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# Santa Monica Elks' Adopted Teen Talia Hill Speaks at Sweetheart Dance
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/022306-story-20060223/
- Published: 2006-02-23T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T17:17:52.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Community, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Daily Press staff*

Ten years after being adopted by the Santa Monica Elks, a high school 10th grader who suffers from Cerebral Palsy and Epilepsy was able to convey her appreciation last weekend at the club’s annual Sweetheart Dance.

Each Elks lodge raises money for the California-Hawaii Elks Association (CHEA) Major Project, which helps handicapped children. In addition, most lodges assist a specific child or a school with some of the luxuries of life.

Santa Monica Elks “adopted” Talia Hill 10 years ago. The first time that she came to the Sweetheart Ball, she was in a wheelchair and could not walk or speak. On Saturday night, she was able to walk to the microphone. Hill spoke for 10 minutes without notes. She held the microphone in one hand and stood relatively still the whole time.

Hill must concentrate on everything that she does. To stand, to breathe, to enunciate a word, to compose a sentence, all require special concentrated thought process.

A large portion of the funds that the lodge expends locally comes from the Jack Showers Foundation which was founded and managed by the Santa Monica Elks. The Major Project assists handicapped children from birth to age 18\. They have physical therapists, speech therapists, vision checks, scholarships, among other services.

In other Elks news: The Santa Monica Elks hosted California Hawaii Elks Association (CHEA) State President Roy Newman and his wife Carole to an informal dinner last Friday.

Thanks in part to the $3,000 raised last week for the Elks Major Project, Santa Monica was the No. 1 lodge in the state for per capita donations.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 23, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/022306.pdf?ref=smdp.com)