Imagine a place downtown where there’s bingo on Monday nights, fish fries on Tuesdays, dancing on Friday evenings and potluck suppers on Sundays.

Running the show is a group of men and women of all ages, faiths and backgrounds. And, along with offering its members a variety of social events, it encourages them to participate in projects aimed at helping the neighborhood.

This is the vision of Bob Lewis, 56, a Boynton Beach resident who’s trying to organize a lodge of the Loyal Order of Moose in downtown Boynton Beach.

“I think it would be good for the community,” said Lewis, vice president of Great American Printing and Mailing in Boynton Beach. “The club will support the surrounding neighborhood and add to the overall spirit of the community. It will be a good place to go to volunteer and meet with friends.”

The Loyal Order of Moose is a fraternal organization with nearly 2 million members throughout the United States, Canada and Great Britain. The club was founded in the late 1800s with the goal of being a place where men could gather socially, but in the early 1900s the group changed its thinking. It opened to both men and women and became a family organization comprised of the Loyal Order of Moose and the Women of the Moose.

Today, the group has almost 4,000 lodges around the world, and along with focusing on social activities, members are encouraged to participate in community services. A portion of membership dues aid children and elderly in need of help.

“Thirty years ago there was a Moose lodge in Boynton,” said Jim Douberley, a West Palm Beach resident and an officer of the Lake Worth Moose Lodge 994. “Its membership disappeared and the lodge closed. A Boynton lodge would be good for Boynton, Delray and Boca Raton residents.”

The closest Moose lodges are in Fort Lauderdale and Lake Worth.

For his dream to turn into a reality, Lewis needs 100 individuals to join the club. He has printed notices to get the word out and distributed them around town with the help of the Boynton Beach Chamber of Commerce.

“I have received 15 calls at this point,” said Lewis.” I need more.”

Lewis says he needs at least 75 more people to commit to membership. Once he receives the minimum signatures, he will contact Moose headquarters to begin the process of making things official.

Then he’ll need to find a building for the club. “We are looking at the old Masonic Lodge,” Lewis said.

The lodge is in the 500 block of Ocean Avenue. It was home to the Boynton Masons until this year. The building is in the middle of a downtown development project.

The national Moose organization will loan the Boynton Beach club the money to purchase a building, with the loan being paid back over time, Lewis said.

“A Moose lodge is a wonderful idea,” said Diana Johnson, president of the Boynton Chamber of Commerce. “The Moose club is for everyone. It brings families together. Any community would benefit from an organization like this. I wish Bob luck.”

The Moose supports an entire city, Mooseheart, Ill. The tiny town was built in 1913 and today houses and educates as many as 800 needy children of all nationalities. It’s a complete community with homes, schools, stores, utilities and a post office.

Moosehaven, in Orange Park, is a year-round, adult retirement community 12 miles south of Jacksonville. It supplies residents with total care, including food, clothing housing, medical and dental. The community is for retirees who have been members of the Moose club for at least 15 years. It’s equipped with everything from medical facilities to exercise and woodworking centers.

To find out more about membership in the Moose Lodge, call Lewis at 561-252-9644. Registration is $10.