‘Tis the season for giving back. And in response to the dip in donations — a result of a still struggling economic climate — some local organizations are getting creative while reaching out to the public.

The Niles Elks Lodge No. 1322 held its first wine tasting event Saturday in an effort to enlist a little help from the community for its fundraising projects.

Funds raised through the Oktoberfest Wine Tasting event were put toward the organization’s mortgage retirement fund, the hopes being to free up funds in the future.

“As an organization, we would like to do more but we are limited by how much money we can contribute,” Elks board member Stanton Walter said. “The idea is that the sooner we can pay off the mortgage the sooner we will have more discretionary funds to use to support the needs of the community.”

The Niles Elks provides support to the community by sponsoring children’s teams, providing college scholarship opportunities, contributing to Project Graduation, Southside prom, offering Hoop Shoot and Soccer Shoot competitions, Christmas baskets and many other events that benefit the children of the community.

“We were looking for ways to kind of reach out into the community, do something different that we haven’t done before,” said member Julie Clark,” and maybe use that opportunity to tell people a little about the Elks and what we do as an organization.”

More than 100 tickets were sold for the event, which featured 15 wines from Tabor Hill, St. Julian and Lake Effect wineries as well as beers from Saugatuck Brewing Co.

“It was really successful,” Clark said. “Everyone had a wonderful time.”

The organization is planning another wine tasting in the spring.

In the meantime, members are busy planning their next event, another one open to the public, what Clark called a “progressive trivia event” on Nov. 13.

For more information, contact the Elks Lodge at 683-0133.