Elks National to convene in New Orleans

29th July 2019   ·   0 Comments

By Ryan Whirty
Contributing Writer

As the new national leader of the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World and with the IBPOEW’s national convention scheduled to convene this weekend in New Orleans, Leonard J. Polk Jr. hopes to train the 121-year-old organization’s focus on community outreach and education.

Polk, who was elected the IBPOEW’s 14th Grand Exalted Ruler in August 2018, will convene the Elks gathering at the Hilton Riverside in downtown New Orleans, with the convention running from Aug. 2-9.

Polk, an attorney and general managing partner of Polk and Associates Law Firm in Sterling, Va., said he is grateful for his selection as Grand Exalted Ruler – a role that also includes the positions of Grand Patriarch and Chief Executive Officer – and excited to help the famed organization connect its message and membership to the community.

“I’m really, really honored to be elected leader of an organization that has such a rich history,” Polk told The Louisiana Weekly last week. “It’s been around forever, it’s a well known entity and an iconic organization in the community, and my No. 1 goal as Grand Exalted Ruler is to help the Elks continue to play a substantial role in the community.”

Polk added that, although the IBPOEW has traditionally been known as an African-American organization, he wants to communicate to the public that the Elks serve and reach out to everyone in the community at large, regardless of race or status. He said such outreach is crucial to building the Elks’ role in society.

“We serve veterans, we serve seniors, we serve youth at risk, we serve the whole community,” he said. “We’re very much integral within the community, and we operate as such.”

He said a crucial part of that outreach effort is strengthening the Elks’ online presence, something that Polk said is required in our modern age. That includes taking advantage of the various forms of social media.

“We’re proud of who we are,” he said, “but we’re not satisfied. We still need to improve and continue moving forward.”

Polk says that one particular focus the Elks hope to have over the next year or so is public education and activation of citizens’ involvement in the American governmental and political system. He said that with the country so divided right now, the 2020 presidential election looms as something every American needs to become involved in.

“We want to continue focusing on people out to the polls,” he said, “especially with this next election. We’re at a critical point for the future of our country.”

Part of that also includes nurturing the involvement of youth in the American system of government by sponsoring an oratorical program for youngsters about the importance of civil liberties to the country, a program through which youth could earn a $10,000 scholarship.

Polk said the upcoming IBPOEW national convention in New Orleans will include an Elks Service Day on Tuesday (August 6), when attendees will go into the local community and do volunteer work for a variety of institutions, including the Children’s Hospital New Orleans, senior centers and veterans groups.

He added that all convention activities are open to the public – and he extended a special invitation of New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell – including a concert by the Dennis Edwards Temptations Review, to benefit the American Kidney Fund.

“I would invite all the people of New Orleans to come out,” Polk said. “We’re looking forward to coming to New Orleans and serving the community of New Orleans.”

Polk has enjoyed a lengthy and successful tenure as an Elk. He joined the Fraternal Order of the IBPOEW in 1983, when he became a member of the James H. Lodge #529 in Vienna, Va., where he was elected as Exalted Ruler of the lodge in 2011, a position he held until his selection as Grand Exalted Ruler of the national organization.

On the state and regional levels, from 1990-96, Polk served as chairman of the Virginia State Association of IBPOEW Auditors, where he worked to update and digitize the organization’s finances. He was elected state president of the Virginia LBPOEW in 1996, the youngest state president in Elkdom, eventually gaining reelection for seven consecutive terms until 2010.

In addition, Polk earned the degree of Past Grand Exalted Ruler and served as the Acting National Legal Coordinator for the Grand Lodge IBPOEW.

Other positions held by Polk during his service as an Elk include serving as Grand Esteemed Lecturing Knight, Grand Esteemed Loyal Knight, Grand Esteemed Leading Knight, Assistant Grand Legal Advisor to the Elks Grand Lodge, Acting National Legal Coordinator of Elks Grand Lodge, Chairman of the Grand Lodge Charity Fundraiser, President of the National State Presidents Council and Grand Lodge Representative to the National Black Leadership Roundtable.

As a legal coordinator, advisor and financial organizer, Polk created and provided content for the Grand Lodge Web site; obtained a trademark for the Grand Lodge from the federal Patent and Trademark Office; and obtained 501(c) 3 tax-exempt status for the Grand Lodge from the IRS.

In addition, as Chairman of the Grand Lodge Charity Fundraiser, Polk helped raise more than $71,000 in support of Alzheimer’s disease research and treatment, St. Judes Children’s Hospital, American Cancer Society and Sickle Cell Disease Association of America.

This article originally published in the July 29, 2019 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.