By Stephen Smoot
Over the years, the Shinnston News and Harrison County Journal has highlighted businesses of the month, and for good reason. The best businesses in and around Shinnston add much to not only the economy, but also the growing optimism surrounding the community. They build each other up, rather than tear each other down. They form the heart and the foundation of the community.
Without business and a healthy free market to support it, there is no city.
That all said, this also is an appropriate opportunity to honor the hardworking non-profits and service organizations in Shinnston. Over the past several months, the paper has put a spotlight on many organizations with wonderful people who make the community and the people its priority.
Shinnston is blessed to have a plethora of such organizations, from dedicated churches with active congregations to veterans’ groups, to organizations devoted to community – like the Independent Order of Odd Fellows anywhere it operates worldwide, but especially Rebekah Lodge No. 47 in Shinnston.
The Odd Fellows keep their focus squarely on the present with plans for the future. Their “History and Manual” states that “this age of enlightenment has emancipated us from the gross credulity of the past.” It also read that “Odd fellowship does not seek a veiled origin in the misty shades of the past to surround it with . . . false glamour.”
Rebekah Lodge No. 47’s most recent of many examples of its contribution to community came last fall during their sock drive. Wanda Ashcraft, organizational secretary, described the effort as “a ‘teamwork motif’ with Shinnston churches, businesses, clubs and organizations, individuals, and #47 members.
The Lodge issued “letters of appeal to ‘partner,’ as Ashcraft described. She wrote 47 letters and got a tremendous response. A donation box at Lowe Public Library and the Shinnston Moose responded with 338 pair. Monetary donations of $1,900 went entirely to purchasing socks.
Volunteers received donations through 11 different businesses and service organizations in and around the city.
In total, the sock drive for veterans obtained 2,878 total pair. Just over 100 went to the Clarksburg Mission while the rest were donated to the Louis A. Johnson veterans hospital. The drive served as part of a larger statewide effort by the I.O.O.F. that the Rebekah Lodge won.
Ashcraft, as well as in her professional career, which includes a stint as Shinnston mayor, understands that team efforts work best when credit is properly given.
Churches that provided support included the Charles Street Christian Church, First Baptist Church, and United Methodist Women of First United Methodist Church. Shinnston area businesses chipping in were McDonalds of Shinnston, owned by John Ebert, S and B Gaming, owned by Jimmy Scudere, and Mike Ross Inc. of Buckhannon.
A long list of clubs and organizations also helped. These included the Shinnston American Legion Auxiliary #31, Shinnston Lions Club, W. W. State Moose Association. District 2, the Shinnston Garden Club, and the Shinnston Loyal Order of Moose.
The Garden Club’s $500 represented the largest donation.
Individuals who contributed in some fashion included Mary Ann Ferris, Margaret Perri, Donna Bart, Debra Herndon, Donna Post, Robert P. Bice III, Viviane Spagnuolo, Lavanda Hayhurst, Patricia Fisher, Deborah Starkey, Chad Edwards, Wanda Ashcraft, Marjorie Jackson, Peggy Martin, Barbara Carder, Charlotte Ross, S. Sue Rowan, Melissa Rowan, Dortha Parsons, Maxine Weser, Paula Harrison, Thelma Martin, Helen Ashcraft, Kim Strait, Barbara Heldreth, Bonnie Paxton, and employees at the Harrison County Courthouse.
Despite the admonition to look ahead, the origins of the Odd Fellows trace back centuries. According to their own history, they may extend back to the time of the trade guilds that dominated commerce in the Middle Ages. The first solid mention of them that still exists comes from the 1700s when records indicate the existence of many Odd Fellow groups.
“It is known that Lodges were originally formed by workingmen for social purposes” and “for giving the brethren aid and assisting them to obtain employment when out of work.”
Today, the I.O.O.F. has orders in 30 nations and five continents. It officially appeared in North America in 1819 with a mission based on the “three links,” friendship, love, and truth.
Recent projects on the national and international stage include endowing a chair for visual research at Johns Hopkins, laying a special wreath the first weekend in May at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, providing over $230,000 in aid to Ukrainian Relief, a number of scholarships, and an Odd Fellows and Rebekah pilgrimage for youth .
The 76th pilgrimage in June and July will begin and end in Philadelphia. In 2023, 75 delegates from 23 jurisdictions took part. They awarded three scholarships. Students from Shinnston who took part in the pilgrimage over the years included Jay Harmer, Timothy Southern, Ada Summerfield, Gina Ashcraft, and Lareta J. Ashcraft.
West Virginia figures well among orders in North America. Several from the Mountain State have risen to international positions of leadership in the order. Charleston will also host the international sovereign grand lodge session in August of 2025, the second time this has come to West Virginia.
One of the great victims of the digital age, then COVID, has been the decline of participation in service organizations. These groups support the community in many ways.
Shinnston is fortunate, not only with Rebekah Lodge, but also with a spectrum of other organizations, to have active, caring, and cooperative groups of people willing to support each others’ efforts to better the community and serve the less fortunate within.
