FARMINGTON – Some of the last remaining members of a nearly 200-year-old society donated $200,000 to Franklin Memorial Hospital on Friday.
The money is going to be used to set up an endowment for the hospital library, which will provide money (through interest) for the library in perpetuity, hospital President Richard Batt said.
About a dozen members of the local Independent Order of Oddfellows, from the Wilton Williamson Lodge 20 and the Livermore Falls Lodge 83, had lunch with hospital staff Friday, before presenting the check.
“What can we say to such generosity other than our deepest thanks,” Batt said.
“I’m tremendously appreciative,” librarian Emily Scribner told the Oddfellows. “I don’t really think you can understand how much this gift means.” It means security, she said. In a time when library funds are usually the first to go in a tight budget year, the library will have funds to count on every year.
For Larry Wilbur, 83, of Wilton, being part of an organization dedicated to doing good is an immense source of pride. “There’s more to being an Oddfellow, than being an odd fellow,” he said. “It means more than just the words.”
“There’s so much pride in knowing we did this,” Wilbur said.
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