On Monday, April 21, 2025 the Cupertino Odd Fellows Lodge #70 celebrated the 126th anniversary with our annual Roll Call Dinner. About 50 members and their family/guests attended. Jim Kabage, our Noble Grand, welcomed everyone to our dinner. Next, our chaplain Todd White gave a blessing before dinner. Dinner consisted of thick juicy BBQ ribs, melt in your mouth Brisket, homemade Cream Corn, Ceasar salad, and sweet Hawaiian style dinner rolls. There were 4 types of BBQ sauces to choose to top the meat: Sweet, Mild Spicy, Spicy Mustard, and XXX Hot. Beverages included water and assorted beers.
A warm welcome to our 3 newest members, Helen Bobias, Jordan DuVal and Pam Johnson started off the evening program. Before calling the roll, a special tribute was given by Jim Kabage in remembrance of Bob Souza and Don Lang, the 2 members who passed away this past year, The roll was called and those in attendance were applauded as their names were spoken. Next up, I spoke about the “State of the Lodge” and outlined the major activities/events for 2024-2025,
We raised over $7k from our 5 yearly fundraisers and donated over $15k to 10 major charities and 5 Grand Lodge charities last year. To supplement our donations, we rely on the rental of our lodge. Improvements were made to the lodge to help increase rental income as well as provide a comfortable and safe place for members to meet. Several technical updates were made to our business processes to optimize how we do things and provide our members easier access to Odd Fellows information via our members only web site.
Our goal is to thrive through increased membership, membership participation, and improved services, both to our members as well as our community.
The evening ended with dessert – Strawberry short cake. Memories of good food, and a relaxed evening with new and old friends went home with all who attended.
— By Randee Chin
