Good Day! Spring 2017 [V1I1] - FREE

A quarterly publication of the National Grange

Good DAY! Vol. 1, Issue 1 l Winter 2017

W HAT BI NDS U S :

A Loo k at Fa m i l y Tr a d it i o ns MEMBER TALENT ON DISPLAY

HAVE THE TALK THIS APRIL

Enjoy a Junior’s story, a photo essay and a poem submitted by Grangers

Use Grange Month to celebrate the DO·ers in your community and challenges others to step up

ANOTHER SASH ADDED TO FAMILY COLLECTION Profile of the 2016-17 National Grange Outstanding Young Patron

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

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40% OF FOOD IN AMERICA IS WASTED

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GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

DEPARTMENTS 6 19

NATIONAL NEWS National Grange leadership welcomes you to the magazine and provides you an update on the news of the Order

MEMBER RECOGNITION

10

GRANGE NEWS

27

LEGISLATIVE

67

GRANGE YOUTH

87

RECIPES

Congratulations to our 100- and 125-year-old Granges and long-time members

57 86

JUNIOR GRANGE New director, program changes and additional badges are introduced

MEMBER SUBMISSIONS Poetry, prose, photo essays and more are welcome in Good Day! Also find a Junior Submission on pg. 65

Be inspired by what Granges across the nation are doing and learn who we’ve lost

Health care reform and the new USDA Secretary are in focus

A look at the work done by 8 Distinguished Grange Youth programs

A hearty winter vegetable is in focus with featured recipes

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COMMUNITY SERVICE

35

GRANGE MONTH

74

HOBBIES & CRAFTS

91

LAST WORD

Learn who took home top prizes in the 2016 Community Services Awards

All you need to know to prepare for a community conversation this April

Make Mother’s Day memorable with great gift or D-I-Y wood photo transfer

Ritual is an important tradition that makes Grange family

Good Day! magazine wants to be a part of your business or Grange’s success. Ad space is available in upcoming issues at low rates for designed ads and classified ads related to Grange events, fundraisers, etc. Email National Grange Communications and Development Director Amanda Leigh Brozana at communications@nationalgrange.org or call (202) 628-3507 ext. 102 or (240) 623-1867 for our ad rate sheet.

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

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MEET THE Publisher Betsy E. Huber National Grange Master (President) betsy@nationalgrange.org

Staff

Creative Editor Kim Stefanick National Grange Intern kstefanick@grange.org Subscriptions and Advertising Manager Loretta Washington National Grange Sales, Benefits, Programs and Member Recognition Director lwashington@nationalgrange.org

Editor Amanda Leigh Brozana National Grange Communications & Development Director communications@nationalgrange.org Copy Editor Stephanie Tiller National Grange Convention/Operations Director stiller@nationalgrange.org

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT Burton Eller National Grange Legislative Director beller@nationalgrange.org Stephanie Wilkins National Grange IT Director swilkins@nationalgrange.org Stewart Hughes National Grange Controller shughes@nationalgrange.org

Charlene Shupp Espenshade National Grange Youth Leadership Development Director youth@nationalgrange.org Samantha Wilkins National Junior Grange Development Director junior@nationalgrange.org

Jimmy Gentry, NC, Overseer jwgentry@ncgrange.com

Pete Pompper National Community Service Director communityservice@nationalgrange.org Sandor Szima Building Engineer

OUR

NATIONAL GRANGE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Christine Hamp National Lecturer lecturer@nationalgrange.org

Officers William “Chip� Narvel, DE, National Steward

F. Philip Prelli, CT, Chairman phillip.prelli@snet.net

John Plank, IN, National Assistant Steward Brenda Rousselle, VT, National Lady Assistant Steward

Duane Scott, WI, Secretary

Barbara Borderieux, FL, National Chaplain

duanerscott@yahoo.com

Dwight Baldwin, IO, National Treasuer

Joe Fryman, NE

Judy Sherrod, TN, National Secretary

jfryman@huntel.net

Christopher Johnston, MI, National Gatekeeper

Leroy Watson, NH

Claire Logan, RI, National Ceres

leroyawatson@nationalgrange.org

Susan Noah, OR, National Pomona ASSEMBLY OF DEMETER

Marie Nicholson, MT, National Flora

Bruce Croucher, NY | Roger Bostwick, KS | James Owens, ME

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GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

Features 40 62 69

FAMILY TRADITIONS

HONEY BEES

YOUNG PATRON

Food, friendships and this fraternity are all significant parts of many family traditions

Learn a bit about the helpful, hardworking honey bee and be prepared to help Juniors in quest for 2017 Awareness Award

Not new to the spotlight, the Outstanding Young Patron has a lot of spirit for the Grange

WHO WE ARE

The National Grange was founded as

in all areas of agriculture – including

a fraternal organization for farm families

those who just like to eat – and our

in 1867 – opening its doors to men and

local Granges provide millions of dollars

women equally from the start.

and hours of service to their neighbors

From rural free delivery of mail to

®

annually.

the direct election of U.S. Senators by

Each Grange operates as a grassroots

the people, Grangers have influenced

unit, taking on projects most appropriate

so many aspects of American life and

for their communities and advocating

culture.

based on their members’ beliefs.

Today we continue to advocate for rural Americans and those interested

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

Learn more at www.nationalgrange.org.

5

FROM THE

Executive Committee “We now look forward to continuing our 150th Anniversary year...”

Dear Brothers and Sisters: The 150th Annual Session was such a wonderful success and I, like everyone else, enjoyed myself greatly at the session.

We now look forward to

continuing our 150th Anniversary year with many events being planned around the country.

Your

National

Grange

Executive

Committee has remained busy since the session with Zoom meetings, conference calls and email communication.

In December and January discussions were held on the needs of the National Headquarters and what maintenance steps are needed to upgrade our more than 50 year building.

This includes

regular ongoing maintenance as well as upgrades to more energy efficient windows and lighting, boilers, electrical and plumbing.

You will see in this edition of Good Day! and in other communication from National Grange such as the monthly e-newsletter, the Patron’s Chain, that

other members who may not yet have

to make a decision at our next regular

subscribed to this publication and may

meeting, We look forward to being back

not receive the e-newsletter. Checks can

in the Midwest and hope you’ll add the

be made payable to the National Grange

convention to your extended calendar.

and sent to 1616 H St. NW, Washington,

The California State Grange has

DC 20006. Donations may also be made

been slowly pieced back together as

via credit card by contacting National

the National Grange and State Grange

Grange Sales, Benefits, Programs and

continue to win legal battle after battle

Member Recognition Director Loretta Washington at (202) 628-3507 ext. 109.

We are also continuing with the necessary

work

of

protecting

our

trademark and finishing up on our outstanding court cases. Attorney fees continue to be a substantial draw on our budget, but steps have been taken to try to limit these costs. The protection of our Order and its beliefs are an integral

the National Grange has established a

part of our fiduciary responsibility as well

special building fund, and we are seeking

as our sworn obligation as your National

your help and donations to allow us to

Executive Committee.

make the necessary repairs.

The committee continues to review

against the former CA State Grange leadership and gain the trust and support of local Granges who wish to remain part of the National Grange family. In January, the State Grange reported welcoming several new Granges back to the fold, raising the total of Subordinate Granges in the California to just under 100.

We are all looking forward to our next board meeting scheduled just prior to the Master’s Conference Feb. 16-20 at Ekonk Community Grange in Connecticut.

Have a great end of winter and start of spring.

The building is not only our office

several proposals from the short list

and flagship but it is the face of our

provided by our convention planner,

organization in D.C. We need to address

Stephanie Tiller, for the location of

these issues to keep the building viable

the 153rd Annual National Grange

to our tenants as well as insuring that it

Convention in November 2019, which

continues to be fully rented. A donation

will be held in the Midwest Region. Room

form is included in this issue of the

rates, accessibility to airports, available

F. Philip Prelli

newsletter on pages 93-94. Please

restaurants in the area and hotel parking

Chairman, National Grange Executive

consider providing copies of the form to

are all part of the evaluation. We hope

Committee

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GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

Fraternally,

MASTER’S CORNER Betsy Huber at sufficient speeds to do business? This is

GOOD DAY! My favorite thing about the Grange is its

why rural broadband is such a high priority for the National Grange. Internet connectivity is

family focus. active

so important for rural areas to improve health

members, as were my parents, and now my

care delivery, educational opportunities, and

children and grandchildren, too. In what other

economic well-being of residents.

My

grandparents

were

very

organization can you work together as multigenerational families to make your community a better place to live, not only for your own family but all current and future residents?

For a family to be connected, we need communication. Our Grange family has not been as connected as we would like for the last few years, due to the expense of printing and postage of an actual publication to reach all our membership. This has been disappointing

Good Day! will offer many interesting and informative articles, not only for Grange members, but for all people. and frustrating to me. We have tried to stay in contact via electronic means, but many of our dedicated Grange members don’t have

And so we are delighted to present the first issue of our brand new National Grange magazine, Good Day!

Our purpose is to

connect the Grange family nationwide, but also to share Grange news and activities with those in our neighborhoods who are not yet Grangers. Good Day! will offer many interesting and informative articles, not only for Grange members, but for all people.

We thank you for taking the leap of faith

Betsy Huber

to subscribe to the new publication and hope you’ll share it with friends, family, Grange Brothers and Sisters and other people in your community who can appreciate all our organization has to offer.

Encourage them

too, to become subscribers and for those who are not yet Grangers, don’t forget to ask them

Huber has been a Grange member since age 5, was active in the Junior Grange, and held many offices in the Community and Pomona Granges, including President.

to join us as we prepare to celebrate our 150th year of service to America’s hometowns.

From 2002-10, Huber served as President – referred to in

Fraternally,

the Grange as Master – of the Pennsylvania State Grange,

computer access. Some choose not to get

the first woman to hold that

involved in the electronic age, but some are

position.

not able to because many rural areas are not yet connected to the internet highway.

Betsy E. Huber

Did you know that 53 percent of rural

Master/President

Americans do not have access to broadband

National Grange

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

Now she serves as the first female Master of the National Grange.

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Phil Prelli (CT), left, and Leroy Watson (NH), left, returned to the National Grange Executive Committee, while Christine Hamp (WA), second to the left, moved from Lady Assistant Steward to Lecturer and Brenda Rousselle (VT), second from right, was elected Lady Assistant Steward.

Results

150th SESSION ELECTION At the 150th Annual National Grange Convention, two offices were slated for election and another two were up after the resignation of the sitting National Lecturer.

F. Philip Prelli of Connecticut and Leroy Watson of New Hampshire were re-elected to two-year terms on the National Grange Executive Board, and in their reorganization meeting held the next morning, Prelli retained his position as chair of the board.

Watson, a former National Grange Legislative Director, is serving in his second term on the Executive Committee.

Prelli is a past Connecticut State Grange Master serving in his fourth term on the National Executive Committee and starting his third year as chair.

Amanda Leigh Brozana, who was elected National Lecturer in 2015 and returned to the National Grange staff in March 2016, said tradition held that staff do not serve as National Officers. She asked that a new Lecturer be elected to “help add to the number of people working on behalf of the Grange at the National level.”

Christine Hamp, who was serving as National Lady Assistant Steward, was elected Lecturer, leaving the other office vacant. It was soon filled by the election of Brenda Rousselle, Master of the Vermont State Grange.

Hamp, of Nine Mile Falls, Wash., is

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a fourth-generation Granger, raised on a dairy farm homesteaded by her greatgrandfather in 1882 in Monroe, Wash. She joined Tualco Junior Grange #341 at 5, then Tualco Grange #284 at 14. She received all seven degrees in just six months.

She currently serves as Secretary at Five Mile Prairie Grange #905, where she is an affiliate member, along with her husband, Duane, the former Washington State Grange Master.

Hamp is the Division Chief of Administrative Services at the Spokane County Fire District 9 and is an EMT and a certified fire investigator.

Hamp unveiled a new mission statement for the Lecturer’s Department just weeks after switching sashes. It says the Lecturer’s department should “provide programming ideas which inspire growth and learning for a lifetime with the mission tagline of ‘Encouraging growth and Learning.’”

She sees these “as integral to the Department’s success in guiding priorities, activities and responsibilities.”

She communicates often through the National Grange Lecturer’s Facebook page and with monthly articles in the National Grange e-newsletter, Patron’s Chain. She has also been in touch with most, if not all, State Lecturers and many Subordinate and Pomona Lecturers to hear their concerns and feedback.

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

Rousselle, of Essex Junction, was asked in 1988 by a friend to join the Grange, and she became a member of Blue Spruce Grange #574 in June of that year. She was quickly elected Secretary and soaking in knowledge about the organization.

Rousselle has been heard to say that joining the Grange was the best decision she ever made. She went on to join Pomona Grange and become active at the state level.

Retired from St. Michael’s College where she worked for 46 years, advancing from typist to Supervisor of Operations for immigration, she has a bit more time to spend on Grange activities and currently serves as Flora of Champlain Valley Pomona #37. She is past State Grange Flora as well as past State Executive Committee member and past State Overseer.

“Of all the offices that it was possible to be elected to in the Grange, I really always wanted to be the Lady Assistant Steward,” Rousselle said. “I like order and marching around a Grange Hall. It fits my idea of everything done according to plan.”

She lives with her two cats, Barney and Sparkey, and in her free time sews, knits, crochets, reads a lot and can sometimes be found making “a wicked white chocolate bread pudding.”

PAST, PRESENT

& Future

In 2011, just after starting as the National Grange Communications Director, I was struggling to get my head and hands around the breadth of the then 145-year old organization. From the deep history of advocacy to the everyday contributions of members, organized together to change the face of their hometowns and the lives of those in their communities for the better, the importance of the Grange for our nation since its founding could not be ignored.

