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An Indiana congressman once observed, "Many fraternal orders promote good fellowship and do good deeds but the Fraternal Order of Eagles go further than that. They reach outside their own ranks to fight for the welfare of all." This Seattle born organization has a history of reaching out and trying to help solve the distressing and difficult problems of human relief that spans more than a century and has been recognized by scores of congressmen and presidents.
The Order was founded in February 1898 by six theater owners in a waterfront shipyard in Seattle, Washington and actively crusaded for a Workmen's Compensation Act, Mothers' Pensions, Old Age Pensions, and Social Security Laws. The Fraternal Order of Eagles #2224 opened in Medina in 1936 and has grown into one of the largest organizations in the city with a membership that numbers approximately two thousand with an additional six hundred auxiliary members. Interviewing Alan Failor, secretary, we became aware not only of the size of the local Aerie but of the positive effect the Order has had and continues to have on our local community. Alan told us;
The Eagles is a social club whose members donate time and money to local organizations to help them out. In Medina County, we support all the youth programs and donate to the United Way, the police and fire departments, the sheriff's department, and a we continually offer an incredible amount of support to a large variety of other community projects. Within the next two weeks we will be donating $23,000.00 to qualified 501c3 (non-profit) organizations within the Medina County area. We've also just had our annual picnic and the bartenders donated all their tips which ended up being close to $500 to Dream Farms who are hosting a therapeutic and recreational horseback riding facility for chronically and terminally ill children.
So many people think that the Eagles Club is just a bar where you can come and drink and if they were really aware of the situation, they'd quickly realize that we're a family oriented club. We do have our bar, our social room, but in the meantime our members do a lot of volunteer work. Most people aren't aware of how much we donate to the community or how large of an organization we are. We've been located in four different buildings in Medina and after purchasing this property in 1990, we relocated here in 1996. Altogether we own thirty-four acres here which makes us one of the largest property owners in the area. Our new building was originally around 13,000 square feet and in July 2002 we completed an addition of 8,000 more square feet to house our new banquet facility. Now, we're at the point that we're checking on possible expansion on our property again because of the amount of growth we've had. Since we've added the banquet hall, we host a lot of different meetings for local organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce, the Kiwanis Club, and senior citizen's groups in addition to offering our facility to the public for and weddings, receptions, luncheons, and corporate gatherings.
Our membership includes everyone from the average working man to professional people and many of our past member have been Medina County politicians and several of our members now hold state offices for the Eagles. We have meetings twice a month and we hardly ever have a meeting where we don't have new members coming in. We've had newcomers to the community who have heard of the Eagles come to our front door to ask how they can join. You have to eighteen years old to be a member and twenty-one to drink but we have quite a few members joined as soon as they turn eighteen since belonging to the Eagles is one of their family traditions. Our male members are take responsibility for the building, the bills, and the operation of the club while the ladies belong to the auxiliary and give us a lot of help hosting our functions in addition to holding their own fundraisers. Membership is by application and you have to have two members who will stand as your hosts. After submitting your applications, we read your application at several meetings and then the membership votes to approve your application. Once you're a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles #2224, you are welcome at over 1,700 Aeries throughout the United States and Canada.
The club is open to card carrying members and their families any time during business hours. Every Friday night we hold a Fish Fry for our members and we have a lot games to help keep the children entertained. We're a family oriented club and the only time that children aren't allowed in the club is when we have our dances on Saturday nights.
The Eagles support programs for Old Age Security, Cancer Research, Youth Guidance, Inter-Faith Brotherhood, and for making democracy work and helping freedom ring throughout the world. Eagledom is a dream that ordinary men and women everywhere are entitled to and shall enjoy the right to life, to liberty, and the pursuit of happiness with some reasonable chance of catching up to it in their lifetimes. To learn more about this remarkable organization, stop by the Aerie for a guided tour of their splendid facilities and don't forget to tell them that The Advocate sent you!
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