Odd man in

COEUR d’ALENE — When the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Coeur d’Alene Lodge 34 sold its Government Way home earlier this year, they had options on how to use the proceeds.

They chose to share them locally.

“We wanted it to stay here,” Leonard Olson said.

Some of the few remaining members of the fraternal organization presented $5,000 to The Press Christmas for All on Monday. It was only part of roughly $80,000 the group is donating this year.

It also gave $15,000 to the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 889 in Coeur d’Alene; $10,000 each to St. Vincent de Paul, St Jude’s Children’s Hospital and the cancer center at Kootenai Health; $5,000 to Silver Valley Meals on Wheels; $2,000 to Newby-ginnings of North Idaho, Inc., and $1,000 each to Toys for Tots and the Kootenai Humane Society. Other groups will receive funds, too.

The Odd Fellows and their women's group the Rebekahs aim "to make the world a better place in which to live, seeking to improve and elevate the character of mankind."

“We’re just doing what we can,” Olson said.

The Odd Fellows sold their longtime downtown site in 2002 because it needed significant and costly improvements, like a ramp and structural changes, to bring it up to code.

“An architect came up and took a look and said, ‘Forget it,’” Olson said.

They bought another building, 1520 Government Way, rented out spaces, and held meetings, club activities and fundraisers there.

It was a popular social gathering point, but membership gradually declined.

Nancy Morris said the roots of the Coeur d’Alene Odd Fellows club date back to before 1900.

“You'd have a district meeting, you'd have 100 people. Now if you get 30 you're lucky,” she said.

At one point, membership was about 65. Today, it’s fewer than 10 and difficult to get young people to join.

“You’re looking at it,” Morris said Monday as she sat in a room joined by Leonard and Janet Olson and Don Frohboese.

“We have enough members to keep our charter,” Leonard Olson said.

But it wasn't enough to maintain their home of nearly 20 years. The roof needed work, they spent $7,000 on a heating system and a car ran into the building.

During COVID-19, they lost their tenants, which put a crunch on finances.

“We just didn’t have the income anymore,” Leonard Olson said.

So they finally, a bit reluctantly, sold it.

While disappointed, Don Frohboese said it’s not surprising.

In the early days, the Odd Fellows building was home away from home for members.

“Today, there's just so many other things going on that everything's going down,” Frohboese said. “I mean, you even see where the Shriners and the Masons are losing members.”

The group isn't going away. It will meet at local restaurants, and turned what could have been a negative into a positive by distributing money this year and well into the future.

Members plan to donate interest from proceeds of the building’s sale each year.

Their reason for doing so is simple.

"We just feel we need to give back to the community that has supported us all these years," Morris said.