Yet, while I understood the impact of our Order, and as a young woman recently transplanted from the rural countryside to the nation’s capital, I felt the continued relevance on a very personal level, I could see how our leadership struggled – like leaders of other rural and agricultural organizations – to make those around Washington see and feel the same.

Fast forward five years and Washington is definitely stopping to take notice of rural America and those who speak for it – especially those with an unblemished reputation and longevity such as the Grange.

How, though, is this reflection appropriate to fill the space reserved for a welcome letter to this new publication? It is because this publication seeks to reunite the Grange family through information – and that information must flow in many directions.

Members, especially those who have felt the loss of a physical publication as the National Grange shifted to electronic-only communications, often aren’t well-informed about what National Grange is doing to represent them.

This lack of information creates an unnecessary divide and has ripple effects.

It is here that we could talk about National dues remaining stagnant, and as such, gutting the amount and quality of services we can offer for just $14 per member per year, but that is another topic for another day. Today, this Good Day!, we will focus on the positive, less controversial and more important role the publication can have for our organization.

Disconnected members, lacking news from the National Grange, often choose to cut lines of communication from themselves to our D.C. headquarters as well. They fail to tell the

National Grange about their needs, interests or initiatives, and that failure leaves a National officer corps and staff swimming without sight of shore, deepening the divide.

This cycle doesn’t serve us well, doesn’t serve agriculture or rural America well and doesn’t honor the legacy built by and left to us by our founders and generations of Grangers before us.

Without knowing who you are, what you’re doing and what you need to help along the way - be it better broadband in your community or a new roof on your Hall - we are failing you while working harder than ever.

In this issue, we’ve included the first of several surveys we hope you will complete. This one focuses on the benefits your receive (discounts and other tangible items enjoyed because you are a dues paying member). We also ask you to share a copy with other members of your Grange and encourage them to submit their answers as well. In addition, the new Distinguished Grange application requires your Grange to complete a Profile and asks that each member submit a Member Census form. These will help us tell our potential benefit and advocacy partners more about the organization as it is, not as we imagine it to be.

This first step in building the bridge between the “everyday Granger” and the larger national organization – and those who work for you – will net great rewards, and we thank each of you for taking the initial step by believing in this new product and becoming an early subscriber.

As you read through this first edition of Good Day! magazine, I hope you will join with us to change that – and in doing so, greatly improve the services we can offer and make more accurate our advocacy on your behalf. Let’s open the lines of communication so we can better serve you and you can become more engaged with your organization and your Grange family spread across the nation.

Doing this will truly make it a GOOD DAY! Fraternally,

Amanda Leigh Brozana National Grange Communications & Development Director

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

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Historic HALL DESIGNATED

By Karie Blasingame

The 142-year-old Turkey Hill Grange #1370 in Belleville, Ill., received a late Christmas present last year.

On Dec. 27, the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency added the Turkey Hill Grange Hall – a neo-classic revival style building that was built in 1937 – to the National Register of Historic Places.

Grange member Susan Burian, who works in the field of historic preservation, proposed the idea, and wrote the designation report that was successfully received.

“Illinois’ agricultural history, and the Grange’s significance to it, have been largely overlooked,” Burian said. “A few years ago, I was researching the subject and surveying the existing Grange Halls in the state to determine how many might meet the criteria…”

Burian said the process to get a site designated has become very difficult for the everyday person interested in historic preservation because of the amount of research and intricacies of the expectations for designation reports.

“The research was very enjoyable –

MEMORIAL NOTICE WOODROW W. “WOODY” TUCKER High Priest of Demeter (1981-95) Woodrow W. “Woody” Tucker, 91, of Wakefield, and past High Priest of the Assembly of Demeter from 1980-94, passed away unexpectedly January 26.

Born in South Kingstown, a son of the late Percy H. and Annie R. Tucker, Woody joined Perryville Grange #14 in 1939, becoming a Seventh Degree member of the Order in less than two years.

He, and his wife of 67 years, Marjorie, were delegates to the National Grange during his tenure as Rhode Island State Grange Master from 1964-68. At the 100th Annual National Grange Convention in 1967, he was elected National Gatekeeper.

He later served as a member of the National Grange Executive Committee before being elected High Priest of Demeter in 1981, a position he held for 14 years.

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He an attorney and co-owner and president of South County Real Estate Title Insurance Co. for many years before retiring in 1992.

A graduate of South Kingstown High School and Northeastern University School of Law, he was admitted to the bar in 1950 and practiced law for 50 years. In addition to his Grange work, he served South Kingstown in many capacities – the 1st Probate Judge, Town Moderator and Union Fire District Solicitor.

His leadership also went beyond his roles in Grange as he was President of Washington County Bar Association, Pettaquamscut Credit Union, Patrons Fire Insurance Company and Phi Gamma Pi Fraternity. A board member for RI State Grange Credit Union and Farmers and Traders Life Insurance, he also served on the Executive Committee of RI Bar Association.

He was a Paul Harris Fellow of Wakefield Rotary Club.

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

especially finding old photos and records of the Grange, and meeting with Grangers who helped with that,” Burian said.

She led the group that presented the application to the Illinois Historic Sites Advisory Council, which sends its recommendations to the National Park Service (NPS) for final designation, and the Hall was unanimously recommended by the council. Soon after, the National Park Service’s Keeper of the National Register signed off, making the designation official.

To read the entire nomination information, go to tinyurl.com/TurkeyHillGrange.

In 2008, Woody and Marge were honored by the dedication of the State Grange’s research and education center in their honor.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by his son, Keith, of Exeter; four daughters, Pamela L. Sawin and her husband, Craig, of Foxborough, Mass., Kimberly J. Smith and her husband, John, of Chepachet, R.I., Christine D. Tucker and her husband, Brian McDonnell, of Coventry, R.I., and Suzanne E. Tucker of Hope Valley, R.I.; and six grandchildren, Jennifer Witham, Christopher Sawin, Christina and Meghan Smith, Hannah and Sarah McDonnell.

In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association of RI, 245 Waterman St., #306, Providence, RI 02906. Cards may be sent to his family at 1623 Ministerial Road, Peace Dale, RI 02883.

Up

MEMBER NUMBERS

By Kim Stefanick In one of the biggest announcements of the 150th Annual National Grange Convention, National Master Betsy Huber told the audience for her annual address that the Grange is growing and in the 2015-16 membership year, there was a net increase for the organization.

“Today, at the beginning of our sesquicentennial celebration, I am proud to tell you that we have not only continued to thrive in our communities and as a national organization, but in our 2015-16 membership year, we can report a slow rising tide of interest that resulted in a net gain in members,” Huber said.

“We have grown our membership, not

ALASKA

by much, but enough to make up for the members that were called away.”

Acknowledging that the Grange must still take membership recruitment seriously, Huber said the Grange membership is “a membership that on average gets older and fewer every year.”

While the growth was small, Huber said that this growth symbolizes to the Grange community our relevance in today’s society.

“Granges and Grange members are a vital part of the local community…” Huber said. “Today, we may have fewer members, and we may have fewer pieces of legislation we single-handedly shepherd to their final destination, but we are still very much a central force in lives of individuals where our

IN 2016

community Granges exist and in the public sphere.”

“We are still filled with amazing members who are the backbone of our Granges and their associated projects,” Huber said. “Members who are there every time the Grange hall is open.”

In 2017, the National Grange will try a new approach to membership at the director level, creating several regionallevel directors with one lead who will help coordinate messaging, approaches and training.

If you are interested in volunteering as a regional membership director, contact Huber at betsy@nationalgrange.org or call the National Grange Office at (202) 628-3507 ext. 113.

STATE Breifs

State Master Brad Sworts

CONNECTICUT

sworts@mtaonline.net | (907) 746-4900 On Dec. 1, Brad Sworts, of Palmer, became State Master.

State Master Noel Miller

Sworts, formerly Overseer of the State Grange, he replaces

president@ctstategrange.org | (860) 742-8839 At their 132nd Annual State Grange Convention,

John Poirrier as State Master.

In 2001, Sworts and his wife, Lori Restad, joined Northland

delegates elected Jaimie Cameron to the position of

Pioneer Grange #1. Their interest was helped along by Sworts’

Gatekeeper, making her – theoretically – the first woman in

father-in-law, Sig Restad, a Grange member who served as the

line to become Connecticut State Grange Master.

Director of the Division of Agriculture for State of Alaska in the

Many of the New England State Granges have a line of

early 1960s, and previously working as the farm manager for

succession by which a potential State Master will be elected

the University of Alaska Experimental Farm.

to Gatekeeper at least 16 years in advance of their possible

Sworts works in the capital projects department for the

rise to the highest office. Masters and other “line officers”

Mat-Su Borough, managing the pre-design and engineering

are typically held to two, two-year terms in their respective

division.

offices. These are all unwritten traditions.

He said his main priority in the coming year is to coordinate

Jaimie’s father, Jody, was State Master from 2010-14.

with other organizations around the state, including FFA and

Rhode Island who also follows the same tradition, has their

Kiwanis, and continue the good relationship the State Grange

first potential female Master in waiting at Overseer now and

has with Farm Bureau and Farmer’s Union.

all other states that follow the tradition have had or currently have female State Masters.

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

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CALIFORNIA

DELAWARE CONT.

State Master Ed Komski

co-coordinator. “This guaranteed the boxes went directly to

ekomski@castategrange.org | (760) 310-6500

the various Air Services and eliminated a lot of shipping fees.”

In the fall, Mattole Grange #569, in Petrolia, hosted a local

This is the second year for the project, and according to

food festival as it has done for several years. During the event,

Paula Buckley, co-coordinator. They have already announced

attendees learned how to make their own salt and could

continuing the project in 2017.

take part in a seed and plant or bulb exchange, among other activities.

Every dish or drink brought to the All Mattole Food Festival potluck is made only from locally sourced materials, right on down to the salt dried from sea water, all spices and oils. No ingredients can come from outside. None of the foods were commercially sourced because, according to member Michael Evenson, the Mattole Valley is “too small to have any commercial enterprise capable of marketing local valley foods.”

Mattole Grange hopes to install a commercial kitchen in the Hall to help change that, though, Evenson said at this point it is a dream many dollars short of realization.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Potomac Grange #1 Master Joan Smith jcsmith3631@gmail.com | (202) 758-0836 Three members of Potomac Grange, and National Grange Intern Kim Stefanick, whose 10-week stipend funding was provided by Potomac Grange, have enrolled in and begun attending a seven-week long beginning beekeeping course at the University of the District of Columbia Extension Services.

Master Joan Smith, Treasurer Amanda Leigh Brozana and member Allison Archambault, along with Stefanick, will soon be certified as beginning beekeepers and serve as the team of who will monitor and care for the apiary that will be placed on

COLORADO

the roof of the National Grange Headquarters – and meeting

State Master Cindy Greer

Hall for Potomac Grange – in spring. Expereienced D.C.

hcrdgreer@frontier.net | (970) 588-3386

beekeepers will assist the four to ensure the health and safety

Darden Pomona #1 presented Junior Grange 1+ member Kaleb Burnett, 12, of Arvada, with the National Merit Achievement Award, during their Christmas Party.

of the bees.

It is expected the hive will produce an above average amount of honey based on numbers from the hive at the White

The Pomona Grange presented Burrnett with the award in

House garden just a block away.

recognition of his dignified representation of Colorado at the 150th Annual National Grange Convention in Washington, D.C. Burnett performed of “No one tells the President what to Do,” which was well received at the Junior Grange Breakfast on Saturday, Nov. 19.

FLORIDA State Master Barbara Borderieux bborderieux@tampabay.rr.com | (941) 729-8036 The State Grange is preparing for two meetings in February – one to reorganize the Zephyrhills Grange #194, located about

DELAWARE

30 miles northeast of Tampa, and an informational meeting in Wauchula, about 70 miles southeast of Tampa.

State Master Michael Lynch

State Master Barbara Borderieux has been closely working

mklhpl89@aol.com | (302) 731-4260 The Delaware State Grange collected items for U.S. Servicemen and women at their annual convention, held the

with individuals in both communities to reignite and start anew their interest in the Grange.

first weekend of December 2016. Members donated enough

The biggest challenge, she said, is finding a good balance

items to fill eight boxes with books, personal toiletry items,

between the “Snow Birds” who may already be members in

writing tablets, pens, pencils, packaged foods and many other

a Grange in another state or have interest in their temporary

comfort products.

home but not be able to commit to a full year of work for the

“We were fortunate to learn that the boxes could be taken directly to the Dover Air Force Base USO, and loaded right on one of the large cargo planes,” said Becky Correll, project

community and residents who live and work in the communities year round that may have never heard of the Grange.

If you know anyone nearby one of these towns, please put them in contact with Barbara.

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GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

IDAHO

INDIANA CONT.

State Master Harold Eshelman

new toys in a Toys for Tots drive as well as canned goods for

alaskawoundvet@gmail.com | (208) 377-4771

Scrappers Rescue, an outreach organization in Elkhart that runs

Mica Flats Grange #436 welcomed in 2017 with a New Year’s Eve dance.

a thrift store to raise money for several causes.

Children were fingerprinted by the Elkhart Sheriff’s

The Grange, located in Kootenai County in North Idaho, has

Department as part of a public safety program.

been holding square dances in their Hall since 1899. Like other dance nights, it was “amateur night,” and fresh faces showed up for the occasion.

Callers walked the couples through the patterns, making sure that each square had some idea of what to do when the music started. The band included an organist, a pianist, drummer, and as many fiddlers as they could get.

Some

members of the live band have played for the dances for many, many years.

As in the old tradition, a break for “finger food snacks” was taken midway through. Interspersed between square dances were schottisches, polkas, two-steps, waltzes, round dances, bunny hops and the “Varsouvienne.”

IOWA State Master Dwight Baldwin kbaldwin@gmrc.com | (641) 526-3420 Doug Baldwin, an active duty serviceman with the Iowa Air National Guard, was one of four Grange members that assisted in laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown at Arlington Cemetery during the 150th Annual National Grange Convention.

