For this issue, we invited two new members who participated in the cave degree this year to share their experiences. What do our Odd Fellowship traditions look like for someone experiencing them for the first time? Here to answer that are Prado Sudheer of Bay View 109 and Sunday Donaldson of Mountain View 244.
Prado: Moving to a new country and culture was definitely hard, but I knew I’d find my way. I started volunteering at schools in my community pretty quickly, and that helped me feel like I belonged.
Still, something felt like it was missing. Then I met my sponsor at a summer camp where I was volunteering. We clicked right away — sharing similar values and interests made it easy to connect. I was invited to a social game night, and it was really fun playing games and getting to know people.
Later that night, I was introduced to the ideas and principles of the Odd Fellows, and it caught my interest. A few weeks after that, I was standing at the cave, receiving my three degrees. The second degree especially stood out to me — it’s a story about kindness and friendship that feels really important in today’s world, where people often feel divided or isolated. (Thank you for breaking character. iykyk)
To me, the Order of the Odd Fellows is a place that welcomes anyone who wants to do good, in whatever way they can while creating a community that cares for one another.
Sunday: Last month on the weekend of September 6th, I and many others received the initiation to third degree at an event by the Richard Brouse degree lodge, hosted by the Yreka 19 lodge. We stayed in Yreka for the weekend and had the four ceremonies across two days, the second degree in the cave being on Saturday night. Together, we all learned a lot about the Oddfellows in those two days. There were so many new people to meet, and each degree helped better understand these new people. Being surrounded by them like this I could see how they all embodied the tenets in their own ways. We drove up to the cave Saturday night, and all crowded onto benches to watch the second degree. It was a lovely performance to watch, and I got picked to walk around the cave as a part of the ceremony. Although I almost tripped, it was great to be able to participate. Afterwards, we all headed back to the Yreka lodge for dessert. Leading up to the day of the cave degree the air in the surrounding town was filled with smoke from wildfires, but that night the skies were clear enough to get a beautiful view of the moon while we watched the performers. I like to think the winds did us an act of love that night.