Merritt’s Order of the Eastern Star is celebrating its 100th birthday.

The fraternal organization is for Masons and their female relatives, and dates back to the 1800s. A chapter popped up in the Nicola Valley in April of 1914.

The group is a non-profit charitable organization with a focus on supporting cancer research.

Merritt Order of the Eastern Star’s secretary Lynn Marsh said the reason she felt it was important to join the Order of the Eastern Star was because her mother died of cancer.

Worldwide, the organization has more than 500,000 members, 3,220 of whom are based throughout B.C. and the Yukon.

The Merritt chapter has about 20 active members and meets once a month, with various social activities in between.

In the community, the Order of the Eastern Star conducts such charitable donations as supplying bandages to cancer patients, giving a Christmas hamper to a family in need and awarding a bursary to graduates of Merritt Secondary School.

Over the course of its century in the Nicola Valley, the group has helped out with a wide variety of charitable initiatives.

Back in 1921 — the infancy of Merritt’s Order of the Eastern Star — the group raised funds to help buy shoes for a family in need.

Also in the 1920s, the Order of the Eastern Star helped raise funds to install a waterline to the city graveyard.

To celebrate their centenary, the group held a barbecue and dance on Saturday at the Lower Nicola Community Hall.

This past June, the Eastern Star lost a piece of its history when the Masonic lodge — their meeting place since the 1940s — went up in flames when a fire broke out in between two buildings in the 2000 block of Quilchena Avenue.

Marsh said that although they lost a few items in the fire due to water damage, their minute books and ledgers were saved. She said the documents were all put inside Rubbermaid containers a few years back.

Marsh said she doesn’t know yet whether or not the Order of the Eastern Star will be able to meet at the Masonic lodge in the future.

The group now meets temporarily at the Lower Nicola Community Hall, Marsh said.