Golden – Animal hides that would have been thrown away or left in the wilderness become fingerless wheelchair gloves and leather for crafting wallets, belts and clothing.
For nearly 60 years, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks – better known as the Elks civic organization – has collected hides of deer, antelope and, yes, elk – during hunting season.
The hairy hides are salted, stacked, shrink-wrapped and shipped to a Utah tannery for processing. The finished leather and gloves are sent to veterans medical facilities across the country.
There is a motto, said Wayne Rogers, Colorado’s Elks hide program chairman, that states: “As long as there are veterans, the Elks will never forget them.”
The leather program is a way to not forget veterans’ sacrifices and to assist them in occupational therapy and everyday life.
Nationwide, 13,000 hides are expected to be gathered this year by the Elks in 21 states, said Charles Cutshaw, national chairman of the Elks veterans leather program.
“This is one of the vast, growing programs in Elkdom,” Cutshaw said. “The word is getting out.”
Most of the heavy hides such as elk, caribou and cow come from the Rocky Mountains and the West, Cutshaw said. They are used to make leather gloves to protect the hands of those who served their country and now must use wheelchairs.
“People have the impression that everything in a VA hospital is provided for the veterans, but that’s not true,” Cutshaw said.
The craft kits and crafting leather “give them something to occupy their minds and their muscles,” Cutshaw added.
About 2,400 pairs of gloves were distributed last year through VA hospital representatives, Cutshaw said. Many are given to wheelchair athletes, he said, “who can go through quite a few gloves.”
Cutshaw said the demand for wheelchair gloves has grown along with the escalating conflict in Iraq.
Rogers, who also is president, or exalted ruler, of the Golden Elks lodge, said 10 lodges in Colorado will collect up to 1,500 hides this year, with several hundred coming from along the Front Range.
Stacks of hides wait to be transported – at the Elks’ expense – to the tannery.
“We have a reputation of being a lot of old guys playing cards and drinking beer,” Rogers said. “We do a lot more, like this program and the skiathon in Vail for disabled vets. And that’s where we give out a lot of the gloves.”
Staff writer Ann Schrader can be reached at 303-278-3217 or Schroeder@denverpost.cam.
