Washington Elks Therapy Program for Children, Inc. has been our State Major Project since 1954. Also called “Tall Elks,” the program has provided home-based occupational or physical therapy to children with developmental delays or physical disabilities. Services are provided at no cost to the families.
Our Lodge is contributing meaningfully to this project, as we have every year. Edie Shook, Puyallup Elks Washington State Children’s Therapy Program Chairman gave us this update:
The numbers for Donations for Tall Elks this year for our lodge amounted to $11,406.95. We in fact donated 146% of our goal. That is the highest percentage I remember ever. We had crossed over 100% a number of times, but it has always been less than 110%.
We finished 10th in the State, and fourth in the grouping of lodges with memberships between 300 and 499.
Thank you to all who donated this year. The goal each year has been $20 per member. Those of you who stepped up raised the equivalent of $29.24 per Puyallup Elks member.
And Now a Story from a Parent of One of “Our Kids”
Luke was born with a class 4 lip and tongue tie, which means that the way his tongue and lips were attached to his mouth made it difficult for him to eat. At 4.5 months, the tiny boy had a procedure done to revise his lip and tongue ties. He went from only drinking a 2 or 3 oz bottle per feeding and screaming constantly between feedings to drinking 6+ ounces each feeding and became a happy baby.
The family was connected with an occupational therapist who works on oral motor therapy through the Washington Elks by the doctor who performed the lip and tongue tie procedure. The therapist visited the home once a week and worked with Luke to teach him to latch properly to the bottle and to help him not have developmental delays.
“Our therapist was so knowledgeable and informative,” said Luke’s parent. “He taught me new things to work with Luke on my own each week. Luke is now a 1-year-old and he is thriving! Our therapist didn’t just stop after Luke was latching well to the bottle. He helped us transition to solid foods, assisted Luke with crawling and standing up. Luke’s sister Harper and brother Jaxon have enjoyed being able to interact with our therapist during the visits, and I find them doing little things the therapist is doing to try to help Luke learn. You always hear “it takes a village,” and we are so blessed that we were able to have someone help us with Luke for so long. Thank you to the Elks of Washington for having a program like this available.”
Photo used by permission.