JACKSON – As snow blanketed the grounds outside Jackson Moose Lodge 1459 on Super Bowl Sunday, member Rhonda Morales was stirring the six crockpots of soup inside for what would be a warm, cozy and delicious event.
Winter weather and the ever-changing COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t slowed down the number of activities placed on the white board calendar at the lodge. Members gathered to sample soup in tiny cups and then vote for their favorite. It was a fundraiser for the lodge and it was hard to choose from those brought in by members.
“Normally, we have more like 16 but this year we have less but that’s okay,” Morales said. She was in charge of the event and is the manager of the bar and grill at the lodge, located at 1240 East Veterans Highway.
Women of the Moose Recording Secretary Roscelle Calarino said the soup contest had been a regular event “for at least six to eight years, it has been a long time.”
After trying samples of each soup, members would write the name of their favorite on the back of a ticket provided. The winner was member Laura Martineell who prepared a cheese and broccoli soup. Others included beef, vegetable, rice and mushroom.
The Women of the Moose are very active. They coordinated the Valentine’s Day dinner and were responsible for the Soup R Bowl event but their designation will soon change as the organization as a whole integrates both genders under one banner.
“Technically now we are all one group,” Calarino added.
Past president Lou Morales said that with Jackson Township having active organizations such as the Amvets, the American Legion, and the VFW, “we leave the military holidays to them to do their thing and we just go and support them.”
He said the pandemic has made fundraising difficult. “It has been really tough. It has been slow especially with the mask mandates. People really don’t want to come out. We keep rolling along. It is hard for us to do the things we need to do with the community and we sponsor orphan children at Mooseheart and retired members at Moosehaven.
“Without the money coming in, we can’t send money to them. We are just a satellite organization here. Our whole purpose here is to send money there so they can take care of the kids. Mooseheart is in Mooseheart Illinois and that houses the children who are schooled, fed, and clothed. Everything is free,” Lou Morales added.
“We used to do food baskets for the needy families in Jackson and surrounding area and we’d even deliver them to the houses. People donate food. We went through the school and now we just give them gift cards for ShopRite or Stop & Shop in lieu of the baskets so they can do their own shopping,” he added.
“The schools give us the number of families in need. We do what we can and we also try and keep in touch with EMS, the police and firefighters,” Lou Morales said. He noted the lodge’s participation during the August National Night Out event held in a ShopRite parking lot in town that provides organizations and in particular, the police, EMS and fire companies serving Jackson a chance to showcase their services.
Lodges across the nation support Moose legion projects that include youth awareness scholarships, an annual capital project, Mooseheart student trips and other needs as they arise. Collectively the organization raises more than $40 million annually for community service projects.
Nationally, the Women of the Moose support a number of programs including scouting, drug awareness, crime prevention, adopting highways, adopting parks, youth and adult sports leagues and disaster relief efforts among others.
“A lot of people drive past here and think it is just a bar. They don’t realize what we do behind the scenes. All summer long we have concerts here and all the money goes to charity. We don’t keep a dime out of that,” Lou Morales said.
“There are a number of organizations that we help out. Whether it is children with cancer, breast cancer or even if a family member dies, we’ll have a fundraiser for them so they can cover their expenses. The schedule fills up pretty quick,” he added.
The organization welcomes new members. They can visit mooseintl.org or beamoose.org to learn more.
