By Brad Penner, STATEWIDE Correspondent.

[Card player] Now don't get these cards in there.

[Another card player] I heard that.

The Elks Club in Broken Bow has been home to a lot of card games, but a few months ago, it looked like the club might fold. The stakes were getting high.

[Stan Sedlacek, Exalted Ruler] We were able to get the club to making money, but in no way could we overcome the past debt that we had accrued over the last three years which totaled about $50,000 at that time.

The money trouble was just another sign of problems with the Broken Bow Elks, problems they share with other lodges and service organizations across the country.

[Sedlacek] We had at one time over 1,400 members. We're down to about a little over 1,000. People these days -- there is so much more activity. Even 10 years ago, the activities that the children are involved in weren't so demanding on the parents as they are now.

It's important to note that the Elks Lodge and Elks Club aren't the same thing. The lodge is the fraternal organization. It can exist with or without a club that serves food and drink, but the fact is some join a lodge because of the club, and without it, the Broken Bow Elks faced more losses.

[Paul Stec, member of Broken Bow Elks Club board of directors] You know, one person said it probably would cut the membership in half. It's hard to really tell. Luckily, we didn't face that situation.

Paul Stec is on the board of directors for the Elks Club in Broken Bow.

[Stec] We had to get out of the 1950's thinking, you know, and we had to face reality that we are in the 1990's, and we have to run it like a business to survive.

Changes were made, but remember, there was a $55,000 debt to pay off.

[Sedlacek] So consequently then in November we decided that we would start a fund drive. We had done all that we could as officers and trustees to mend our side of the business. We asked the people if they would send us donations to raise the $50,000 -- at that time then, it was $55,000 -- to pay off the debt.

A deadline was set. If the money wasn't there by January 1st, the Broken Bow Elks Club would close.

[Sedlacek] I was very apprehensive. In fact, for that whole month, I had a knot in my stomach wondering. But I had a strange confidence that somehow or another everything was going to be all right.

At first, response was slow. An economic development group called the Nestbuilders stepped in. Paul Stec is a leader in that organization, too.

[Stec] We purchased two nice sized ads in our local paper, the Custer County Chief, in two editions letting people know the things that the Elks does and that they were in financial difficulties, problems, you know, with the possibility of closing.

The appeal to the community hit home. The Elks Lodge does a lot for the community, especially the kids of Broken Bow.

[Sedlacek] We had a city size baseball/softball program here that last year affected 624 children in the Broken Bow area and a couple of surrounding towns. We also have a hoop shoot that we do that attracts about 90 children. One thing I'm really proud of is this coming Sunday night, we're having a scholarship banquet. Broken Bow here out of the members' dues -- out of the members' dues will give away over $5,000 in scholarships this year.

Lori McCullough at the Chamber of Commerce was worried about losing a facility that hosts meetings and parties and community events.

[Lori McCullough, Broken Bow Chamber of Commerce Office] Every time that we lose something like that, it kind of chips away a little bit at our tradition and our history and it was something that the town rallied about and were able to save.

[Sedlacek] The night before the deadline was up, we went over the top. The last two weeks we were getting somewhere between $4,000-5,000 a day in the mail.

In Broken Bow, they pulled together because they value the work the Elks Lodge does, and they value having the Elks Club as a place to go, and maybe the financial crisis was a wake-up call.

[Sedlacek] And the only way we can keep doing these programs for our youth and for our elderly and for the community as a whole is to keep the membership active and keep it viable, keep bringing in new members. And I think if I could get that message to more people in town, they not only would support the club side of the operation, but also they would become lodge members.

[Vince Collura, Elks' State Sponsor] I'm not a pessimist. I'm an optimist by nature. But it's going to be a sad sack of potatoes if we don't get off and do something about it. We just have to sell Elkdom.

Five years ago being part of the Elks or Moose or a similar group was just the thing to do. Vince Collura remembers those days in Lincoln.

[Collura] And we were at one time 4,200 members. Today we're a little over 500.

As membership fell, the Lincoln Elks moved to smaller quarters, but they still do the same things they did years ago. They hold a city-wide Christmas party for kids, award thousands of dollars in scholarships, and sponsor midget football.

[Collura] Over three million youngsters, boys and girls, are touched by the Elks in the free throw contest. We had over 2,500. Bob, the secretary, told me this yesterday. 2,500 just in this community.

For years the good work of the Elks has been done rather quietly.

[Collura] We always have done these things, but nobody knew about it because we never took time to say, how great thou art, and pat ourselves on the back.

Collura says it's time for Elks across the country to change their approach. He's a past national Elks president, and he's still active on a national level. He says they've lost around 400,000 members in recent years.

[Collura] We lose some to the good Lord embracing our members and taking them away from us, some drop, but the pitfall is that we're not initiating.

In Nebraska there are half as many Elks as there were 20 years ago.

[Collura] We used to initiate 2,000-3,000 members a year. We're down to 342. So we as Elks, and I'm sure it's every other organization, aren't selling the product. Do we know what our product is? Are we telling the public?

Vince Collura believes if they get the word out, things will change. Across town at the Legionnaire Club, Bob Logsdon isn't so sure.

[Bob Logsdon, Legionnaire Club] It's an age thing. It truly is an age thing.

The old Legionnaire Club is a restaurant now, but for close to 40 years, it was a Lincoln landmark. Bob Logsdon managed the club during the glory days.

[Logsdon] They were "the" club in this town for many years.

But Logsdon says the American Legion membership is aging. As their numbers fell, they couldn't afford to stay in their old building, so they built a smaller place, and they do a pretty good business, but it isn't the same.

[Logsdon] You can't believe the number that will come out for dinner at 5:00 because they want to be home before dark.

Despite the changes, it's still the world's largest Legion Post with more than 7,000 members. It isn't going away. It's just that there aren't a lot of prospects for growth.

[Logsdon] I think it's gonna be fine. I think the membership will continue to drop. Hopefully they have some of these young guys step forward to take over.

Vince Collura says the Elks have a plan to attract those younger members.

[Collura] So now we're coming into communities through Grand Lodge, through state association putting on seminars on membership, what you need to know about the Elks, talk about this new summit program, talk about the good of youth and convince the Brads and the Georges and the Franks or the Sallys to come in and be part of it.

[Sedlacek] I'm about to open Broken Bow Lodge Number 1688...

Back in Broken Bow, Stan Sedlacek says he sees signs of change.

[Sedlacek] In fact, we're going to initiate about 24 new members and almost all of those are in their 20's. There is a real commitment gap from about the 30-year-old to the 50-year-old age, and I don't know how to explain that, but I do see that the younger generation, especially those who have come back to Broken Bow to make Broken Bow their hometown, have started -- I think they feel the same way that maybe their parents did and are starting to make that commitment to come in and help.

Vince Collura believes that it's up to the members to turn things around, and it's up to the rest of us to consider the consequences if groups like the Elks fade away.

[Collura] What does 2000 -- the year 2000 bring? Will we have an Elks Lodge? Will we have a Rotary? Will there be a Moose Lodge to do something? Will we have an American Legion to support baseball? That's my fear. That's my fear. And as long as the good Lord keeps me on this earth, I want to do all I can to encourage people, don't give up. We believe that's the whole thing. If we quit, everybody else tumbles down, then we're going to all lose.

Reporting for Statewide, I'm Brad Penner.