Imperial Valley press., 1941-02-26
Active
Valley
Life
hull moment.

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In Imperial Valley there
are so many community &C
tivities that one person would
have to live to be as old as
Methuselah in order TO get around
TO devoting one weeks time to each.
IL would be necessary TO beat
Methuselah's span TO include the off
the record activities which flourish
hither and yon.
Women's activities. as such. will
not be included here but will be
described in another article. The
men have so much TO do in general
community activities that they an
noy their wives by having, so the
wives say, too little time for the
activities the women want the men
10 take part in.
There are three Elks lodges in
the valley . and the things those
Elks lodges do think up to do For
instance. The FL Centre Elks stage
the valleys biggest Christmas party
every year when they entertain the
children of the south-end of the
valley at two colossal theatre par
ties, one in Holtville and one in FL
Centre. They collect gifts and food
and pack il in baskets for dozens
OF needy families. Then they wind
up their Christmas season of char
ity with a big basket distributing
tour.
Parties, Dinners
Elks in Brawley and CaleXico also
go in for plain and fancy activities.
they have parties, dinners. and
suppers and, OF course. their regu-
lar lodge meetings.
The Braa.ey lodge has q barbecue
and pony races every fall and the
Calexico Elks WOW OF u frontier
days celebration.
Among the most active organlZa-
tons in the valley are the Masonic
orders. They have strictly lodge al
fairs in the different valley towns,
entertain visiting 'dignitaries. and
annually have many social events
10 which they invite their families.
All the MasonS meet once each
year for a get-together. Former
fo4iCs ito4GC4in illdAC IL u punt
TO attend. Then there Is the Impe-
rial Valley Shrine club affiliated
with Al Bahr temple in San Diego.
The Eagles lodges enter into
their charity and social activities
in addition 10 their regular lodge
sessions. They usually celebrate the
holiday seasons with special parties.
Now. for the children. They are
greatly addicted TO swimming pool
parties in the summer and since
most OF the valley towns have pools
or are close TO country swimming
pools most of the youngsters get
TO swim Don't mention it but the
little scamps swim in irrigation
bitches. They shouldn't They might
DROWN
Supervised Play
Tine biggest childrens program
launched in the valley in many
years was the supervised play
ground project started in FL Centre
late in 1910
Cooperating in financing the plan
were the city council and the school
boards while the Coordinating
council devised the city-wide sched-
ule whereby the school grounds and
school equipment were used after
school hours and play supervisors
employed.
Playground directors have charge
of the activities which range from
needlework and drawing to football
and bicycle tours for both boys and
girls.
Dozens OF school children play on
the elementary school grounds until
8 pm. each night after school and
until noon on Saturdays. City-wide
tournaments in the many differ
ent activities characterize the pro-
gram.
And speaking Of activities, Impe-
rial Valley has more different
churches than almost any area in
the world. There are churches for
the followers of many faiths, sew
eral OF them for the valley residents
who were born in The Orient, in
Europe and other distant places.
Most OF the denominations and
sects have their own buildings but
a few OF them meet in private homes
or in public buildings.
Sunday SCHOOLS
All the churches have their Sun
day schools, their women's organi-
cations, and their clubs for men.
They have, at least most of them
do. organizations for young people.
The churches in the various towns
are all affiliated in district and
county groups in order TO keep in
contact with the plans in which
they all take part.
Churches give entertainments,
have church suppers, and the diff
ferent inter-church groups meet
for business sessions and for social
affairs.
The ministers of several churches
formed ministerial associations in
different towns and lately affiliated
themselves into a county wide group.
The FL Centre Ministerial asso-
citation is very active and has as
sited the community in many prof.
ect. They shave regular meetings
and sometimes entertain their wives
at dinner, the ministers cooking the
dinner.
Any service clubs? Scads of them.
There are service clubs in every
town where business men meet for
or dinner, music, and a
program, There are Rotary clubs.
Lions clubs, Kiwanis clubs, 20-30
clubs, and Toastmasters clubs all
headed bV presidents and MANAGED