Baldwin, the son of Kathy and Dwight, National Treasurer and State Master, is a member of Amboy Grange #2102, serves as the Flight Services Specialist/Command Post Controller and is a Jasper County Reserve Deputy Sherriff.

ILLINOIS State Master Lynette Schaeffer

KANSAS

schaeffr@att.net | (618) 537-4237 Members of Beaver Valley Grange #1791 may have looked a little out of place arriving to their December meeting dressed in early 20th century attire.

State Master Roger Bostwick rogerbostwick@hotmail.com | (785) 633-9950 Long-time Gardiner Grange member and past National

The costuming, however, had a purpose as the Grange in Boone County celebrated their 100th anniversary.

President of the American Agri-Women organization, Jeanne Mertz, passed away in mid-January. Mertz, and her husband

They held the formal business meeting with members

Harold, who passed away in late 2016, lived on a fourth-

portraying the founding members of Beaver Valley Grange,

generation farm in Manhattan, Kan., called River Creek Farms,

using notes from the original meeting minutes and their own

which is now run by their sons, Joe and Bob Mertz, and their

words.

families.

State Grange President Lynette Schaeffer was on hand to

Jeanne Mertz literally changed the face of the Kansas

congratulate the Grange and handout membership awards to

roadways in the 1970s when she came up with and

those gathered.

implemented posting signs all over the state advocating for agriculture. Original signs read, “One Kansas Farmer feeds 55 people and You.” The first billboard was placed in 1978, and while the organization has altered the signs on occasion to

INDIANA

stay accurate, the education these signs provide is the same.

State Master John Plank

Today, the signs read, “One Kansas Farmer feeds more than

johnpplank@gmail.com| (765) 563-6735

155 people plus you.”

The community was invited to attend Breakfast with Santa

She was the recipient of the 2015 Kansas State Grange

in December at Fairview Grange #2177, in Goshen, where the

Distinguished Service to Agriculture Award.

jolly old elf greeted children from his red sleigh fashioned from

active in the Kansas Cooperative Extension Service and with

a Goshen Fire Department truck.

commodity group organizations.

She was also

Those who attended the event were encouraged to bring

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

13

MICHIGAN

MAINE State Master Rick Grotton ricti@aol.com | (207) 582-5915 We know the Grange is one of the greatest educators for civic engagement and citizenship, but from Westbrook, a small city of about 18,000 located less than 10 miles west of Portland, we have another example.

In early December, members of Highland Lake Grange #87 watched as fellow Patron and Grange officer Mike Sanphy was sworn in as mayor.

Sanphy, who served in the city’s police and fire departments, is also involved in several other community groups.

State Master Christopher Johnston msgprez19@yahoo.com | (989) 634-9350 For Burns Grange #160, dessert doesn’t end when the food is gone; it ends when you are all danced out.

The Grange, in Bancroft, hosts a near-monthly Friday night dinner and show for all ages with dancing to follow, filling their large Hall.

In January, Burns Grange held the Jamboree and Dinner, serving salads, casseroles, and desserts. The event was to help raise money for local third graders to receive dictionaries through the Words for Thirds Program, for which Burns Grange was lauded in 2013 after they handed out their 10,000th book.

NEVADA

MARYLAND

Deputy: Rick Gobel

State Master Allen Stiles

rick@gobelranch.com | (530) 218-9057

springvalleyjerz@hotmail.com | (443) 789-9934 New Deal Grange #447, in Greenbelt, about 10 miles east of Washington, D.C., organized an evening of caroling in the city on December 22. A couple from Spain, a Muslim grandmother and grandson and several others who have not yet joined the new Grange were in attendance, singing traditional carols, standard Christmas songs, children’s favorites and even a few Hanukkah songs to lift the spirits of their neighbors.

They capped the evening by performing on stage during an open mic night at the town center gathering place, a coop restaurant and lounge called the New Deal Café.

High Desert Grange #22 took the opportunity to engage with their community during the annual fireworks and bonfire to usher out 2016 and welcome 2017.

During the event, the Grange revealed winners from their raffle, which had a top prize of a custom built shed, which had been on display at their local fairgrounds. Other prizes included truck animal carrier, meat gift certificate, a free massage, museum passes and a gift certificate for children’s books.

Much of the Grange’s activities center around supporting members who are participants in the Grange Youth Fair Program and other youth-centric activities such as public speaking training for children through the local Toastmasters.

MASSACHUSETTS NEBRASKA

State Master George Thomas gthomas52@comcast.net | (781) 828-0669

State Master Kevin Cooksley

Three Granges came together in the far northeast

kscooksley@gmail.com | (308) 872-2659

corner of the state to host a dinner for caravan members

and veterans taking part in Wreaths Across America.

Susan Whitfield and Edgar Hicks are part of the nonprofit No More

The project seeks to honor and teach others about

Carver Grange of Omaha #638 members Nancy Williams,

Empty Pots based in Omaha that recently received a $2 million grant

sacrifice of service by laying wreaths on the graves of

to build a certified kitchen and rooftop garden.

veterans at more than 1,100 cemeteries across the

nation.

continued to form a deeper working friendship because of their

Rowley Grange #204 has coordinated the meal for

The three connected because of Grange membership and

interest in food security and economic resiliency issues.

these volunteers who stay for an evening at the Topsfield

Fairgrounds for the past five years, and welcomed the

to find ways Grange members may become more connected with No

support from Beverly Grange #306 and Laurel Grange

More Empty Pots’ mission and fulfill some of their own interests that may

#161 to serve spaghetti and meatballs to more than 250

have led them to the Grange. Among the programs that have potential

people in December. This was the largest group to date,

for cross-collaboration are assisting with cooking classes, food education

according to organizers.

and farm tours that No More Empty Pots has already been organizing.

14

The leaders are working with other members of Carver Grange

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

NEW HAMPSHIRE

the written parli-pro test. Horton also took home best costume for

State Master Chris Heath

and second place in the Outstanding Young Patron Program.

his Abraham Lincoln look at the Youth Party on Thursday evening

cheath@nhgrange.org | (603) 988-9703 Downtown Tilton was a little warmer than usual earlier this winter.

Members of Harmony Grange #99 placed about five dozen hats and scarves on trees along Main Street as part of a Scarf Tree Campaign.

For the second year, items were tagged with a small note encouraging those in need to take the items free, courtesy of the Grange and other donors.

The project, introduced by member Priscilla Bodwell, is in its second year with collections beginning in fall. The campaign raised awareness and encouraged others to donate. Additional hats were donated to the cause after the Grange put out the initial supply.

Thomas served for 10 days before and during the convention as a TracFone Communications Fellow.

Taft of Onondaga County made it to the second round of Grange Jeopardy and several other New York Youth and Young Adults performed as part the Patrons of Harmony band at the Evening of Excellence.

NORTH CAROLINA State Master Jimmy Gentry jwgentry@ncgrange.com | (704) 878-0000 Sometimes other people’s trash can become a treasure for your community. So is the case in the Cherokee County seat, the town of Murphy with a population of about 1,600.

While the Master Gardeners of the area may not have

NEW JERSEY

considered their old raised beds actual trash, the beds had gone unused for quite some time, which did not go unnoticed by a

State Master John Benedik

few creative members of Ranger Grange #1160.

johnbenedik@hotmail.com | (908) 806-2794 Meyersville Grange #188, about 30 miles east of New York City in Long Hill Township, is holding three Soup and Pasta Contests in 2017 – in January, February and March – as a way to shake off the winter blues.

January’s event, that included a performance by the Long Hill String Band, had 15 entries.

Brianne Orsepowski’s smoky split pea soup took first place, beating out Marianne Nucci’s chicken pot pie and Bill

The four raised beds were dismantled, transported and rebuilt on the property of the Ranger Elementary/Middle School and will be used to help students learn to plant and grow food.

Master Kathy Forrister worked with Ranger Schools principal and Grange member Kelley McDonald to plan for the installation of the beds and garnered a grant to assist with the project.

Teachers at the school have begun adding lessons that will allow students to use the beds as part of their curriculum.

Bianco’s spaghetti carbonara, which took second and third respectively.

Entrants participated free and the community was invited to attend, with some of the proceeds from the $8 entry fee for adults and $4 for children under 12 going to local organizations.

NEW YORK State Master Steve Coye steve@nysgrange.org | (607) 756-7553 Several youth members made the State Grange proud at the 150th Annual National Grange Convention in November by bringing home numerous awards and recognitions.

Ryan Orton of Dutchess County was announced “Best Chair” for the Parliamentary Procedure Contest and the state’s parli-pro team – consisting of Orton, Matthew Horton, Shannon Ruso, Teresa Thomas and Stephen Fazio – took second place overall.

Horton tied with 2015-16 National Grange Youth Ambassador Brodi Olds, of North Carolina, for highest score on

Bow

TAKE A

: Williamsport Grange #1815, OH

In early January, Williamsport Grange #1815, Ohio, loaded more than 12,000 cleaned pill bottles into the back of Kevin Evans’ truck and delivered them to Matthew 25: Ministries in Blue Ash, Ohio.

The bottles will be used by clinics in under-developed countries to distribute medicine for those in need. Other Granges around the nation have also participated in the program.

Large and small, prescription and over-the-counter, child-proof and non-secure bottles are all accepted but donors must adhere to standards for cleaning the bottles and removing all remnants of labels, among other guidelines. To learn more, visit the organization’s website at m25m. org/pillbottles. Bottles may be mailed to Matthew25: Ministries, 11060 Kenwood Road, Cincinnati, OH 45242.

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

15

OHIO

OREGON

State Master Bob White

State Master Susan Noah

farmerbob@dbscorp.net | (937) 354-3243

master@orgrange.org | (503) 316-0106

In November, a 65-year Deering Grange #2664

member

was

named

the

state’s

Homemaker of the Year.

The Lawrence County Homemakers gave the award to Helen Marie Webb, 90, who passed away Nov. 30.

In December, members of Springwater Grange #263 in Clackamas County, joined by Clackamas Pomona Grange #1 Youth, delivered hats, gloves, scarves and socks they had collected during their December events to the Estacada Area Food Bank.

A total of 98 hats, 45 scarves, 24 pairs of gloves and mittens and 41 pairs of socks, were donated earlier in the year as part of “Keeping the West Warm,”

The name of the award may fool some,

a project of the Grange Youth and Young Adults in the Western Region. Some

but Webb was not a stay-at-home wife. She

of the products were put together with personal care items like a toothbrush,

initially worked for 20 years in a clerical position

toothpaste, comb, ChapStick, Kleenex and more, as well as candy, to be given

at the Carlyle Tile Company, then attended

to homeless youth during the winter through the Janus Youth Services/Impact

Ohio University and Marshall University where

in Portland.

she received a teaching degrees. She worked as a special education teacher at the local elementary school until 1988 when she retired.

The recipient of the Community Citizen of the Year Award in 1994, and celebrated poet, crafter, gardener and canner, Webb participated for more than 70 years in the Lawrence County Fair.

County Homemakers spokeswoman Anne Dobbins said Webb, a member of the Ensee chapter of the Homemakers association was very proud and showed off the framed award to

PENNSYLVANIA State Master Elizabeth Downey edowney11@verizon.net | (717) 737-8855 Getting in the spirit is sometimes hard for those in assisted living and nursing home communities, but not for residents at Berks Leisure Assisted Living in Bern Township, thanks to Ontelaunee Grange #1617.

Members of the Grange provided the residents with fruit baskets, cookies, Christmas cards and provided a program and sang songs to those who live at the facility.

many before her passing.

RHODE ISLAND OKLAHOMA State Master Billy Shufeldt bshufeldt.okgrange@gmail.com | (918) 8420242 For several years, this state has been blossoming with new Grange members.

Master Billy Shufeldt announced at the state’s 100th Annual Convention in October a net growth of 584 members.

State Master Larry Spencer gto65@cox.net | (401) 206-6866 Nearly 400 people in need around Providence will start out the New Year with coats to keep them warm this winter thanks to the efforts of Exeter Grange #12.

Led by Howard and Carole Paster, who conducted a coat drive at a local church, the Grange delivered the car- and truckloads of jackets to the Camp Street Ministries headquarters in early January.

In November, the Pasters also delivered 81 pairs of shoes collected by Grange members in the state to the new sock and lightly used shoe drive at the 150th Annual National Grange Convention.

To celebrate both the centennial anniversary and the remarkable increase in membership, Texas State Grange Master Jack Smithers and his wife, Margaret; Kansas State Grange Master and Priest Archon of Demeter Roger Bostwick, his wife, Melanie, and daughter, Mandy, Kansas State Ceres; and then-National Grange Membership/Leadership Development Director Joe Stefenoni were all in attendance.

16

TEXAS State Master Jack Smithers tsg.jacksmithers@yahoo.com | (210) 635-8915 Poteet Grange #1576 recently donated $1,000 to the Poteet Strawberry Festival Association for the purchase of farm equipment that will provide local farmers the ability to plant and harvest strawberries with fewer hours of labor.

“The annual Poteet Strawberry Festival produces enough income for the non-profit organizations to award most of the scholarships for our students,

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

TEXAS CONT.

VIRGINIA

as well as support our police, fire, library and other such entities in our community,” Poteet Grange Master Connie Waxler said. “Increased and improved production assists our local berry farmers, the critical component in these endeavors.”

The Grange, along with other local organizations in the tiny city of Poteet, bought this equipment to share among all the strawberry growers in the area with hopes of encouraging new farmers to begin growing strawberry crops.

The Strawberry Festival Association will rent a tractor and driver as farmers take turns using the equipment to

State Master James Taylor vagranger@aol.com | (804) 790-9002 Goodwill Grange #959, in Troutdale, recently held two concealed weapons training classes at their Hall, meeting a need they saw in their rural community, Alan Graham, who is employed by the Grayson County Sheriff’s Department, taught the three-hour class, which cost $30, organizers said.

