Odd Fellows are no strangers to community service

As part of their regular charity work in the community and across the state, an East Meadow fraternal organization recently sponsored a fundraiser for Autism Speaks.

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows Mineola-Pacific Lodge 125, based at 226 East Meadow Ave., collected $500 for the charity, which sponsors autism research and conducts awareness and outreach activities. The April fundraiser was one of many the group holds throughout the year, leaders said.

Dominic Oreste, the secretary of the chapter, said the Odd Fellows organization was founded in 17th Century England. According to the international group’s website, the fraternity was formed by ordinary people from different trades and walks of life who found it necessary to come together as brothers and sisters and contribute some of their hard-earned wages to a common fund; the monies were used to deal with the challenges of the time period, including helping sick people, the impoverished, orphaned kids, widowed mothers and families who could not afford to bury their dead relatives.

“It seemed kind of odd and peculiar that these different types of people were coming together,” Oreste said of the fraternity’s name. “It’s a blue collar organization…we’re all about three links: charity, friendship, love and truth."

Formerly based in Mineola, the local chapter has been around for more than 100 years. There are currently 65 people in the group, and they all have different professional backgrounds and reasons for joining.

Lee Faklis, an East Meadow resident, said his next-door neighbor brought him to his first Mineola-Pacific Lodge 125 meeting. He said that once he met some of the friendly members and learned that the group found modern ways to help orphaned children, he decided to join too.

“I knew this was for me,” he said. “We contribute to our community and come together and raise money for good causes — and we have a lot of fun doing it.”