The Santa Maria Elks lodge has done a lot right in its 89-year history: It’s donated big bucks to local community programs, hosted delicious indoor barbecues, and racked up more than 3,000 members, making it the biggest Elks lodge in the state and fifth biggest in the nation.
It has not, however, appointed a female exalted ruler—until now.
Santa Maria Elks installed 14-year member Karen Feldpouch as exalted ruler on April 2, breaking the pattern of all-male leadership at the lodge. For the next year, Feldpouch will oversee other Elks officers and maintain the society’s charitable goals.
But to Feldpouch, her responsibilities are more than management. She aims to change how the community views Elks.
“We need to have more of a community presence, and that’s what I’m using this ‘first female’ thing as,” she told the Sun. “If I can use that as a tool, and capitalize on this opportunity since apparently it’s such a big deal for Santa Maria, maybe everybody in Santa Maria can see more of us and I can help educate them on what Elks Lodge does for the community and what we stand for.”
For other Elks lodges, female leadership isn’t a new concept, Feldpouch said. But in Santa Maria, Elks members were holding fast to their traditional patriarchy.
“The old die-hards are hanging on, but they’re finding out that that’s what’s hurting our image,” she said. “We’re not mirroring the community we live in. We have women living in Santa Maria. We have all races living in Santa Maria. If we want to grow and thrive, we have to look more like Santa Maria.”
She said if the Elks Lodge doesn’t diversify, its membership will shrink and the community will continue seeing the society as a drinking club for old white men—a stereotype Feldpouch said was once accurate, but is now outdated.
“I want to re-educate the community on what the Elks do,” she said. “All we do is raise money for charitable organizations.”
Well, that’s not all they do: the society is behind big shindigs like the Santa Maria Elks Rodeo and the Touring Elks motorcycle giveaway. But ultimately, Feldpouch said, the money raised from those events goes back into the community.
Feldpouch said her leadership is a first for the lodge not only because she’s a woman, but also because she’s not a Santa Maria native, which she said was “a strike against her” as exalted ruler.
But she argued that living all over the U.S. and in the Philippines before choosing Santa Maria as her home worked to her advantage.
“I’m a transplant,” Feldpouch said. “Out of all that traveling and living everywhere, I chose Santa Maria to live the rest of my life in. I found a slice of heaven, and I don’t want to go anywhere else. I have more of a right to be [in this position] than people born and raised here who have never been anywhere else. I chose to be here.”
Feldpouch’s term will last until April 2017, at which point the lodge will most likely choose a new officer to replace her, since the membership is large enough to keep the leadership positions in rotation.
“I don’t think I’d ever want to do this again,” she said. “It’s an awful lot of work and a lot of time out of your life. It’s a huge commitment.”
And it’s about time a woman takes on that commitment, she said.
“Women can do the job just as well as any man, if not better,” Feldpouch said. “I’m not here to destroy everything. I just want to make sure we continue to grow.”
This article appears in Apr 7-14, 2016.