Michael Simpson of Simpson Taxidermy in Ardmore will collect unwanted hides this deer season to donate to the Ardmore Elks Lodge Veterans Leather Program.

The hides, once processed, are cut and sewn into specially designed gloves that are furnished to veterans confined to wheelchairs, thereby protecting their hands while turning the wheels of their chairs. The gloves are free to veterans and are made possible by the Elks National Veterans Service Commission.

The commission is a major source of hides and tanned leather used for recreational and occupational therapy throughout the Veterans Administration health care system. Established in 1948, Elks began gathering hides during hunting season and shipping them to a plant for processing and tanning. In most lodges, raw hides are collected and shipped to a central point to be processed for fine leathers.

Simpson Taxidermy, in conjunction with the Ardmore Elks Lodge Veterans Leather Program, will handle that process and send finished hides to the Elks National Veterans Service Commission to be made into gloves for the “Gloves for Wheelchair Veterans” program. Since there is no government funding for this program, the funding is provided by local, state and nationwide Elks lodges.

Tanned leathers collected by the Elks are also used to make leather craft kits for hospitalized veterans at no cost to the veteran. “Help Hospitalized Veterans,” a non-profit organization in southern California, prepares these kits and ships them to veterans centers all across the nation. Continue To Source & The Full Story >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>