Graham taught about 20 students basics of gun safety, handling a gun and how to load and unload a gun properly among other things.

WASHINGTON

plant their crops.

State Master Tom Gwin tagwin@wa-grange.org | (360) 943-9911

VERMONT

More than 100 people took part in the Northwest Ice Fishing

State Master Brenda Rousselle

Festival Derby on January 14 hosted by Molson Grange #1069.

brousselle@myfairpoint.net | (802) 878-5877

The Grange, located in Oroville, about seven miles away from Sidley

The state played host to the annual Northeast Leader’s Conference in Rutland from Jan. 27-29. National Master

Lake where the derby took place, held a pancake breakfast before the event and their Hall was the site of a craft fair for the day.

Huber and Junior Director Samantha Wilkins were in

Pete Valentine of Oroville, caught the maximum lake limit of two

attendance and provided information to those gathered

fish in the day, a rainbow trout weighing in at 5 pounds, 8 ouces, and

about new programs, contests, leadership tips and more.

a brook trout of 9.9 ounces, the biggest total catch of the day, netting

Program directors from each of the New England + New

him the grand prize of $1,000.

York states discussed new activities that could be instituted to engage members, and the Northeast Connection

WEST VIRGINIA

committee met to continue planning for the 2018 National

State Master James Foster

Grange Convention that will be held in Stowe, Vt. A basket raffle to benefit the Dodge House in Rutland,

jefoster63@gmail.com | (304) 349-4985 The recently reorganized Silverton Junior Grange #4 has been busy

an organization that helps veterans re-integrate into their

under the direction of Junior Matron Barbara Green

community, was also held.

Their first service project done by the Juniors helped children affected

HOW TO BE FEATURED

by flooding in the southeast part of the state. The Juniors created tied

Don’t forget to submit your news for potential inclusion in our State Briefs. Share with others what you’re doing and get ideas for new projects, fundraisers and outreach! Email your information to communications@nationalgrange.org.

fleece blankets and collected books to give to the young victims.

In the past few months, the children – most of who live around the small city of Ravenswood that borders the Ohio River – have created Valentine’s cards for veterans and caroled around the area, including at the houses of a few Silverton Grange #506 members who are no longer able to attending meetings. They also gave to each of these members a gift basket.

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17

GRANGER WINS TEACHER OF THE YEAR

By Pete Pompper

Wash. Police Officer, N.J. EMT take home other awards

In 2016, the competition for National Grange Teacher, Firefighter/EMT and Law Enforcement Officer of the Year was tight as more nominations than ever before were submitted from all around the nation.

Some may remember, this program was started several years ago by Dick Patton, a Grange member from Concord Grange #322 in New Hampshire, when he served as the National Grange Community Service Director.

Each of the winners this year each impacted their communities in various ways and were well deserving of the awards.

While nominees do not have to be Grange members, it was exciting to

announce a very active Kansas Grange member as the recipient of the 2016 National Grange Teacher of the Year award. Jean Schif, nominated by her home Grange, Bayneville #1810, was given extraordinary praise by all who provided commentary for her nomination.

The 2016 National Grange Firefighter/ EMT of the Year was Robert English, nominated by Meyersville Grange #188 in New Jersey. English has been a volunteer EMT for nearly two decades and has received accolades from several other organizations, individuals and his own unit.

The 2016 National Grange Law Enforcement Officer of the Year was

Making Great Congratulations to the following Granges named 2016 Community Service Award Winners at the 150th Annual National Grange Convention.

1st place

Monroe Grange #2570 (OH)

2nd place

Clear Lake Grange #692 (MN)

3rd place

Williams Valley #452 (WA)

Honorable Mentions

Chester Royal Grange #2181 (IO) Maple Grove Grange #148 (ME)

18

Castle Rock Police Department Sgt. Scott Neves, nominated by Sunnyside Grange #129, in Washington. Neves has been lauded several times for his outstanding work on a number of very emotional and tough cases. He is also active in the community, involved with Boy Scouts, the local high school’s anti-drinking and driving programs and more If your State Grange does not have an “Of the Year” program, we encourage you to start one. Additionally, we encourage all State Granges that already have such contests to forward their winners to National Grange so they may be part of the 2017 judging.

SERVICE BOOKS

By Pete Pompper

The common theme of community service books submitted to be judged at the 150th Annual Convention was the many ways each Grange worked to improve the community.

Helping physically and monetarily put a new roof on a home, donating dictionaries, supporting teens with scholarships to defray college expenses, hosting fundraising dinners for various causes ranging from personal to larger community needs – these are just a few of the projects Granges reported taking part in.

Judges saw the variety of service Granges do for their neighbors – and the vast differences between Granges themselves – and were impressed, as always, in the great impact often small groups can have on so many.

For example, one of the top five Granges in the 2016 competition does not own a Hall, instead using common community space for their meetings and much of their outreach. It shows that a Grange does not need to have their own space, or even a large treasury, to do amazing community service work and have a winning book.

They are a small Grange but have tremendous community support - another aspect the judges noted as impressive from all the books submitted by State Granges.

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As an example, one of the Granges who entered raised $5,000 from a pie sale, which they then used for their various projects to improve their community. They are located in a small rural area, but the community realizes the Grange does a lot for their neighbors throughout the year and stands by the group.

Finally, size of membership really does not matter in the way most think to present a winning community service book. Some of the smallest Granges sending books had some of the longest lists of things they had been a part of or organized and run completely to benefit their communities. Whether Granges had a large membership or small one the amount of service each of the Granges whose books were judged were doing was outstanding.

Suggestions and comments from the judges on how to put together great Community Service book have been sent to each State Grange Community Service Director and State Master. These were established to make it easier for a Grange when putting books together for competition at their State and if chosen, the National level, it lists what should be included and what is or isn’t important.

If you would like a copy of these suggestions, email mbeachgranger@gmail.com.

Honoring

L egacy

THE BUILDERS OF OUR

GRANGE ANNIVERSARIES

LONG-TIME MEMBERS

125 YEAR GRANGES • • • •

90 YEARS OF CONTINUOUS MEMBERSHIP

Berks County Pomona Grange #43, PA Excelsior Pomona Grange #7, CT Huron Grange #1385, OH Pleasant Hill Grange #101, WA

•

85 YEARS OF CONTINUOUS MEMBERSHIP

100 YEAR GRANGES • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Elizabeth Wade, Union Vale Grange #887, NY

Burbank Grange #630, WA Elmer Grange #29, NJ Fairview Grange #619, WA Greene Grange #1413, NY Hemlock Grange # 2049, OH Hillcrest Grange #1674, PA Leesville Grange #2078, OH Otselic Valley #1398, NY Schnecksville Grange #1684, PA Selah Heights Grange # 608, WA Sherburne Grange #1400, NY Skagit Valley Grange #620, WA Smithville Valley Grange #1397, NY Stovertown Grange #2076, OH Tyler Grange #610, WA

•

Leona Ashton, Dartmouth Grange #162, CT

•

Lister Endsley, Keene Hill Grange #1602, OH

•

Ruth Otterman, South Buffalo Grange #1908, PA

80 YEARS OF CONTINUOUS MEMBERSHIP

MEMORIAL NOTICE ROBERT “BOB” SMITH

• • • • • • • • • • • • •

Ellsworth M. Beecher, Winchester Grange #74, CT Dorothy Beals, Beach City Grange #2442, OH Donald Breece, Monroe-Dan Emmett Grange #847, PA Dororthy E. Burdick, Stanford Grange #808, NY Sarah Caldwell, Hemlock Grange #2049, OH Martha Dudley, Sauvie Island Grange #840, OR Donald W. Fox, Westfield Grange #1514, PA Philip Hurlbut, Winchester Grange #74, CT Homer Otterman, South Buffalo Grange #1908, PA Elizabeth Robinson, Sherburne Grange #140, NY Alice I. Stremmler, Hemlock Grange #182, CT Geraldine Strong, Vernon Grange #52, CT Dorothy S. Zug, Goshen Grange #121, PA

75 YEARS OF CONTINUOUS MEMBERSHIP

1931 - 2016

Past Nebraska State Grange Master (1980-88) Robert, of Broken Bow, Neb., passed away Dec. 28.

Born Nov. 12, 1931, in Elwood, Neb., he served in the U.S. Army before returning to Custer County to ranch with his father.

He is survived by his wife Margaret; three sons, Russell, Will, and the Rev. Randall; and a daughter, Alice Drake and other family. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by a son, Robert, and a sister, Norma Elaine Hinson.

Cards and condolences may be sent to Margaret Smith, 78625 Sumner Rd., Broken Bow, NE 68822.

• • • • • • • • • • • •

Helen Carroll, Rose Valley Grange #953, WA Elizabeth L. Chubb, Cuba Grange #799, NY R. Paul Cocking, North and South Palouse, #1004 WA Lila Draper, Spring Hill Grange #909, WA John Giaconia, Lyme Grange #147, CT Carlos Hancher, Neelyville Grange #299, OH Edwin Huckins, Harmony Grange, NH Lucille Keane, Stemilt Hill Grange #1095, WA Billy Loiselle, South Fork Grange #220, WA Richard E. McReynolds, Spring Hill Grange #909, WA Francis Sampson, Waterford Grange #231, OH Sarah White, Neelyville Grange #299, OH

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19

MEMBER RECOGNITION

50 YEARS OF CONTINUOUS MEMBERSHIP CONNECTICUT • Roger Davis, Lyme Grange #147 • Warren Narducci, Jr, Lyme Grange #147 • Paula Joan Toomey, Colchester Grange #78

PENNSYLVANIA • Nancy Caldarola, Fleetwood Grange #1839 • Karen L. Crawford, South Buffalo Grange #1908 • Leona Heffner, Fleetwood Grange #1839 • Everett Nicklow, Wills Grange #1690 • Mary Nicklow, Wills Grange #1690 • Nancy J. Semmel, Schnecksville Grange #1684 • Henry C. Shankweiler, Schnecksville Grange #1684 • Joyce E. Shankweiler, Schnecksville Grange #1684 • Donna Shedden, Windfall Grange #257 • Patricia L. Stewart, Schnecksville Grange #1684

DELAWARE • Carolyn Thomas, Cannon Grange #65 • John Thomas, Fruitland Grange #16 ILLINOIS • Wayne Bossler, Enterprise #1929 • Beulah McLarty, Guilford Hope Grange #6 MASSACHUSETTS • Maureen O’Mara, Williamstown Grange #366 MAINE • Madeline Boynton, Willow Grange #366 NORTH CAROLINA • Janice Langston, Westbrook Grange #1016 • Jean Lee, Westbrook Grange #1016 NEW HAMPSHIRE • Mary Bordeaux, Rochester Grange #86 • Beverly Woods-Wilson, Pine Grove Grange #298 NEW YORK • Susan Gibbs, Hamptonburgh Grange #950 • Alice J. Hunt, Cuba Grange #799 • Lois Kesby, Ellery Grange #353 • Edward Martin, Jr., Otisville Grange #1020 • Beverly Martin, Otisville Grange #1020 • Robert D. Perkins, Almond Grange #1102 • Frank Stanton, Ravena Grange #1457 • Arby R. Swift, Cuba Grange #799 OHIO • Jerry Dee Damron, Limerick Grange #1917 • Arden Fitch, Olivesburg Grange #2641 • Marshall Fitch, Olivesburg Grange #2641 • Lonnie Gano, Blue Ridge Grange #1448 • Lorna Gump, Miami Grange #2158 • Maurice Hammond, Neelyville Grange #299 • Karen Landaker, Waterford Grange #231 • Renata Miller, Wayne Grange #262 • Thomas Moore, Neelyville Grange #299 • John Shroyer, Blue Ridge Grange #1448 • Alvera Spare, Neelyville Grange #299 • Walter Spare, Neelyville Grange #299 • Marlene Tornes, Waterford Grange #231 OREGON • June Carlson, Walterville Grange #416 • Lyndell Cane, Walterville Grange #416 • Pat Cane, Walterville Grange #416 • Dean A. Cullison, Beavercreek Grange #276 • Rena Gowing, Walterville Grange #416 • Richard Keller, Goldson Grange #868 • Robert Kovack, Walterville Grange #416 • Leon Price, Boulevard Grange #389 • Masie (Jean) Price, Boulevard Grange #389 • Beverly Raudebaugh, Goldson Grange #868 • Jack Rule, Boulevard Grange #389 • Karen Rule, Boulevard Grange #389 • • •

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WASHINGTON • Donald Almy, Laurel Grange #208 • Gary W. Beil, Squim Prairie Grange # 1108 • Ronald W. Beil, Squim Prairie Grange # 1108 • Doris Brown, Laurel Grange #208 • David A. Bryant, Elk Plain Grange #782 • Elizabeth A. Burson, Stemilt Hill Grange #1095 • Chris Clowe, Mossyrock Grange #355 • John D. Condon, Washington Grange #82 • Robert A. Corra, Issaquah Valley Grange #581 • Richard Crandall, Laurel Grange #208 • Rosemary Crandall, Laurel Grange #208 • Karl Dehm, South Union Grange #860 • Judy Durrah, Grays River Grange #124 • Beverly Fitzhugh, Mossyrock Grange #355 • Donna Fredricks, Waller Road Grange #1111 • Kaye Haggith, Laurel Grange #208 • Jacquelyn Henderson, North and South Palouse Grange #1004 • Joe Henderson, North and South Palouse Grange #1004 • Edward Hinnenkamp, North and South Palouse Grange #1004 • Harold Jones, Laurel Grange #208 • Phyllis Kriese, Waller Road Grange #1111 • Arthur R. Linden, Squim Prairie Grange # 1108 • Danny Looker, Waller Road Grange #1111 • Craig Lundberg, South Folk Grange #220 • Nat Luppino, Waller Road Grange #1111 • Sally Luppino, Waller Road Grange #1111 • Terry Luppino, Waller Road Grange #1111 • Duane Miller, St. Andrews Grange # 832 • Evelyn Maricle, Laurel Grange #208 • Elizabeth Molt, Rose Valley Grange #953 • Jim Myers, Mossyrock Grange #355 • Kay Odegaard, Fords Prairie Grange #33 • Sharyn Olander, Samish Valley Grange #926 • G. Lee Pendergrass, Fruitland Grange #999 • Robert Ritchie, Laurel Grange #208 • Art Ries, Selah Heights Grange #608 • Debra Robey, Waller Road Grange #1111 • Jeri Rotter, Issaquah, Valley Grange #581 • Donna Smith, South Union Grange #860 • Robert Dale Smith, South Union Grange #860 • Marilyn Stephens, Waller Road Grange #1111 • Donald E. Stockton, Laurel Grange #208 • Gregg S. Stone, Squim Prairie Grange # 1108 • Dan Sundstrom, San Juan Island Grange #966 • Jon E. Sundstrom, San Juan Island Grange #966 • Larry Tannerberg, St. Andrews Grange # 832 • Robert O. Turner, Slamon Creek Grange #849

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

Are you Listening?

www.grangeradio.org

24/7 WEB STATION RETURNS

In November, just before the National Convention, Grange Radio, a 24-hour web radio station re-launched with new voices and music.

