Santa's Elks

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link Kevin Wilson: Staff photo

Fred Lybarger of Clovis staples a cotton “snow blanket” to a trailer Thursday in his driveway in Clovis. The trailer was set up as a sleigh to help deliver gifts to a needy family for Christmas.

For one down-on-its-luck family in Portales, Santa Claus is coming to town.

Santa’s sleigh, which is set for a Saturday night delivery, is lined with reindeer, pulled by a truck and powered by Elks.

The Clovis-Portales Elks Lodge No. 1244, which has membership through the area of more than 400, is normally known for giving scholarships — $70,000 over the last year. But the group doesn’t turn down other opportunities to help.

“We have meetings three times a month,” said Brian Encinias, the lodge’s exalted ruler — a position equivalent to president for other organizations, “and we get requests for charitable donations and scholarships.”

A recent letter was asking for help during the Christmas season. The letter’s author was a military veteran, who was wounded during the Iraq War and had income limited to disability payments. With two girls, ages 5 and 7, and limited involvement from the girls’ mother, the disability money was barely enough to provide the basics.

Encinias verified the story with a personal visit to the father, and came back a few days later to ask the kids what they wanted for Christmas.

“I’m a sheriff’s deputy in Roosevelt County, so I just showed up and talked with the kids,” Encinias said. “I didn’t have any problem talking with the kids. We always use the line that we know Santa Claus.

“They both like anything that has to do with ‘Frozen.’ One wanted a bike, one wanted a sleeping bag. They also wanted clothing items, shoes, something like that.”

Encinias reported to the lodge on what the kids said, and detailed living conditions that showed needs well beyond what either the father or the children requested. So the lodge put together donations, and got Christmas for the family, with toys and bedding for the kids, a tree with lights and a Christmas dinner.

Another member of the lodge, Fred Lybarger, thought he could put together some old decorations to create a sleigh.

“I’ve had these decorations that have been in storage for years, since my kids have all moved away,” said Lybarger, whose family lineage in mechanics took him from the family garage in Riverside, California, to a career with the Air Force as a jet mechanic, to his own shop behind his Clovis home. “I was thinking, ‘What if those were on a sleigh, full of Christmas lights, with Santa Claus in the back?’ I volunteered, because I thought it was a cool idea.”

With some tools from his shop, and help decorating from his wife Rena, Lybarger put the sleigh together during free time over the last week.

When it gets dark Saturday night, Encinias said, the plan is to take the trailer and gifts to Portales. A few blocks away from the home, Elks members will hook the trailer up to a red truck, turn on the lights and put a volunteer Santa Claus in the back to make the delivery.

“We’ll get the meal set up,” Encinias said, “and then just leave them as quick as we can, let them enjoy the meal together.”

Encinias said if anybody wants to help out with the effort, or on other projects, they are welcome to visit the lodge at 218 Sycamore or call 575-762-9598.