Friendship

You gain a new family in the members of your Lodge and a vast network of Brothers and Sisters worldwide. By joining Odd Fellows with your friends it helps to give a deeper purpose and meaning to your friendship. We are a diverse organization and have members of all faiths, races, genders, occupations and abilities with over 600,000 members in over 10,000 Lodges in 30 countries.

Love

The historic command of the Odd Fellow is to “visit the sick, relieve the distressed, bury the dead and educate the orphan.”

You get to take an active role in helping your community and the world be a better place. Local Lodges help out their communities in any way they choose and are unified together in larger projects.

Truth

Be a part of the HISTORY and the MYSTERY. As an Odd Fellow you get to be a member of one of the world’s oldest and largest fraternal Orders. Rituals, symbols, and degrees are designed to “elevate and improve the character of mankind.” By taking these lessons to heart you become a better person and in turn make help to make the world around you a better place.

GET INVOLVED - JOIN OUR LODGE!

Requirements for Membership

A man, woman, or youth of good character, who is loyal to his or her country and believes in a Supreme Being, the creator, and preserver of the Universe, is eligible for membership. Odd Fellowship strictly forbids any interference with one's religious beliefs or political opinions. To Join our Lodge, you must be 16 years old.

Our Lodge charges an Initiation Fee and Annual Membership Dues:
    • Initiation Fee: $25.00
    • Annual Membership Dues: $51.00
    • Associate Membership Dues: $2.00

How to Join

A candidate must be sponsored by a current member, so the first step towards joining is to find someone who is a current member.

1.) Ask people you know if they know anyone who is an Odd Fellow of our Lodge.
2.) Drop in on the day of a meeting about 30 minutes before the scheduled time, and introduce yourself. We are eager to find new members and will be glad to meet you.
3.) You can write or email the Star.Orphans Hope Lodge No. 182, by going to our Contact Us page by Clicking Here.
4.) You can fill out the Membership Application by downloading, and fill it out and bring it with you.

Membership Application

You can Download our Membership Application, by clicking on the Download Button below. PDF File 371 KB

After You Have Applied for Membership

When the lodge has received your application, they will appoint an interviewing committee of three members. These members will call on you, both to ask questions and to answer any questions you may have concerning the lodge. One purpose of the interviewing committee is to give a candidate at least three familiar faces in the lodge. At the next meeting, the interviewing committee will report back to the lodge. The lodge will ballot to accept you as a member. The lodge will then send you a letter announcing your election to membership and the date and time for initiation.

A Family Fraternity
Striving to make the world a better place in which to live.

Motto
Friendship, Love, and Truth

The Three Links
The Emblem of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

The emblem of Odd Fellowship is the
Three Links with the letters ‘F, L & T’.
The three links symbolizes the chain that
binds our members together and illustrates
that a fraternity is strongest when joined
together.
The ‘F’ in the first link represents
‘friendship’, the strongest bond of
fraternity that teaches goodwill and
harmony.
The ‘L’ represents ‘love’, the basis
for all life’s ambitions, service to
others and family.
The ‘T’ represents ‘truth’, the standard
by which we value people and the foundation
of our society.

Object
To improve and elevate the character of mankind.

How did the name originate?
The name itself signifies something different, out of the
ordinary, and unmatched. It was originally given to
those unusual people who believed in helping others.

Where did it originate?
The origin is shrouded in the mist of antiquity.
Thomas Wildey founded Odd Fellowship on the North
American Continent in 1819 at Baltimore, Maryland.

Commands of the Order adopted are:
Visit the Sick
Relieve the Distressed
Bury the Dead
Educate the Orphan