Elks Lodge in Buckhannon, West Virginia, hosts breakfast for Veterans Day

Denise Hyre, exalted ruler at the Elks Lodge, said that the breakfast has always been a popular event, but saw an increase in interest and attendance after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’ve been doing this breakfast for about 15 or 20 years now. Of course during COVID, we couldn’t do it, but after COVID we started it back up in 2021 and it’s slowly something that’s starting to come back,” she said.

Now that the breakfast has returned, Hyre is glad to see that it’s starting to come back more popular than ever.

“During the first year after the pandemic there weren’t very many people, but slowly more and more people are coming back to it since this is something that we’ve always done,” she said.

Dale Williams, member of the Elks House Committee, has been helping with the breakfast since it started, and has also noticed that it brings in more people every year.

“Sometimes the amount of people who attend varies, but most of the time it usually is pretty crowded during the breakfast,” he said.

When it comes to why the organization decided to honor veterans with a breakfast, Hyre and Williams think it’s a great and relaxed environment for them to show their appreciation while the veterans enjoy a free meal and comraderie with others who have served.

“I love it. The veterans enjoy it because they get a good breakfast of stuff like scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, potatoes and biscuits and gravy that’s at no cost to them. They serve our country and this is all in their honor,” Hyre said.

According to Williams, the organization aims to help all people in the community, but they especially enjoy helping those who have served.

“We support the veterans immensely. We just like to serve the community and the veterans and children especially. That’s what our organization is all about, it’s about helping people,” he said.

As one of several events that occurred on Veterans Day, Hyre and Williams felt honored to be part of a community that always goes above and beyond for those who have served.

“The fact that we honor our veterans so much with these events shows that this really is just a wonderful place to live,” Williams said.

“I think it says a lot about our community because we honor our veterans and we appreciate what they’ve done. We also appreciate the active military now and what they’re currently doing for our country,” Hyre said.

As another Veterans Day goes by, members of the Lodge look forward to next year’s event and showing why their breakfast is a great event for the veterans in Upshur County.