Since its relaunch, a greater diversity of music and programming has been added and Connecticut Grange member Robert Charbonneau has lent his considerable talent and humor by producing a one-hour show that runs three nights a week, allowing anyone a time to tune in for a good laugh.

The first airings are Thursdays at 8 p.m. with re-runs on Saturdays at 9 p.m. and Tuesdays at 10 p.m. All times are Eastern.

Found online at www.grangeradio.org, the station gives Grangers a place where they can go to listen to family-friendly music while staying up to date on the latest Grange news and events.

Just like this magazine, the goal of the station is not only serve the Grange community, but to be used as a way to reach potential members and diversify the Grange’s audience, National Grange Communications and Development Director Amanda Leigh Brozana said.

Brozana, who has been tasked with heading the project said, “It’s important for us to make sure we are communicating with folks outside our membership. We cannot expect to draw in new members unless they know we are lively and fun. We hope Grange Radio becomes a touchpoint in their lives.”

National Master Betsy Huber said the station is a great way to connect with others in the Order, knowing together you are listening from miles or states away while at work or home.

“We’ve tried to find ways to make Grange an experience people can have all day long, not just during meetings or events,” Huber said. “It’s important because it gives our Grange family one more shared experience to deepen our bonds and enhance the member experience.”

Brozana said previously the station had listeners in the U.S. military serving abroad who tuned in just to feel a connection to home. She encourages

everyone to share the link and excitement with servicemen and women.

“We are also working to do short ‘call outs’ where we allow listeners to record a greeting, similar to those you hear on TV stations during the holidays, where they can say hello to their loved ones near and far,” Brozana said. “We’re holding off on a few developments, though, until we have some more volunteers in place.”

VOLUNTEERS SOUGHT Neither the Grange Foundation nor the station have any official staff, so Grange Radio currently falls under the direction of the National Grange Communications Department.

As with many Grange projects at all levels, the station requires volunteers to step forward to enhance the product.

“We’re very basic right now,” Brozana said. “We provide 24-hours of music a day, mostly country and oldies/classic rock, as well as some public service announcements from the Ad Council, but we couls do so much more with extra hands. There are a lot of great plans we just can’t put into action yet.”

Brozana said Charbonneau is a great example of volunteer serving as an invaluable asset.

“Bob does a weekly show for a local terrestrial radio station, and he approached me about how he could help Grange Radio, offering to do a humorous show to entertain listeners with something they wouldn’t find

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

on any other station,” Brozana said. “It’s members like that, with hidden talents, who will really make the station come alive. You don’t have to be tech-savvy or have years of experience. If you’re willing to pick up your cell phone and record member stories or promote the station in and outside the Grange, or find potential sponsors, it’s all equally important at this phase of the game and we need you.”

An internship fund has been established, and donors are currently sought, to help attract skilled individuals who wish to do hands-on learning with the station and other aspects of Grange communications.

Brozana said the National Grange has, for several years at National sessions, trained Communication Fellows from across the country. This year’s class of 18 got first-hand experience working on the production side of the station.

“We have been working with these members - many of whom were already or are becoming leaders in their State Granges - so they are prepared to be the public face of the Grange, ensure the Grange in their area and state is doing highquality, professional media outreach and producing our own pieces that can be used in print, online and now on our station,” Brozana said. “This summer, you will likely see many of these members gathering member testimonials that can be used on the station.”

21

SPONSORING THE STATION Established as a project of the Grange Foundation, the station is taking donations through the Foundation’s website or the donation form on pages 94-95 of this magazine.

In addition, since the station is set up similar to an NPR affiliate, Grange Radio is not selling commercials but instead seeking sponsorships through underwriting.

Businesses, organizations or individuals who underwrite the station will be credited on-air with a phrase, “Support for Grange Radio comes from the generous benefactors to the Grange Foundation and (name of sponsor here).” Also, donations may be tax deductible.

Additionally, sponsors at specific levels may have further information included about their business, organization, interest or other issues after the sponsorship statement.

ADD YOUR VOICE You can add your voice to Grange Radio by recording a short “bumper” or becoming a contributor.

To learn more, go to the website. If music doesn’t begin shortly after you get to the site, some browsers require you to push the play button found in the bottom left of the page.

Changes TO REQUIREMENTS ANNOUNCED

By Kim Stefanick The requirements for application to become a Distinguished Grange have been given a facelift this year, with changes to both the local and state level.

“When the program began in 2009, the vision was to gradually and incrementally improve and increase the requirements so that the Granges receiving this award the first year were striving to do bigger and better each year following,” National Grange Communications and Development Director Amanda Leigh Brozana said. “For several years, many of the requirements did not change, so this year the program reflects some of the goals of the initial program and expectations of what a Grange should be doing in order to be considered one of the best of the best - truly distinguished among its peers.”

National Grange Sales, Benefits, Programs and Member Recognition Director Loretta Washington described Distinguished Granges as “They are like the cream of the crop of the Granges that we have.”

With the new changes, National officers and staff hope to make the program more competitive and help Granges have a record of their work through the year.

“The Distinguished Grange program has been very popular and we appreciate those Granges who have consistently achieved this honor,” Huber said. “This year we are making it

22

a little more challenging to encourage Granges to step up and do a little more.

Distinguished Granges are not satisfied with what they’ve always done; they want to do more. We want to recognize and celebrate those exceptional Granges who are always striving to do better for their communities.”

On the local level, one of the changes is that Ganges must complete a Grange Profile and additionally return Grange Census forms for each of their members.

State Masters and National Officers were provided copies of these on a USB drive during the 150th Annual National Grange Convention in November and should have distributed them to Community Granges.

“All Granges and Grangers are encouraged to complete the forms – something that could make for a fun activity night during Grange Month or just after,” Washington said. Forms can also be found on the National Grange Website at www.nationalgrange.com/ GrangeMonth.

Brozana said the documents will help “State Granges and National Grange can meet the needs of the members rather than produce programs or benefits that may not be appropriate for our actual membership.”

State Granges will see fewer changes, but they should be noted early so the state can make sure to reach out to Community Granges and remind them to do the work necessary for the State to receive the honor.

“For State Granges, one of the biggest changes is the increase in the

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

number of Granges expected to report their community service so that a State Grange can be deemed Distinguished,” Brozana said. “I cannot imagine what a Grange would be if it were not doing some type of community service, so it’s only sensible that we have increased the percentage of Granges doing and reporting their service activities to states.”

“I think the thing that makes this program special is that it allows Granges to look at what they are doing, how it benefits others and how they can improve…”

Brozana said. “Distinguished Grange asks that Granges record their work so it is not lost on members or the community what impact a Grange can have.”

“Every Grange - no matter its age, size, treasury or membership - should be striving to meet as many of these criteria as possible and more of them each year,” Washington said. “If they do, they will not only be gaining ground on becoming a Distinguished Grange but they will be making a real impact positive on their communities.”

Grange Membership

BENEFITS

Below is an overview of just some of the benefits available to Grange members across the country.

A full, detailed list can be viewed on the National Grange’s website, www.NationalGrange.org.

$

SHOP

We have partnered with Office Depot/Office Max, Shop.com, and The Azigo Cash-Back Shopping Mall. When you shop at these locations or use these services, you are giving back to the National Grange and receiving special deals in the process.

FINANCE

The National Grange has partnered with TSYS Merchant Solutions, which has been serving merchants for more than 30 years and offers a payment processing program tailored to your business needs. If you have a small business, this could help you.

TRAVEL

R/ X

Discounts from Choice Hotels, Wyndham Hotels, Hertz, Avis and Budget rental car services, as well as other hotel and rental car businesses, are sure to help you when planning your next vacation.

HEALTH

Our partnerships with Comfort Keepers, one of the top companies in the eldercare industry, Life Line, and the Medical Air Services Association, the oldest prepaid emergency transportation and screening organization, are sure to give you piece of mind.

PHARMACY

We have multiple partnerships to help Grange members obtain discount pharmacy cards. CVS Caremark offers the RxSavings Plus Card. The U.S Pharmacy Card is a free discount prescription card availible to Grangers.

Last offer excludes members in NC. Also, a partnership with National Affinity Services, allows access to the public subsidized government marketplace.

INSURANCE

We have partnerships with United of Omaha Life Insurance Company and MetLife Home and Auto Insurance to save our members money.

Excludes Washington, Oregon, California, Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming and North Carolina.

Grange Membership

BENEFITS HEARING

Our partnerships with Hear in America and American Hearing Benefits offer members access to free annual hearing screenings and consultations as well as discounted hearing aids.

PET

Because we understand the importance of animals and pets in the everyday lives of our members, we have partnered with VPI Pet Insurance to provide health insurance for your dog, cat, bird or other pets. As a Grange member, you will receive a discount on your policy.

HOME

IDENTITY

Members receive exclusive discounts on programs including The TotalProtectÂŽ Enhanced Home Warranty, which helps protect National Grange Members from the high costs associated with home repair from Cross Country Home Warranty.

INFOARMOR ID Theft Insurance helps protect of Grange members from identity theft. It provides comprehensive, proactive identity theft defense, which includes Social Media Reputation Monitoring and Free Credit reports. The program is backed by AIG and is discounted for our members.

For more information please contact: Loretta R. Washington Sales, Benefits, Programs and Member Recognition Director (202) 628-3507 ext. 109 lwashington@nationalgrange.org Don’t forget to take our survey on the following pages. This is your chance to tell us how important current benefits are to you and what benefits you would like to see offered for members.

Good Day! SURVEY TELL US WHAT MEMBER BENEFITS ARE OF INTEREST TO YOU

We encourage you to copy and provide this survey to other members. Please, one response per member. Submit your response to: National Grange ATTN: Good Day! 1616 H St. NW Washington, DC 20006 All responses that are received by April 15, 2017 will be processed and an aggregate look at results will be provided in the May 2017 edition of Good Day! magazine.

Age: ________ Gender: ____________

Number of Years of Membership:________

State of Primary Membership:____________

For each question, please check one.

1. Benefits are a primary reason why I joined the Grange.

Strongly

Neither Agree

____ Disagree ____ Disagree

____ nor Disagree

____ Agree

Strongly ____ Agree

2. Benefits are one of our greatest recruiting tools for new members.

Strongly

Neither Agree

____ Disagree ____ Disagree

____ nor Disagree

____ Agree

Strongly ____ Agree

3. I use discounts from Grange benefit partners frequently.

Strongly

Neither Agree

____ Disagree ____ Disagree

____ nor Disagree

____ Agree

Strongly ____ Agree

4. I feel members of my Grange are well-informed about benefits available to them.

Strongly

Neither Agree

____ Disagree ____ Disagree

____ nor Disagree

____ Agree

Strongly ____ Agree

Please rank from 1 to 5 the top five product or service categories for which you would like to see the National Grange attempt to make partnerships and provide member discounts. ___ Arts and Craft Supplies

___ Health Care and Pharmaceuticals (more)

___ Automotive Supplies and Car Purchases

___ Home and Personal Security

___ Banking and Financial Services

___ Insurances (more)

___ Clothing and Uniform Supplies

___ Lawn/Farm Equipment and Garden Supplies

___ Computer Products & Software

___ Moving and Real Estate Services

___ Dental, Eye Care and other Specialty Health Services

___ Pest Control Services

___ Entertainment and Attractions

___ Pet Products

___ Food and Restaurant Purchases

___ Travel (more)

___ Garden and Seed Supplies

___ Wireless and Telecommunications

___ Hardware and Home Supplies

___ Other (PLEASE BE SPECIFIC) __________________________

Good Day! SURVEY

Please list some top brands or types of services or products from which discounts would offer you the greatest benefit (ex. Olive Garden; Ehrlich; AT&T; scrubs; discount prescription lenses). _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Are you a member of other organization that offer member benefits? (circle)

YES

NO

If so, please indicate what benefits you take advantage of. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Do you find it easy to use or have your member benefits honored by our partners? (circle)

YES

NO

Please tell us what Grange benefits you currently or previously have used. ________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Please tell us what impedes you from utilizing Grange member benefits so that we may better serve you. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ OPTIONAL Please provide us you address, email or phone number so we may contact you directly if we have questions about your responses.

