On November 6, 2022, Wheeling Lodge #9 and Wheeling Encampment #1 hosted their annual stuffed porkchop dinner to benefit Camp Kno-Koma.
The Lodge and Encampment engage in this joint project every autumn to raise money in support of the Grand Encampment of West Virginia, IOOF's special project to fundraise for the diabetic children's summer camp, Camp Kno-Koma. Several members put in long hours and significant effort to make the dinner a success, and this year's was the best and most successful yet!
This year's dinner included special guest speaker Chris Kefauver, who has worked with Camp Kno-Koma for several years and always brings a view of what the camp does for the children and a message of thanks for the fundraising efforts. We thank Chris for his dedication to the camp and for his annual attendance at the dinner to remind us all of the importance of the camp's mission.
The Lodge and Encampment would like to thank Unified Bank for their contributions of purchasing dinners and desserts for a number of its employees and their families, which for the second year in a row has been a significant contributor to the record proceeds of the event. We would also like to thank friend of the Lodge and Encampment, Glen Shaffer, for his donation of a cutting board hand-made by him for the purpose of a raffle. The Lodge and Encampment coupled this cutting board with a professional knife set for the raffle, which generated over $700 in ticket sales, all of which is donated to the camp. The winner of the knife set raffle was Heidi Lang, a coworker of two of our Lodge members. We also thank all who attended the dinner and participated in the raffles and bake sale.
Final receipts for the event came to over $2,700 total. The Lodge and Encampment have added additional money to bring the total contribution to Camp Kno-Koma to $3,000.
Special thanks go out to Sisters MaryJo Wallace, Shaye Wallace, Jennifer Bland, and Skylar Beaver and to Brothers Dave Clark, Devin Clark, Bobby Winters, Shawn Beaver, Ron Fletcher, Skip Beaver, and Mel Jeffcoat for their efforts before, during, and after the dinner that resulted in a wonderful, smoothly-run event!