Moose Lodge

Founded in 1888, the Loyal Order of Moose is a service organization with branches or “Lodges” all over the world. Lemon Grove Moose Lodge 1713, located in Spring Valley, CA, outside of San Diego, works diligently to care for people of all ages and bring communities closer together through educational outreach, senior care, and other activities.

The Lodge had long been engaged in various philanthropic efforts to help US military men and women who were serving overseas. In the past, they had assembled and sent care packages to troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. After seeing a report about SoldierStrong on FOX News, Mr. Joe Garcia, a Lodge member, was so moved by our mission that he wanted to pitch in and host a SoldierStrong event.

Joe and his wife Maria began corresponding with SoldierStrong, and soon stepped up to co-chair the organizational committee for the Lodge’s event. After some discussion, the group settled on a charity dinner and dance, which would be fun for the membership and make good use of the Lodge’s existing banquet facilities. The SoldierStrong dinner-dance came together quickly and was a great hit with Lodge members. Over 100 people attended the event, which featured food, drinks, music, dancing, and games.

In total, the evening raised $1248.00 on behalf of SoldierStrong and, crucially, all the attendees had a ball.

“This was our first fundraiser for SoldierStrong, but we plan to continue our efforts to provide additional donations in the future,” said Mary Garcia, one the event’s co-chairs. A simple night of dinner and dancing ultimately raised more than $1,200.00 for our cause – enough for our returning heroes to spend over 24 hours using the Ekso Suit rehabilitation device.

From the team at SoldierStrong, many thanks to the gang at Lemon Grove Moose Lodge 1713 for their help! Our organization would not exist without the support of organizations like yours.