The biggest obstacle faced by Odd Fellows today is invisibility; most people don’t know that 100 years ago, 1 out of 5 Americans were in a fraternity and that Odd Fellows was the biggest.

We can only reverse the invisibility through education: classroom education, public awareness and branding. We define branding as what people know about you (right or wrong) so it is up to us to create educational programs and to also entice people into knowing who we are.

This site provides classroom tools for teachers to demonstrate the main reason why Odd Fellows was once so popular: the social safety net. While today things like unemployment, healthcare, hospice, widow stipends and orphanages are largely paid for by taxes, churches and donations, these were once benefits only accessible through a union, guild or fraternity such as Odd Fellows.

By understanding what once made Odd Fellows popular, it’s easier to appreciate and consider the importance of Odd Fellowship in American history and its rich heritage of helping others.

Americans love to help others and it wouldn’t be too hard to see this is also why we were once so popular that every American knew an Odd Fellow as a neighbor or family.