NAME: _______________________________________________________________________________________________ ADDRESS: ____________________________________________________________________________________________ EMAIL: ___________________________________________ PHONE NUMBER: __________________________________

WHAT TO DO WITH

Obamacare

The AFFORDABLE CARE ACT REPEAL, REPLACEMENT & TRANSITION “Will President Trump and the Republicans be willing, at least temporarily, to preserve or even strengthen provisions of the law insurers consider essential to the market’s functioning?”

By Burton Eller What is the Affordable Care Act? The Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare as it is commonly called, is a comprehensive health care reform law enacted in 2010.

The ACA has three primary goals: Make health insurance available to more people (estimated 15 percent of the US population who lack insurance) by providing

The court also ruled individual states could choose not

subsidies that lower costs for households with incomes between

to participate in Medicaid expansion. The result is more

100 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level.

working-class, poor families who don’t qualify for Medicaid

Expand Medicaid coverage (the federal-state program that

find themselves having to pay for private insurance.ACA

provides health coverage to those with very low income) to all

insurance exchange premium rates vary state-by-state

adults with income below 138% of the federal poverty level.

and county-by-county, causing wide discrepancies in

Support innovative medical care delivery methods to lower costs of health generally.

Obamacare participation geographically, as well.

•

Insurance companies have complained that Obamacare’s special enrollment periods, outside the normal open-

How Does the Law Work?

enrollment window, have driven up their costs by letting people buy coverage when they get sick then drop it once

The ACA requires all Americans to have health insurance and offers subsidies to make coverage more affordable to those who lack insurance by requiring younger, heathier people pay into the medical coverage insurance system or pay fines for non-compliance. It also requires businesses with more than 50 full-time employees to offer health insurance. Insurance

they’re well.

•

Insurance companies are backing out of participating in Obamacare because fewer Americans than anticipated are signing up, which in turn raises insurance costs for everyone while driving down enrollment.

companies cannot deny health coverage to people with preexisting conditions. Young people are allowed to remain in their parents’ plans until age 26. Medicaid is expanded under ACA to cover more needy people.

What’s Wrong with ACA? Some of the bigger problems include: •

The Supreme Court ruled the law was constitutional.

However, it struck down a provision requiring individual states to expand the number of people who qualified for Medicaid and, in turn, the federal government would provide the states more funding for Medicaid expansion.

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

Burton Eller has been the Legislative Director at the National Grange since 2014 and previously worked at many agriculturally-based organizations, including the USDA and the Farm Service Agency 27

“Political parties are already gambling on Obamacare strategy.”

•

Premiums are on the rise by an average of 25 percent in

Politically, the highly unpopular mandate that Americans get

2017. This was anticipated when the the law was enacted.

health insurance or face fines appears headed for the chopping

Government subsidies that help pay for insurance will

block whatever the timing may be.

also increase, but those who should be covered by the Medicaid expansion aren’t eligible for these subsidies.

Several popular Republican plans floating around include age-based government subsidies for people without employersponsored coverage, freedom to buy health coverage either

What’s next for ACA?

from private companies or traditional Medicare, giving block

Repealing, replacing and transitioning the Affordable Care Act – or some, or all or none of these – will consume an inordinate amount of time, effort and attention from Congress, the Trump Administration and the media during 2017.

In the first executive order of his presidency, Donald Trump rolled back the ACA by signing into action a document with broad language giving federal agenecies the choice to change or waive portions of the law or delay provisions of it indefinitely.

Political parties are already gambling on Obamacare strategy. Democrats say they want to see what a replacement

grants for Medicaid so states carry more of the costs, and expanding the use of tax-free health savings accounts.

A budget resolution that would include the reconciliation instructions to repeal Obamacare could be used as the Obamacare repeal, replace and transition vehicle.

votes in the Senate are needed for the budget to pass, and Republicans hold 52 seats in the 115th Congress. In the end, the bottom line litmus test for any Affordable Care Act replacement legislation will still be who pays, how much and for what benefit.

healthcare framework will look like before they will negotiate on any ACA changes. Republican leaders are betting on a strategy to quickly repeal the law but delay implementation of the repeal a few years to buy time to craft a replacement.

The Senate is talking about delaying implementation of repeal until 2019 to give the GOP-led Congress time to craft, pass and implement a replacement for the health care law. A contingent of conservative House Republicans, on the other hand, want to see repeal enacted in the first 100 days of Trump’s administration with a replacement implemented over a span of roughly 18 months.

Will President Trump and the Republicans be willing, at least temporarily, to preserve or even strengthen provisions of the law insurers consider essential to the market’s functioning? These include the requirement that nearly everyone buy insurance and the risk payments to insurers that sign up sicker-thanaverage members.Insurance carriers are also watching whether the Republicans postpone elimination of the ACA’s premium tax credits and Medicaid expansion, both considered key to making the individual insurance business financially viable. Will Republicans immediately eliminate the tax penalties on individuals for not buying coverage or will they delay that provision?

Nearly two thirds of voters say Congress should not repeal the ACA without a clear alternative replacement plan according to a January 2017 Morning Consult/POLITICO poll. While large majorities of Americans, including Republicans, do support key ACA provisions such as premium subsidies, Medicaid expansion, and barring insurers from denying coverage based on a person’s medical history, most people do not favor the individual mandate.

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Just 51

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

LEGISLATIVE

Briefs

FOOD & AGRICULTURE Low prices throughout farm and ranch country seem to be in the forecast for the next couple years. Economists see no quick fixes or relief in sight for the depressed farm economy. Over supply, lower demand and, in some cases, international market disputes all are a drag on the market.

A bit of optimism creeps in with the promise of cheaper input costs and reduced cash rent prices. Lawmakers will resist opening the Farm Bill for fear of exposing existing provisions to new legislative battles that risk losing more than can be gained for producers.

To focus on agriculture’s plight, Congress could begin preliminary 2018 Farm Bill hearings this spring and summer.

IMMIGRATION Agriculture is begging for a reliable labor workforce. Producers report that even in areas of high unemployment they cannot

REGULATORY ROLLBACK

Contentious federal government rules and regulations are a high priority for producers, land owners and small businessmen. Congress will consider legislation to require new regulatory initiatives over a certain cost threshold be reviewed and approved by Congress.

Several other countries currently have regulatory rollback procedures in place based on compliance costs, excessive regulation and the requirement that, for every regulation issued, three existing regulations must be eliminated.

Waters of the United States (WOTUS) tops the rollback wish list for landowners. WOTUS essentially expands federal government jurisdiction over practically all land and water no matter where they’re located or how they are managed.

find labor willing to work on farms and ranches.

The United States needs a viable new temporary worker program to allow immigrant labor to enter, work and exit

HEALTHCARE

the country legally. Undocumented workers are increasingly skeptical of their status as the Trump administration is sworn in.

It appears certain members of Congress will attempt to

The Labor Department’s H2-A documented worker program

repeal, replace and transition the Affordable Care Act,

is a regulatory nightmare that allows crops to rot in the field

or Obamacare, to a new and different comprehensive

while waiting on legal labor to arrive. Producers report the

healthcare plan. Of course, the devil is in the details.

government’s Green Card program, discontinued decades ago, really did work to provide a temporary ag workforce.

Congress has not yet been willing to consider ag labor separate from broader immigration reform.

Their challenge will be to carve healthcare legislation that is medically sound, cost-effective, patient-centric and sustainable. If that magic legislative blueprint can be designed, debated, passed and signed into law, it will take time, maybe lots of time (18-36 months).

In the meantime, it’s inconceivable that those citizens

INFRASTRUCTURE

who are dependent on Obamacare will be left without coverage.

A commitment to repair and rebuild crumbling roads, bridges,

As the repeal, replace and transition debate rages,

airports, waterways and the electricity grid appears to have

rural community groups like the Grange will be advocating

bipartisan support in Congress and the White House.

for attention to rural healthcare challenges such as aging

The generally agreed-upon price tag would be at least $1

population, the exit of healthcare facilities from rural and

trillion. Deficit spending to pay for massive infrastructure work

small town communities, and the need for high speed

is not popular, so Congress may need to find budget offsets or

broadband to facilitate connecting satellite diagnostics to

reduce the cost price tag.

major medical hubs.

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

29

TAXES Comprehensive tax reform has been impossible to accomplish for decades. During that time, economic conditions have changed, business structures are different, government and personal debt has increased, corporate tax rates are sending industries abroad and the foreign business tax structure is a whole new world.

The “death tax” continues to force the sale of family farms, ranches and small businesses, ending sometimes generations ofa family’s legacy.

Does Congress and the White House have the will to enact the first comprehensive tax reform since the 1980’s? It may come down to whose ox is getting gored and whose is not!

SUPREME COURT JUSTICE President Trump is under extreme pressure to fill the vacant seat on the Supreme Court created by the death of Justice Antonin

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!

Scalia and promised to announce his nominee within the first week of his presidency, something that may have already happened between the print deadline of this magazine and the arrival of it to our subscribers.

On the campaign trail, Trump promised to replace Justice Scalia with a person of similar views, principles and judicial philosophies.

The new President will also inherit an estimated 103 vacancies in the federal court system across the country. Some of these judgeships have been open for a year or longer as the Senate waited for the outcome of the presidential election.

CAPITOL HILL AGENDA Senate Republican leaders are promising longer work-weeks for themselves and a full calendar of Senate business.

Their first task will be to confirm President Trump’s nominees for Cabinet posts. Confirmation normally takes several weeks to a month or more depending upon the individual candidate.

First up on the Senate’s legislative calendar is repeal of the Affordable Care Act/Obamacare followed (with up to 3 years transition) by a process to replace the ACA provisions they think have caused the most damage and retaining those sections that seem to be working.

Major comprehensive tax code overhaul promises to be the Senate’s second priority legislative initiative.

The House of Representatives is also anxious to repeal the Affordable Care Act immediately.

The House time frame to

repeal, transition and replace the ACA in the House is much shorter (around 18 months).

Tax reform is a high priority for the House, as is reining in regulations

Join us in Washington, D.C., April 23 through 26 for the 2017 National Grange Legislative Fly-In Arrive Sunday or Monday morning Get issue briefings and attend agency appointments on Monday Go to the Hill to speak to your Representative or Senator about issues of importance to you and the Grange Stick around Wednesday and spend some more time on the Hill Depart Tuesday evening or Wednesday

and overhauling the nation’s massive entitlement programs.

30

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

GRANGE IN THE Cabinet

By Amanda Leigh Brozana

holding, since 1885, the position of U.S.

of understanding of both rural America

Commission of Agriculture, and was the

and

As would be expected, the National Grange

proud and active Master of Potomac

organizations like the Grange.

has a great interest in the USDA and the

Grange #1, in Washington, D.C., having

nominee for Secretary of Agriculture.

previously been a Granger in Missouri.

the

importance

of

agricultural

As William McKinley, the newly elected but not yet sworn in president,

That many do not know is that the

Coleman’s successor, Jeremiah Rusk, of

considered his option for Secretary of

Grange was instrumental in advocating for

Wisconsin, wrote and spoke often of the

Agriculture, Grangers from across the

the establishment of that position, which

success of the USDA being dependent

nation called for then National Master

would put farmers and rural interests at

upon

relationships

Col. J. H. Brigham to be named to the

the table in the President’s Cabinet.

with Granges and other agricultural

post. In the end, McKinley appointed

good

working

Some Congressmen sitting in their

societies, and each year Rusk sent official

James Wilson, a Grange member for

offices in Washington – far from their

representatives to the National Grange

Iowa who was touted as one of the first

mostly rural and agricultural districts back

convention to understand the needs of

to become a Patron from that state.

home – dismissed the idea that farmers be

those on American farms and in rural fields.

Wilson became the longest serving

important enough to have a spot reserved

The cooperative relationship between

Secretary of Agriculture, leading the

amongst the President’s top advisors.

the Grange and the USDA Secretary’s office

USDA from 1897-1913 under presidents

of

took great pause in 1893 when the third

McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt and William

Husbandry tirelessly advocated for the

Secretary of Agriculture, J. Sterling Morton,

H. Taft, and personally visited several

heightened importance of agriculture in

spoke to the Farmer’s Auxiliary Congress

National Grange conventions during his

political reasoning.

of the “most insidious and destructive foe

tenure in the President’s Cabinet.

For

14

However,

years,

in

the

1889,

Patrons

the

U.S.

to farmers… the promoter of granges [sic]

While several of the more than

Department of Agriculture achieved

and alliances, who, for political purposes…

20 successive Secretaries addressed

cabinet status, a success greatly credited

generally seek to attend to some other

National and State Grange conventions

to the National Grange, and tied directly

business than farming.”

and

to the first Secretary of Agriculture, Norman Coleman.

Coleman, of Missouri, had been

worked

in

collarboration

with

The National Grange and many local

Grange directors and officers, no others

Granges alike called for the dismissal of

are known to have been members of the

Morton, saying his words showed his lack

Grange but Coleman and Wilson.

TRUMP WELCOMED AS 45TH PRESIDENT Following our National Grange tradition of welcoming new Presidents to the White House – just around the corner from the National Grange Headquarters at 1616 H. St. NW, Washington, DC - a 40’x 7’ banner was hung from the 11th floor of our building the week before the Inauguration.

Placed on the side of the building facing Lafayette Park, which sits in front of the White House, the banner that hung for two weeks reads “The National Grange Welcomes President Trump to the Neighborhood.”

The Grange has already met with the Trump agricultural transition team. We look forward to promoting our grassroots policy agenda with the new administration, said National Master Betsy Huber.

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

31

GRANGE WELCOMES AG SECRETARY NOMINEE

By Amanda Leigh Brozana

figure who has shown great interest in the vibrancy of rural communities.

