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What We Do
Friendship, Love and Truth in action. Here is how Odd Fellowship serves members and neighbors across Missouri, and how you can join us.
Friendship, Love and Truth
FRIENDSHIP
You gain a new family in the members of your lodge and a vast network of Brothers and Sisters worldwide. Joining Odd Fellows with your friends gives a deeper purpose and meaning to your friendship. We are a diverse organization with 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 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 are 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 help make the world around you a better place.
Skills that carry beyond the lodge
Members gain a worldwide family of Brothers and Sisters and the many philosophical lessons of our degrees dating back centuries. There are many benefits to being a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Members learn and use many valuable life skills that carry over into life outside the lodge. These skills are useful to anyone trying to better their career and will be handy on any resume, or for anyone who is an entrepreneur trying to start their own business.
An Odd Fellow lodge is a good place to be, and it's lots of fun. You'll like meeting good people, making new friends and enjoying the pleasures of new experiences. It's where the action is in most communities. Sports, socials, dances and parties are all part of the active life of Odd Fellows today.
Requirements and joining procedure
When the lodge has received your application, they will appoint an interviewing committee of three members, to ask questions and to answer any you have. It also gives you at least three familiar faces in the lodge.
1. Contact a lodge or lodge member. Use our membership request form or contact your local I.O.O.F. lodge.
2. Complete an application, received from a member, or request one from us.
3. Submit your application and initiation fees. They will be forwarded to the lodge.
4. The Noble Grand assigns members to investigate the applicant's overall character.
5. The investigating committee interviews the applicant.
6. The committee reports to members at a meeting.
7. Members vote on the applicant.
8. The applicant is advised of the result. If accepted, the lodge sends a letter announcing your election to membership.
9. The applicant receives an initiation notice with the date and time for initiation.
10. Initiation in the lodge. Welcome to the Three Link Fraternity.
Odd Fellows lodges in Missouri
Below is a list of Independent Order of Odd Fellows lodges located within the State of Missouri.
Adair Lodge No. 96, Hurdland
Agency Lodge No. 505, St. Joseph
Archer Lodge No. 448, Higginsville
Bates Lodge No. 180, Butler
Big Springs Lodge No. 237, Rolla
Bismarck Lodge No. 349, Bismarck
Blue Springs Lodge No. 497, Blue Springs
Callaway Lodge No. 105, Fulton
Charleston Lodge No. 84, Charleston
Chillicothe Lodge No. 91, Chillicothe
Columbia Lodge No. 207, Columbia
Crocker Lodge No. 108, Crocker
Far West Lodge No. 4, Boonville
Hartville Lodge No. 226, Hartville
Lebanon Lodge No. 192, Lebanon
Madison Lodge No. 172, Fredericktown
Magnolia Lodge No. 112, Marceline
Mexico Lodge No. 99, Mexico
Oak Grove Lodge No. 115, Oak Grove
Pacific Lodge No. 86, Washington
Paris Lodge No. 29, Mexico
Poplar Bluff Lodge No. 179, Poplar Bluff
Queen City Lodge No. 12, Springfield
Richfield Lodge No. 500, Missouri City
Richmond Lodge No. 208, Richmond
Salem Lodge No. 118, Salem
St. Francois Lodge No. 48, Farmington
St. Louis Lodge No. 5, St. Louis
Sullivan Lodge No. 156, Sullivan
Tebbetts Lodge No. 596, Tebbetts
Wildey Lodge No. 2, St. Louis
Windsor Lodge No. 187, Windsor
Projects of the Order
The Educational Foundation
The IOOF Educational Foundation began its operation on September 20, 1927. Its purpose is to operate a revolving loan fund for qualified students dependent in part, or wholly, on their own efforts for an education, and to award scholarships based on scholarship, leadership and financial need.
Odd Fellows and Rebekahs Visual Research Foundation
Dedicated to helping purchase equipment for medical schools and eye clinics, operating eye banks, amblyopia screening, ophthalmological research, low vision clinics, eyeglasses for the needy and elderly, mobile eye exam units, rituals printed in Braille, collecting eyeglasses for developing countries, and the sale and donation of Big Eye Lamps.
SOS Children's Villages
This project builds families for orphaned, abandoned and other vulnerable children in 134 countries and territories, including the United States, through family support and care programs, schools, medical centers and emergency relief. Learn more at sos-usa.org.
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
This ceremony of remembrance for those who have given their lives to preserve the American way of life enshrines the principles of Odd Fellowship, Friendship, Love and Truth. It is indeed an honor to be a part of this pilgrimage.