Loyally serving: Stayton Moose Lodge celebrates eight years

By Mary Owen

Stayton Moose members are gearing up for a visit from the fraternal organization’s supreme governor on April 22, just in time for its eighth anniversary.

“We’re excited and honored to welcome Wesley Crowder from Moose International to our lodge,” said former lodge governor Warren Kilby, speaking for sitting governor Ken Eckhardt, who was out of town.

The Stayton Loyal Order of Moose Lodge #2639 is one of four lodges out of 65 in the state that will receive a visit from Crowder, Kilby said.

The Loyal Order of Moose for men was founded in 1888 in Louisville, Ken., and re-organized in 1906 under the leadership of future U.S. Sen. James J. Davis.

Women of the Moose, founded in 1913 as an auxiliary organization, is now considered an integral unit of the Order, headquartered in Mooseheart, Ill.

Roughly a million members belong to some 2,000 lodges in the United States, Canada, Bermuda and Great Britain.

The Stayton Lodge was formed eight years ago this April, and has about 235 members who meet at 7 p.m. on the second and fourth Mondays of the month at the Moose Lodge, 352 E. Florence Ave. Sublimity also has a chapter.

“The Moose are non-political and not religious, although we do believe in a supreme being,” Kilby said.

“We do hold our meetings with the Bible open, and we pass a little wooden cradle at every meeting,” he said. “We say a prayer for our children, and everybody drops a buck or two into the cradle. It’s the only ritual we have left.”

Community service is a main objective of the organization.

Stayton members raise money via pool tournaments, a full-service beverage bar open every night but Sunday and all day Monday, dinners on Saturday nights, taco Wednesdays, hamburgers once a month, breakfast every Sunday morning, and special events such as parties and dances.

“Everything is voluntary, done by members,” Kilby said.

“The bar and food service is what supports about 90 percent of our outreach. We also hold 50/50 drawings where the winner takes half of what’s raised and the rest goes to Moose charities.

“We raise all funds within the lodge,” he added. “To fundraise outside of the lodge, we have to get special permission. We have that for Fourth of July and occasionally, a garage sale.”

Moose members have directed Stayton’s Fourth of July parade for five years, and cook the community dinner afterward. They also cook hot dogs every year for the Special Olympics event, Kilby said.

“We collect food and turkeys for food baskets at Christmas, help with the city’s Christmas tree, and clean up a portion of East Santiam from Highway 22 into the city through the Adopt-a-Road program,” Kilby said.

Along with other units of Moose International, the Stayton Moose supports the operation of Mooseheart Child City & School, a 1,000-acre community for children and teens in need, located 40 miles west of Chicago. They also support  Moosehaven, a 70-acre retirement community for its members near Jacksonville, Fla.

Moose lodges contribute annually about $50 million worth of community service, counting monetary donations and volunteer hours worked, according to Moose International.

“Moose are very special,” Kilby said. “This is the best group of people I’ve ever known!”