“We are pleased to see the respect

It took longer than expected, but the Trump transition team announced

the

incoming

administration

and

just one day before the 45th president’s

transition team has given the seat,

inauguration that Sonny Perdue, a former

which greatly impacts many aspects of

Georgia governor, had been nominated to

rural life,” Huber said. “Mr. Perdue is

serve as the 31st Secretary of Agriculture.

certainly well qualified to head up the

“Some criticized saying the delay

United States Department of Agriculture.

in the pick would put the nominee and

From his roots growing up on a rural

USDA behind the eight ball, but we’re

crop and dairy farm to his education as

confident after speaking to people around

a veterinarian and ownership of small

Washington, that the choice for Secretary

agribusinesses, Purdue has a personal

of Agriculture was seen as one of the most

perspective of agriculture and rural

important for the Trump team, and they

matters.”

wanted to make sure they had the right

Many may remember Perdue for his

person at the helm from the beginning,”

role in the 2007 public prayer vigil for

National Grange Legislative Director Burton

rain during a particularly bad drought in

Eller said just after the announcement.

Georgia, an effort that may not have led

SONNY PERDUE President Trump’s nominee for USDA Chief of agriculture, the challenges facing rural America, and has the business acumen required to oversee our nation’s massive food and agriculture policy system,” Huber said. “We look forward to working with

National Grange President Betsy

to precipitation but did raise awareness

future Secretary Perdue on agriculture,

Huber said the Grange was happy to

about the impact of agriculture on the

food, land, water, rural healthcare, rural

welcome Perdue, an active member of

economics of the state.

broadband, conservation and other issues

the agricultural community and political

“The Governor understands the plight

affecting rural and small town America.”

Limted Stock: SESQUICENTENNIAL COIN

A limited number of the 2.25” diameter heavy brushed nickel 150th Anniversary challenge coins are available for $25 per coin or 8 for $175. Shipping and handling is $4 per coin; $20 for the 8-coin bundle.

For more information, call Sales, Benefits, Programs and Member Recognition Director Loretta Washington at (202) 628-3507 ext. 109 or email sales@nationalgrange.org

32

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

GRANGE HALL

Insurance

Do You Have the Necessary Items in Your Risk Management Knapsack?

IS YOUR GRANGE HALL PROTECTED?

Leah Miller Great American Insurance Group Senior Account Specialist Headlamp, jacket, extra water, peanut

my experience as both a runner and

butter crackers...check, check, check,

an insurance professional taught me

double check. These are the items

proper preparation techniques. I was

I didn’t think I’d need, but wanted

ready for the hazards the night had to

to make sure I had in case the sun

offer, and we made it through without

started to set in the middle of my run

a hitch.

as an ultramarathon pacer. Due to

Speak to Leah Miller directly about your Grange’s coverage by phone at (513) 384-1869 or by email at lkmiller@gaig.com do you consider in your checklist of emergency supplies?

Certainly you have evacuation plans in the event of fire, appropriate

miscommunication among the racing

EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED

crew and a few injuries along the way,

As a Grange, you face uncertainty and

winter’s ice, and you’ve trained your

what I planned as an evening run turned

must meet unexpected challenges

background-checked volunteers with

into 12 hours and 50 miles out on the

depending on the services you provide

proper cooking techniques – right? All

trails, in the rain and through the night.

for the community. Are you prepared

of these are necessary and will help

While the situation was not ideal,

for the hazards that may arise? What

your Grange avoid or reduce losses.

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

tools to keep your Halls free from

33

PROTECTION IN YOUR ABSENCE

to improving their neighborhoods and

While you’ve planned for those scenarios,

the areas beyond in innumerable ways.

have you thought about what happens when you rent your Hall to others? If you’re not there, can you help protect your Grange from loss?

The short answer is yes!

When renting your Hall to other organizations for fundraisers, dances or any sort of event, it’s important to have a well-drafted contract that requires the other organization to obtain their own primary insurance coverage. Ideally, the other organization’s coverage would have the same limits as yours, cover all the same exposures and name your Grange as an additional insured. Your Grange should require proof that this coverage

“When renting your Hall to other organizations for fundraisers, dances or any sort of event, it’s important to have a well-drafted contract that requires the other organization to obtain their own primary insurance coverage.”

Great American Insurance Group is committed to helping you and all of our clients manage the risks of doing business. If you are uncertain as to whether or not your Grange is prepared for future risks, ask your agent to help you explore the potential gaps in your plan.

We want you to confidently check off all the items on your risk management list: fire extinguisher, snow plow, certificate of insurance...check, check, double check.

The claim scenario illustrates an exposure you could encounter. The facts of any situation that may actually arise, and a policy’s terms,

exists by requesting a certificate of

conditions, exclusions and limitations are

insurance (COI) from the organization

unique. No representation is made that any

using your space.

specific insurance coverage applies to

this

claim scenario.

A COMMON CLAIM SCENARIO

This information is intended to provide

The local youth scout troop uses your Hall

guidance, and is not intended as legal advice

as a central point for selling lemonade

or a legal interpretation of any applicable laws,

and cookies. A potential customer slips

rules or regulations. Great American does not

on spilled lemonade and sues the Grange

warrant that all potential conditions have been

for the injuries she sustained to her back.

if the Grange failed to secure additional

Because the scout troop was negligent in

insured status under the scout troop’s

keeping the area clean, the Grange is not

liability policy, the Grange may be

at fault for this injury and believes it is not

required to pay the claim.

required to pay the claim.

Assuming

the

Grange

While this is a simplified example, has

the

it should illustrate the importance of

appropriate additional insured status and

reviewing the requirements your Grange

COI to prove it, the Grange’s insurance

has for third parties using your facilities.

carrier may reach out to the scout

WE CAN HELP

evaluated or can be controlled. The liability of Great American Insurance Company and its affiliated insurers is limited to the provisions of the insurance policies underwritten by any of them.

Policies underwritten by Great American Insurance

Company,

Great

American

Assurance Company, Great American Alliance Insurance Company, Great American Insurance Company of New York and Great American

troop’s insurance carrier and request

Grange Halls are unifying physical

Spirit Insurance Company, authorized insurers

that the claim be paid by it instead.

spaces within their local communities,

in all 50 states and DC. 301 E. Fourth St.,

However, when the contract was made,

and Granges themselves are committed

Cincinnati, OH 45202.

(A) Go ask your mother.

(B) Because I said so.

(C) We’ll see.

34

There are no perfect answers in parenting.

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

AdoptUSKids.org

Let’sDO SOMETHING

By Kim Stefanick

The I’m a DO·er campaign was launched during National Grange this year on Tuesday, Nov. 15 by National Grange President Betsy Huber. The campaign, which is aimed at getting people involved in their communities and civic organizations in their area, is connected to Huber’s nationwide tour that begins in 2017.

To get involved in the overall campaign, Grangers can look to social media. On the jointhedoers.org websiteGrangers can find links to all our social media as well as a tour schedule for Betsy during the 2017 calendar year.

Social media will be our primary way of interacting with the community and a way to show the success of the campaign.

We will be posting stories of how people can be more involved in their community and ideas of what people or groups can do in the name of the campaign.

Stock graphics to post on social media will also be made available to all Granges to use to advertise what they are doing in their area as well as the campaign in general. The I’m a DO·er movement will also focus on getting more people involved in civic organizations, not just Grange, so any partnerships with other organizations on community service projects this year is highly recommended.

Overall, what we need most from our Grange community is for Grangers to get out into the community, tell people about Grange and meet the needs in their community in the name of DO·ing. We would love the hear and post your success stories, but more than anything, we need you to tell people about the campaign while helping your community.

GRANGE MEMBERS ARE DO·ERS Visit jointhedoers.org to share the story of how you got involved, helping others and DO·ing good for your neighbors. Write about what your Grange has done to help create the identity of your hometown. Be inspired, find and mentor future DO·ers, and ensure DO·ing doesn’t end with you.

You are ambassadors for Grange and for this movement, so we need your involvement more than ever over this next year.

We will make materials and ideas available for you and your Granges/members this year and need you to get involved in your communities now more than ever, both as an individual and as a Grange.

We aim to get people off the couch and involved in something that will better their lives and the lives of people around them, and we believe this can be done through community service and participation in civic organization. So, get out there, be creative, think outside of the box, and be a DO·er. We can’t wait to see what you are DO·ing this year!

Join the movement at jointhedoers.org.

Get Your DO·er Button This 2.25” diameter pin will help you show your support of the National Grange’s newest campaign, Join the DO·ers. Buy a pin for $2 and show pride in the Grange and let the world know you’re a DO·er.

For more information, call National Grange Sales, Benefits, Programs and Member Recognition Director Loretta Washington at (202) 628-3507 ext.109 or email GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE 35 sales@nationalgrange.org www.nationalgrange.org

IT’S TIME FOR A

Talk

Grange Month theme questions: ‘What will remain when the DO·ers are gone?’

By Amanda Leigh Brozana We’ve all had this conversation.

You: “I’m a member of the Grange.”

Other: “What’s the Grange? I’ve never heard of them.”

You: (prepared elevator speech here – you have one, right?)

“Would you be interested in attending a meeting or joining?”

Other: “Oh, that’s nice, but um, no. I don’t really like meetings. I’d rather just help or something maybe, but I don’t really like to join things.”

And the conversation ends.

Grange members are not alone in having this same encounter with their neighbors and friends they hope will join them as members of other civic or social organizations that do a great deal to help the communities in which they live.

The lack of commitment to organizations through membership reduced the number of people ready and organized to meet the needs of their communities, increasingly putting a greater burden on the often older individuals who have joined and committed themselves to service to others.

This year, for Grange Month – celebrated annually in April – National Grange Master Betsy Huber issued a challenge for Granges: flip the script.

Instead of talking about what you do as a Grange, talk about what would change in your town if your Grange and other civic and philanthropic social organizations no longer or never existed.

In February or March, do some research and discuss with your members the impact the Grange has made historically and currently on your town and your neighbors. Maybe even invite members of the other local civic organizations to join with you for the discussion.

Did the Grange establish the first ambulance service? Does it raise thousands of dollars and organize supply drives for your local school? Have generations used your hall for weddings, funeral dinners, ceremonies to honor local veterans, town hall meetings and more?

Of course, if the answer is “we used to do these things but don’t anymore,” you may be deflated. Instead, take that as an opportunity to both re-ignite the passion of your members for service and outreach and to challenge others in the community to help the Grange live up and built upon its legacy.

For everything you find your Grange has done or continues to do, ask yourself: “What would our town/community look like if not for the Grange? What would we lose? What parts of

36

our identity or traditions would never have been established?

What values and experiences do I want my grandchildrens’ descendants to share with my spouse and I long after we are gone that will no longer remain without our Grange or other organizations like it?”

When you put the relevance and importance of the Grange in that context, its hard not to get emotional. It’s also hard for others you speak to not to understand how their membership could matter to themselves and so many others.

In April, when you would traditionally have an open house or other public event, instead, host a town forum. Use the Grange Month poster on page 39 of this magazine to publicize it and ask your friends and neighbors to come and share stories of what makes the town great or their most heartwarming memory related to outreach.

Then ask them what it would take to have them join us – the DO·ers – to continue these traditions and services for generations to come.

Tips • Invite people who have been recipients of your Grange’s outreach to speak about the personal impact of the organization if they are willing.

• Ask the municipal government to proclaim April Grange Month. Provide them a copy of the proclamation written

by National Master Betsy Huber and published on page 38 in this issue. You can even add to the proclamation information about the accomplishments of your Grange so it is more eye-opening. Don’t forget to let the local media know the proclamation is being made, and give them examples of the Grange’s work throughout the years to entice them to write or produce a story.

• When you hold the conversation with your community, don’t forget to show as well as tell. Bring out old photos and news clipping of presentations, events, ceremonies and more to drive home the image of impact across generations.

• Open your program with a short presentation of the proclamation by your municipal leaders or another talented public speaker who can briefly discuss your Grange’s founding and good work throughout your history.

Have information about State and National initiatives, legislative successes and service available for people to take with them. Remember: Grange starts at the local level, so while the role we played in establishing Rural

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

•

•

•

Free Delivery and helping to secure cabinet-level status for the Secretary of Agriculture is important, they were more than a century ago and are not the thing that will drive membership today. Your work, and the possibility of even more lives positively impacted, will.

Be positive about your Grange’s impact and future. And reiterate your commitment to the community.

Remember, you are having a difficult conversation that, taken the wrong way, could make others think you are giving up or too bitter to continue to do good work. Show them you will persevere with the help of a few more generous hands and hearts.

Hard work with no play makes the Grange less appealing to potential new members, so show the Grange’s fun side as well as its philanthropic one.

If someone or a group of people suggest some of the projects or programs of the Grange are no longer relevant today because

•

•

of social, technological or other changes, ask what they see as needs. Be open to the conversation and take notes – there may be a gem of a new idea that will bring in new bodies for a one-time or continuing project, allowing the new folks – often less willing to commit to joining an organization – to see that they, too, feel at home in the Grange and enjoy the possibilities of service to others through Grange.

Remind your audience that Grange is for the whole family. It’s unlike soccer or tuba lessons, where individually someone learns and achieves and the rest of the family watches from the sidelines. Grange will help families do things together, get to know one another and establish their identity and values, create memories and improve their social capital.

Don’t forget, Grange membership looks great on college applications and resumes for young professionals.

Being an active member who helps

•

•

plan and takes a leadership role, develops skills and networks, could be the deciding factor between one candidate and another. It also provides nearly free leadership training and skill development. No need to enroll in a costly course or seminar that only adds one line to the resume or application.

Engage your Youth and Junior members and ask them to play an active role in the evening. Consider getting your Juniors to run an activity for those attending to do – maybe creating their own community maps or making a craft celebrating your town. Ask Youth to talk about what community events or activities, including service and outreach, they hope to share with their children to transmit family values.

Make your appeal personal and emotional.

Make it thought provoking. Strive to have a conversation that people will continue the next day in the coffee shop or supply store.

State Masters and National Officers were provided a USB drive at the end of the 150th Annual National Grange Convention, which included all relevant Grange Month 2017 materials, including the poster, proclamation and letter. If you have not received these materials, please contact your State Master.

