The Elks have been instrumental in developing medical programs to provide care for people of color. Physicians who were members of the Elks Medical department, leading to the federal government establishing health care for the needy, did some of the medical surveys of Blacks. Further, the Medical Department provided iron lungs for hospitals around the country.

The Education Department was established to provide college assistance to those students who were financially unable to continue their education, and the Elks provided full scholarships to thousands of students. Oratorical Contest was developed to give high school students the opportunity to orate for scholarship prizes, as well as afford students the opportunity to develop speech and writing skills. The Elks established the first night school illiteracy program in the City of Memphis,Tennessee, to assist adults in learning to read, write, and in later years, to obtain high school diplomas.

Certified teachers volunteered there time and service to promote this program. The Computer/Leadership Camp Program has been established to provide a wholesome environment for inner city students to be taught leadership and computer skills. The campsite is on the sprawling acres of land owned by the Elks. There is an Olympic size pool where students can relax and are also taught to swim. The Karen L. Wilson Memorial Scholarship Fund provides financial assistance to students seeking certified vocational, technical training.

The Civil Liberties Department of the Elks was organized to help fight segregation in public places; to insure freedom for all people; and their efforts have continued to fight what has turned into, today, “defacto segregation”. Our efforts were instrumental in integrating colleges in Missouri, Maryland, Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma. We assisted, now deceased, Supreme Court Judge Thurgood Marshall when he successfully helped to defend the Brown vs. School board of Education decision. The “Showcase of Elkdom, the Antlered Guard Department, offers members of the Elks the opportunity to provide youth a forum to display their marching and performing abilities in a structured environment. Members of the Antlered Guard Department are able to participate in one of the top auxiliaries of the Order. This department consists of many retired and ex-service personnel, who supervise the annual international parades.Other programs of the organization include: The Shoe Bank Program which provides thousands of dollars in certificates of purchase for underprivileged children in cities where the national conventions are held; the Blind Program which provides hundreds of pairs of old eye glasses and financial assistance to the Lions organizations; the Special People Program wherein each year a child with special needs is selected as a Poster Child and is presented at each national convention as well as being supported financially during the remainder of the year, and the C. L. and Blanche Smith Image Awards Program whereby financial assistance is give to a young adult with technical training to assist him/her in becoming an economically independent member of society with the intent to keep that person off the rolls of welfare assistance and out of the human warehouses called “prisons”, regardless of their academic status.

Maceo Elks Lodge #8 is located at 712 West Duval Street in the LaVilla section of downtown Jacksonville. Originating from a Spanish Land Grant to John Jones in 1801 and later the site of the War encampments, LaVilla was incorporated as a town during Reconstruction. At the time of its incorporation into the City of Jacksonville in 1887 LaVilla was ethnically a very mixed community. Because of growth in the railroad related commercial interests in the south, including a flourishing “red-light district” many of the white families in LaVilla left during the late 1800’s and early 1900″s for the more fashionable neighborhoods of Riverside and Springfield. Over time LaVilla developed as a major residential and commercial center for Jacksonville’s black community.

Maceo Elks Lodge was constructed in 1914 as the Young Men’s Hebrew Association. Maceo Elks Lodge #8 took over the building from the YMHA towards the close of World War II and was dedicated on January 22 and 23 1947. Application for Mace Elks Lodge #8 in Jacksonville was approved on December 7, 1898, making it the seventh oldest lodge in the country. The Lodge became part of the Florida State Association, which was formed and organized in Jacksonville in 1924. Members of the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission approved the Elks application for the Historic Landmark designation March 1993. Locally the Elks have assisted the Jacksonville community in hosting workshops, feeding the elderly, hosting community dances, talent shows and other positive activities.

Indeed, the I.B.P.O. Elks of the World is solidly functioning, making a positive economic, political, and social impact around the world and in our community, and documenting our historical existence.