved. Every event needs more hands. Contact the committee chairperson (the list of lodge committees in the Antler) and let them know you want to help. Volunteering is the backbone of the Elks.
    2. Work with committee chair persons and Lodge leadership. If you are ready to implement something new, get permission, a budget, volunteers, press attention and results.  You can make a difference by leading the charge.
  • Add your name to the Volunteers Needed board in the lodge lobby and sign up to help at an event. Every event needs people to help!
Sign up

Community Service

Elks Care, Elks share

Community Service is a big part of being an Elk. We are proud to take an active role in helping groups and individuals in Santa Margarita, Atascadero, Templeton, and throughout the North County.

We do this by working with the community and veterans groups to identifying needs, and providing resources to help. 

Most importantly, we get to make a difference in lives!

Flag

Elks National Foundation

Elks National Foundation helps Elks build stronger communities. We fulfill this pledge by investing in communities where Elks live and work. We provide tomorrow’s leaders, our youth, with lifelong skills; meet the needs of today’s veterans; help the state Elks associations accomplish their charitable objectives; and fund projects that improve the quality of life in local Elks communities.

The Foundation’s budget for program services in the 2025-26 fiscal year totals $48.2 million:

  • Community Investments Program – $18 million
  • State Elks Association Grants – $11.5 million
  • Scholarship Programs  – $5 million
  • Elks National Veterans Service Program – $6.4 million
  • Elks Hoop Shoot Free Throw Contest – $1.5 million
  • Elks Memorial Building Maintenance – $1 million
  • Elks Drug Awareness Program – $1 million
Donate to ENF

Scholarships

The Elks National Foundation awards $3,300,000 or more annually in scholarships rivaling the amount given by the Federal Government.  These include the Legacy, Most Valuable Student and Emergency Education Fund Grants.  There are many scholarships available. Currently the Lodge awards more than $10,000 in Scholarships annually to students graduating from Atascadero High School and Templeton High School. Students apply for the scholarships through their Counseling Office, starting in April each year.  The Counseling office has Elks applications for the scholarships. For more information on the different Elks National scholarships visit: https://www.elks.org/scholars.

Soccer Shootout

The Soccer Shoot is held at the Paloma Creek Park field during September/October.  This is a popular event for boys and girls in four age divisions. 

The first place winners advance to the Elks West Central Coast District Soccer Shoot. Winners move up to the State Shoot and have the opportunity to move up to the Regional Shoot, then compete for the National Championship.

Hoop Shoot

The Hoop Shoot is held during December at the Colony Park Community Center. This is a popular event with boys and girls in three age divisions. 

The first place winners advance to the Elks West Central Coast District Hoop Shoot. Winners move up to the State Shoot and the opportunity to move up to the Regional Shoot then compete for the National Championship.

Hoop Shoot 2024

Drug Awareness Essay Contest

The Americanism Contest is sponsored by the Elks during the annual essay contest in the Atascadero School District.  Each year there is a theme and the essay is open to 6th, 7th and 8th grade students.  The 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades can participate in a Poster contest. We spread the word about the contest at the schools in October. 

Th essays and posters are due in December.  Winners are sent on to the District level.

Elks Memorial Ceremony

The first Sunday in December, a special ceremony recognizes our departed members.  This custom among Elks conducts a formal service in tribute to a brother who had died.  Under the Statute of the Order, it provisions the first Sunday in December of each year designated as “Elks Memorial Day” to commemorate departed brothers on that day.

The Memorial Service is conducted in the Lodge with a program of special music and other appropriate features.

Veterans Recognition

The lodge hosts the North County Veterans with a dinner each November. 

Purple Pig fundraiser

Purple Pig

Spare some change

The Purple Pig is the fundraising arm of the California-Hawaii Elks Association Major Project, I (CHEMPI) of which the Atascadero Elks is a part.

The California-Hawaii Elks have raised over $140.5 MILLION since 1950 to address the unmet needs of children with disabilities by developing a program of supporting services to aid these children at no cost to their families.

This unique program funds 32 paid therapists and preschool vision screeners, hired by CHEMPI, to help disabled children when no other organizations can or will. These CHEMPI professional therapists and preschool vision screeners travel, sometimes great distances, to help children get care they need. Further, many times the children will have tests, e.g. Vision Screening, that catches early signs of amblyopia (“Lazy Eye”), a medical problem that, once caught, can be corrected early on and save a child from going blind, quite literally. CHEMPI employs:
  • Occupational Therapists
  • Physical Therapists
  • Preschool Vision Screeners
  • Speech-Language Pathologists
Pick up a purple piggy bank at the lodge, fill it up and contribute to this worthy cause. If you want to be a recurring donor using a credit card and a set monthly amount, visit this page: https://chea-elks.org/recurring-donations/ More information at: https://chea-elks.org/major-project/purple-pig/ Program services include:

Junior Antlers

Leadership Development

The Junior Elks Program called The Antlers, is a chance for young people in our communities to get involved with the Elks in the many service-related projects our Lodges sponsor.

Membership in the organization is open to any individual who has passed their twelfth and not yet reached their twenty-first birthday, who is a citizen of the United States of America, of good character and who believes in the existence of God.

Junior Antlers

The Antlers of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the United States of America has the following major objective:

  • To quicken the spirit of American Patriotism;
  • To teach respect for parents and love of home;
  • To inculcate the fundamentals of good citizenship;
  • To aid in a worthy cause;
  • To establish foundation of character;
  • To promote the welfare and enhance the happiness of its Members; 
  • And to respect the conviction of others in the matters of worship and religion is true Americanism.