The Ante Room: Ep 5, The Odd Fellows’ Primer (extended cut from The Three Links Odd Cast)

On this episode: Extended Interview from the S2Ep4 of The Three Links Odd Cast. Brother Toby Hanson leads the discussion about the exciting book that Michael Greenzeiger and Ainslie Heilich created together.

Encampments: What Do They Do? by Toby Hanson, PGP

The Encampment branch of Odd Fellowship is intended to be the place where more active, more experienced Odd Fellows can come together and share ideas and information with one another. It’s supposed to be a meeting of more advanced Odd Fellows who have gained wisdom from their years of service within the Order. It’s also supposed to be a place where those learned Odd Fellows can pass their knowledge and experience on to younger, newer Odd Fellows. I like to call Encampments the “think tanks” of Odd Fellowship.

Lodge Meetings don’t have to suck- By Toby Hanson, PGM

All of us who have had any level of professional experience have sat
through meetings. At best, they can be productive and informative. At
worst, they can be mind-numbing. Since we all have to endure meetings
of various effectiveness in our professional lives, why would we ever
allow our lodges to hold sloppy, disorganized meetings? Such meetings
represent a disregard for members’ time and a disincentive for their
continued participation in the lodge.

What I Learned as Grand Master By Toby Hanson, PGM

I have just finished my term as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of
Washington, IOOF. We had an excellent session of the Grand Lodge at
which we conducted a lot of very important business and then I turned
the gavel over to my successor. The whole process of proceeding through
the chairs of the Grand Lodge felt like a whirlwind but now that it’s
complete I have the opportunity to reflect and share what I’ve learned.

Thomas Wildey’s Life and Love of Odd Fellowship

True, he was known to many now living; but even they were not admitted to the knowledge of his private walks, or to witness those home scenes which more than any other indicate the man. He was at all times reticent, or entirely silent, about himself, and his solitary life gave no glimpse into the obscurity of his domestic secrets. He was manifestly of humble extraction, and might be ranked one remove above a common laborer.

The Gift of Time -by Kelly Hughes

By Kelly Hughes Grand Master Washington State 2017-2018 Originally printed in the Washington Odd Fellow. As I sit here writing this letter for the newspaper, I think about the holidays. I received several wonderful gifts from family, but the most precious of all was time. Mother and I had my nephew and his wife and […]

There is More than One Way to Be an Odd Fellow

We need members that have certain strengths that may get overlooked when simply trying to “fill the chairs”. We don’t all want to work at the Grand Lodge level and attend formal events or even hold leadership positions in the lodge that require a member to do a lot of speaking in front of groups. While it is nice to have a lot of people show up for the business meetings, I have learned from many of my Lodge family that they feel uncomfortable reading the roles out loud and it gives them a lot of anxiety, even though they know no one would judge them for messing up. Instead of twisting the arms of members like these to only participate in the traditional method of belonging to a Lodge, there are alternative ways that they can be active members and contribute to the Order in effective and valuable ways.

Odd Interview: Peter Sellars GM of California

Peter Sellars is the 2016-2017 Grand Master of California and he is the first in hopefully a series of member interviews with the aim of capturing a diverse group of experiences and ideas about the Order. Enjoy! -Ainslie Your name, and a little about yourself/who are you outside of Odd Fellows? Peter V. Sellars. I am […]