"So just what do you guys do?"
I am an Odd Fellow. I believe in the fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of man. I believe in Friendship, Love and Truth as basic guides to the destiny of all mankind. I believe my home, my church or temple, my lodge, and my community deserve my best work, my modest pride and my deepest loyalty as I perform my duty to visit the sick relieve the distressed, bury and dead and educate the orphan, and as I work with others to build a better world, because in spirit and in truth, I am and must always be grateful to my creator, faithful to my country, and fraternal to my fellow man.
The words in red are
what our order was primarily created for and have had a lot to do with
our history. Odd Fellows have their roots as one of the first
fraternities dating from English antiquity to be comprised of working
people....people who were not rich, not royalty, and whose very lives
depended on each other should one of their members die, be disabled or
lose his job. This was in an age when workers comp and unemployment did
not exist. Being out of work even temporarily them could have meant
your family was not only going to go hungry........they were going to
starve to death. If a family member died in those times, the funeral
could easily wipe out the family financially, so the IOOF developed a
strong practice of paying for the funeral of any member whose family
could not afford one. Hence our mandate to "bury the dead" as well as "visit the sick".
Thomas Wildey
The mandate to educate the orphan springs from our founder, Thomas Wildey, who was himself an orphan. The generosity of the orphanage where he grew up was credited with instilling in him a giving spirit, and there was in those times no better way to help an orphan or save him from a life of vice than to prepare him, in time, to make his way in the world by teaching him a trade. Wildey himself was a coach maker.
<><>Following this mandate, Odd
Fellows became the first nationwide fraternity to have the distinction
of establishing and supporting homes and schools for member's orphaned
children as well as nursing homes for aged Odd Fellows, usually one in
each state. Many of these nursing homes now admit non-Odd Fellows. 
Most
states have them located close to the Grand Lodge of that state. The
country is also dotted with Odd Fellow graveyards which are for members
and their families, one of
the largest and most well known being Odd Fellows rest in New Orleans,
Louisiana.
Many of the tasks described in our valediction have now been taken over by the government or other forms of social safety nets since developed, and many families and individuals alike pay for or set aside money for their own funerals. Odd Fellows still place special emphasis on offering psychological and other assistance to the family of a dead member. Visiting the sick and relieving the distressed are of course at two things all Odd Fellows are obliged to do, especially when another Odd Fellow is taken ill. But to honor the other tasks, many of our fundraising efforts strive to help schools and other organizations which are directly involved in helping children. Odd Fellows are known for donating lodge funds as well as the time and effort of their members to such groups.
Odd Fellowship also, of course, strives to improve and elevate the character of man and improve the world in general. These things are best learned by way of the lessons taught in our degree work, by understanding and studying the meanings of our many symbols, serving to better one's lodge, and performing community service with other brothers.