Skagway’s first State Elks President, Andrew Cremata, nears the end of his term

Skagway’s mayor Andrew Cremata is currently serving as the State of Alaska Elks Association President. It’s the first time a Skagway Elks member has held the position.

The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks first came to Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898. Juneau was awarded the first lodge in the territory because Skagway’s mail service was too slow. Since that time the charitable organization has organized fundraisers, events, and donated to families in need throughout the state. I talked with State President Andrew Cremata about his role in the organization.

Swasey – Tell me a little bit about your position at the state Elks.

Cremata – So I’m the Alaska State Elks Association President. So when you come in as an officer of the state association you commit to doing six years. You do three years as a trustee, and then you go into Vice President, and then the President role.

In the president role, you get to do a lot of the fun stuff. And one of the fun things is traveling down to Pasco Washington, for the Zone One Regional Hoop Shoot competition. So there are three different age categories of school-aged children who compete, boys and girls, for a chance to go to the nationals, which are held in Chicago. 

Swasey – Did any Alaskans win the regionals? 

Cremata – Well, no. One of the girls in the younger category came in second, but none of the Alaskans were able to advance to the national competition this year, but they all did really well. We’re really proud of them. 

One of the boys, he got 21 out of 25, free throws and didn’t qualify. A lot of these children are extremely good at shooting free throws, obviously.

Swasey – I guess so. And how did you fare against the Alaskan kids?

Cremata – Well, so I didn’t compete against the kids, because I would have lost. And so, but the So there’s four states in our zone, and that is Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. And the state presidents do have a free throw competition against one another. And I am proud to say that I represented the state of Alaska. And we did dominate, which is something they’re probably not going to be able to live down in their lifetime.

Swasey – Oh, no, you don’t think they’ll limit down in their lifetime? 

Cremata –  Well no, because I’ll make sure that they never live it down. 

Swasey – How many did you get out of 25?

Cremata – Well, so the Presidents only have to do five free throws, I made three out of five. So pretty impressive, 60%.

Swasey – That wins the competition, 60%?

Cremata – Hey, the next closest was one out of five. You gotta get used to a lot of pressure. Yeah, there’s a lot of people, you know, looking, you know, at least 100. And everybody’s, you know, old. 

Swasey – A lot of pressure, a lot of pressure, yeah. And what else is on your agenda for your term as president? What are the things do you get to travel and do?

Cremata – Well, so some of the fun stuff that you get to do, we went we had our midwinter training session. And so as President, I put together the agenda for that. We also have our convention coming up. 

Swasey – Where’s that going to be held?

Cremata – In Sitka. And that is my outgoing convention, I will have gone through my year. One of the more rewarding things we got to do this year was work on a new major project. And in this first year, it’s going to be $7,500 per lodge, every lodge out of all 15 lodges will get this money. and they can use that money for a local program focused either around children, veterans, or a community project. And we encourage them to have volunteer participation in their lodge. 

And then we’re hoping that money will double when it goes into its second year, it comes out of the Charitable Trust Fund for the state association. Pretty proud of that. We’ve also, for two years, taken on another project, which is the Special Olympics of Alaska. And even during the pandemic, over the last two years, we’ve been able to give over $100,000 to the Special Olympics of Alaska. So there are a lot of really marvelous things the state association does. And it’s been extremely rewarding, being involved in the state association for six years. Especially so as president because you get to go around and really get more of an intimate firsthand knowledge of how these programs work.

Swasey – Thanks so much for sharing what you’ve been doing as the state president of the Elks Association, I appreciate it.

Cremata – My pleasure.