In today’s somewhat difficult economic climate, it would be easy for service organizations who support educational ventures through scholarships to scale back their efforts, and most folks would be completely understanding.
The Moose Jaw Elks Lodge is having none of that, though, with the Trudie Temple Music Scholarship offering the latest example.
The Elks recently presented the Prairie South School Division with a cheque for $2,864.83 to help bolster the Temple scholarship’s coffers and help ensure the annual award will be presented for many years to come.
“The Trudie Temple Scholarship has been awarded since 1978, so it’s been going on for a long time and we’re happy to be able to help,” said Elks public relations director Harold Claffey during a special cheque presentation Friday afternoon at the PSSD office.
The money goes into a general fund, with the interest from that being used to support the scholarship, which has been in the $500 range in recent years.
The majority of the funds came from the Gutheridge Field concession, which operates throughout the South 5A Rural Football League season selling such popular fare as ‘the best hot dogs in southern Saskatchewan’, hot chocolate and coffee to the thousands of fans who take in games every week.
“It’s really good, they do all this work every year at the concession and it really benefits the kids because they get a better scholarship every year,” said Ron Purdy with the PSSD. “There’s a lot of history in Temple Gardens, too, that’s an important part of Moose Jaw’s history, so it’s nice to see that carried on as well.”
Trudie Temple is one of the namesakes behind Temple Gardens. Longtime patrons of the arts in the community, Trudie and Cal Temple built the wildly popular event venue in 1921 and saw it become the hub of social activities in Moose Jaw. Their continuous dedication to music in the Band City eventually saw the Elks establish the scholarship in Trudie’s honour, and the award has been presented ever since.
Students have to be moving on to post-secondary education, have high academic standing and be involved in their community and school programs in addition to other volunteer efforts.
The scholarship has been awarded to plenty of talented individuals over the years, including recently to “one young lady who could play 11 instruments”, as noted by Elks member and longtime high school football scorekeeper Art Watson.
The plan is to keep offering the scholarship as long as they can, with the goal of preventing a decline in funds that eventually sees it fall by the wayside.
“That’s why we do this, we want to keep it in good shape,” Watson explained. “Some scholarships get so low they have to be combined with other ones, and then the name is lost. We don’t want that to happen and we’re going to do what we can to continue this support.”
As for the Elks themselves, they continue their service club efforts and are always on the lookout for new members.
“We’re all getting a year older, and we’re always trying to attract more members to the community service way of life,” Claffey said. ‘It was really popular 40 years ago and has dropped off now, but we’re always hoping to see more people get involved.”
Be sure to check out their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/MooseJawElksLodge and check out their website at www.moosejawelks.com for the latest information.