Grange Month information may also be found at www.nationalgrange.org/grangemonth2017.

You may also contact the National Grange at (202) 628-3507 ext. 113 to speak to Conventions and Operations Director Stephanie Tiller to request digital copies of materials.

ONLY

$12

SALE! Grange Promo Kit

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JUST IN TIME FOR GRANGE MONTH Take advantage of all the excitement surrounding our 150th Anniversary Celebration, and the interest in agriculture and rural issues.

Be prepared to talk about the Grange and provide them all they need to know about the Grange and how to join. Help find the next DO·ers in your community using the tools found in the Grange Promotional Kit (COM 117) and grow your Grange today!

For only $12 plus shipping, you will receive all of the following: • 25 Declaration of Purpose brochures

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• 25 A Grange Story Comic book

GRANGE MONTH 2017

Proclamation

WHEREAS, The Grange celebrates its 150th birthday throughout the year 2017; and

WHEREAS, The Grange has played a major role in the development of rural America during three centuries, advocating for legislative protection for farmers through the Granger Laws in the 1800s; promoting research and education to improve agriculture through the Cooperative Extension Service and Land Grant Colleges and working to expand mail delivery and electricity to rural areas in the 1900s; and encouraging the expansion of broadband internet service in the 2000s; and

WHEREAS, The Grange continues today to be an active force in thousands of communities across the country; and

WHEREAS, The Grange provides leadership, motivation, and education to bring together rural and urban families and offers them opportunities for personal growth and individual expression; and

WHEREAS, The Grange emphasizes civic responsibility and the involvement of people in the legislative process; and

WHEREAS, The Grange promotes service to the local community and volunteerism to improve the quality of life and economic well-being of its members and friends; and

WHEREAS, Grange members everywhere wish to celebrate and express their pride in the legacy of their highly respected organization;

THEREFORE, I, Betsy E. Huber, Master of the National Grange, do hereby proclaim the month of April 2017 as Grange Month, and further I do encourage the participation of each Junior, Community, Pomona, and State Grange in this annual celebration of Grange Month by planning and executing programs and activities that will highlight the Grange in their respective communities.

ÂŽ

#jointhedoers #grangemonth nationalgrange.org

When the Do路ers Are Gone.

For Grange Month 2017 this April, the Grange is celebrating what it means to be a do路er. Your neighbor who runs the local fair. The lady who arranges the clothing drive. They care, they give, and they inspire.

Because who wants to

see a world where the do路ers are gone?

Are you a Do路er? Come to a Grange Meeting! _________________________________________________________________ Grange Name & Address

_________________________________________________________________ Meeting Date & Time

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE

39

_________________________________________________________________ www.nationalgrange.org Contact Name & Info

OUR FAMI TRADITION DEFINED P. 43

Tr

START YOUT OWN TRADITION P. 47

MAKE OTHERS PART OF YOUR FAMILY P. 49

A LOOK AT THE DIVERSE FAMILY TRADITIONS THAT SPAN GENERATIONS, AND HOW TO BUILD OR ENHANCE YOUR OWN TRADITIONS

ILY

raditions

CARD NIGHT MAKES FRIENDS PART OF THE FAMILY P. 48 DAIRY EXPO BONDS FAMILY P. 50 NATIONAL MASTER SHARES FAMILY RECIPE P. 53

HOW TO BE GOOD STEWARDS OF GRANGE FAMILY HISTORY P. 51

Traditions TO KEEP

FAMILY DEFINED BY SHARED EXPERIENCES AND VALUES

By Bonniejean Alford

That gathering began a tradition that continues into the present day.

However, the gathering was not all about fun.

Family.

This is a word that leaves an array of emotions and interpretations as to how it is defined. Entire fields of study have developed to explore familial roots and definitions.

At the core, though, are the shared experiences more often than lineage that makes family.

In fact, initially, it was about coming together to help each other complete farming tasks. It was a time during WWII when everything metal was going toward the war effort, so if you needed something you had to share. Each family would have one piece of equipment and then they would go around and help each other.

The activities families engage in speak volumes about what

Since the families lived so near to each other, they worked

they think about family and who they define as family. Of utmost

together, played together – depended on each other. That was

importance to understanding family are the traditions carried

the reality of the time, which became a blessing for the community.

on through generations that build a sense of togetherness and belonging, establish values and shape the identity of each family.

Harriet Barr, also of Monroe, Wash., was just a few months old at the inaugural event.

“I was very blessed to grow up in the neighborhood I did –

Gatherings as Tradition

always had friends to help when you needed it. And such great

On July 4, 1943 three dairy farming families in Monroe,

neighbors, I married one of them.”

Wash. – two named Ohlsen and one named Steffens – came together to celebrate the holiday.

Barr said she most remembers the warm closeness of the neighbors: never a need for money; good friends assisting

Generations from three Washington families, all with Grange roots, have gathered for annual Fourth of July picnic since the days of World War II. 42

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

“The activities families engage in speak volumes about what they think about family and who they define as family.”

shrink as lives of extended family have evolved.

The event continued not because people didn’t have anywhere else to go, but because they didn’t want to go anywhere else, the ladies related in their own terms. Truth was, they often only saw certain extended family members once a year and wanted to catch up.

In 1961, dozens of men from the families and the community helped build a cement pool. All the builders signed their names in the cement – signifying

each other and growing as community –

the importance of the event and the

and a family.

families attending for years to come.

Eileen Hartzell, now of Deer Park,

In that pool, generations of Steffens

Wash., said while not all those who

and Ohlsens have learned how to swim,

attended the picnic then or now are

played and laughed, and with new

related by blood, the three families were

generations metaphorically baptized into

indeed just that, in the sense that their

the larger family at the event, this tradition

lives were interconnected as neighbors.

is likely to continue for decades more.

Their livelihood depended on each other both in terms of farming and daily life.

FOOD AND HOLIDAYS AS TRADITION

As neighbors and members of Tualco

Gathering with friends and family to

Grange, Hartzell said, “we did a lot of

enjoy good food has been an important

things together,” stretching far beyond

tradition for the Barr family, even beyond

the yearly Fourth of July festivities.

the Fourth of July. So much so, that Barr’s

Betty Meske, of Monroe, remembers

nephew built the table for gatherings that

how, through the years, the three families

is higher, making it easier to gather around

participated in activities together to

and talk while making various dishes.

make the work better.

Made most often is the Norwegian

The work became enjoyable, which

Lefse, a flat bread made from a potato

for dairy farmers was a good thing

base. Barr has been making it more than

because as farmers there wasn’t much

25 years now, after being gifted with

time for fun, Meske said.

the recipe by Norwegian friends visiting

Whether blood-related or not, Meske said, “we just enjoy each other.”

The Fourth of July gathering allowed them to have that time with each other,

America.

Now the recipe is made at

almost every special event, including Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving.

Often

food

becomes

a

central,

even if they only saw each other once a

defining characteristic of both events

year. Ultimately, the event became an

and people.

American tradition for the community of

For the Fourth of July celebration,

Monroe, and it called to those far and

people brought chicken for their own

near to be in attendance. Today, people

immediate family and then something

of all ages connected to the original

else to share, Barr said.

families come from all over the country to help and celebrate.

Certain people become known for bringing a particular dish.

Barr still resides just two miles from

Hartzell remembers Alice Ohlsen’s

where the original celebration was held.

black cherry Jell-O made with fresh

She has watched the event grow and

cherries and Mary Ohlsen’s cheesecake.

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

DEFINED: FAMILY TRADITION By: Bonniejean Alford At the center of family life are the traditions that help to shape the identity of both the family unit and each individual member.

For some, traditions are synonymous with saying culture, which involves all the activities, symbols, norms, values, beliefs and material objects of a group of people – basically all the ways of existence that express exactly who a culture is. Or, who a family is.

Traditions, though, go deeper than just how the culture is practiced.

Functionally, traditions teach the practices of culture by passing on activities and ideals from one generation to the next. They reveal what is important simply by encouraging participation and then actually taking part.

At the most individual level, this teaches children both to place value on that which parents hold dear and how to critically evaluate practices to make them their own within their own identity parameters.

Through this, those traditions that most represent a family for generations become ingrained in a person’s role as part of a family, establishing their identity both in a family and separate from the family unit.

A person can become identified by an activity or belief structure that they engage in to honor a heritage that came before. In the end, these traditions ultimately play an essential role in the establishment of a person’s distinctive sense of self and worldview.

Identity is the collection of ideals, behaviors, beliefs, and practices that are the core of an individual or family.

This drives a person’s choices, from personal to social to professional.

Identity unfolds over a lifetime and can shift as life shifts. Traditions are a large part of this identity development, as are other less controllable factors such as race, class, gender, etc.

43

by coming to volunteer on weekends while returning to his studies during the week at Penn State in State College.

Derek

said

he

especially

likes

watching how popular his grandmother, Fay Snyder, is, noting how everyone wants to talk with her.

“We even tease her that she has a boyfriend with one of the TV news reporters who always has to see her first when he gets here to get his picture with her and talk to her,” Derek said, smiling and teasing Fay who blushes from more than a foot below him.

Fay Snyder, one of the original Snyder Family traditionstarters, pulls a milkshake during the 2017 PA Farm Show.

Derek was the male 2014-15 National Youth Ambassador, and he said some of what he learned about working to serve others at the stand allowed him to better understand what it would mean to be

The cheesecake is especially memorable

Over the years, the family has worked

for Hartzell as the recipe was gifted to

the stand because, among many other

her as a wedding shower gift because

reasons, it is a place to see and catch up

her husband-to-be loved it so much.

with those people you may only connect

Hartzell’s

own

signature

caramel

recipe was gifted to someone else within the extended family.

SERVICE BECOMES TRADITION FOR SOME The partnership between Valley Grange #1360 and the PA Dairymen’s Association has helped to create even more traditions.

For many who attend the Pennsylvania Farm Show that runs for more than a week early each January at the Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg, the experience is incomplete without a chocolate, vanilla or half-and-half mix milkshake.

Behind the counter, at the milkshake machines or in the back doing heavy lifting or one of the multitude of other duties to serve more than 100,000 shakes over the course of the event, you will find several members of the Snyder family.

Since 1954, Snyders – young and old, family by blood, those who married in and even in-laws – have been part of the core team coordinating volunteers to staff the stand.

44

with once a year.

Bud Snyder, a second generation shake stand volunteer and Valley Grange member, said he was first involved as a toddler because the whole family came out to the stand, no matter age.

the face of the Grange. He also hopes one day to share the tradition with his children and keep the spirit of service alive, passing the value onto the next Snyder generation.

All three generations of Snyders agree that service helps to root them to the community and connect their family with each other in a way they may not have without the pleasurable chore of working the stand.

“I never missed a year,” Bud said.

“It’s just always a great time to get back

TRAVELING THE WORLD BY WAY OF

together and see some friends.”

TASTE BUDS

His son, Derek, also got involved as a

Joan Hammel, of Wildwood, Ill., has

toddler and has continued the tradition

created a tradition centered around food

Derek Snyder, left, sips a milkshake while taking stock of the shake mix, while Fay Snyder, right, talks to new volunteers at 2017 PA Farm Show milkshake stand. Her son, Bud Snyder, back, talks to other volunteers.

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

that also provides a bit of an education into the world culture.

Each year, she and her husband, Mark, host a Christmas Eve dinner for which they select a new culture to introduce to their guests.

Each guest brings food from that country, and they find activities to participate in that connects to that country’s culture. Some of the countries they have celebrated are Brazil, Italy, Germany, France, Poland, Israel, Palestine, Spain, Greece and most recently, the Czech Republic.

This

was

rooted

in

the

original

HAMMEL FAMILY GATHERING

celebration when Joan returned from a USO

Joan Hammel’s

tour in Cuba. She liked the food so much

open door policy is

that she wanted to share it with her family.

in part derived from

But

the

celebration

of

Christmas

the types of family

Eve goes beyond just the food for the

gatherings she

Hammels.

grew up with.

Their home remains a place of refuge for anyone without a place to go for the and religions over the years, and she

hosting a pot luck where guests would

Joan’s open-door policy has welcomed

always makes a point to invite service

bring food from their heritage, offering

people from many different walks of life

personnel stationed in the area that

a smörgåsbord of cultures in one setting

cannot return home for whatever reason.

that honors the America’s diversity as a

holidays.

Christmas Eve, Joan said, “truly has

nation of immigrants.

been a place of welcome and fellowship.”

Photo courtesy of McCormick Kitchens

“I see it continuing to always be a policy of ‘all are welcome,’ with perhaps some new twists,” she said.

In the future, Joan is considering

HOLIDAYS ARE THE PERFECT TIME FOR TRADITIONS For Jeff S. Bray, now of Charlotte, Texas, food often reminds him of Sunday

Lemon CHEESECAKE

Coveted recipe of Mary Ohlsen

1 package (3 oz.) lemon Jell-O 1 cup boiling water 2 tablespoons lemon juice 1 cup sugar 8 oz. cream cheese 1 can evaporated milk 2 cups graham cracker crumbs 1/2 cup butter

Dissolve Jell-O in boiling water. Add lemon juice. Set aside.

Cream softened cream cheese and sugar.

Mix Jell-O and cream cheese mixtures together.

Pour evaporated milk into a bowl and put in freezer just until ice crystals start to form, then remove and immediately whip with mixer until stiff. Fold into Jell-O and cream cheese mixture to make cheesecake filling.

Form the crust by mixing melted butter with graham cracker crumbs and pat into the bottom of a 9” x 13” pan.

Pour cheesecake filling over the crust. Refrigerate until firm.

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

45

dinners at his grandmother’s house in Southern California.

Everyone gathered and spent time together – time that revolved around food.

Nothing specific, Bray said, just eating and working together to prepare a meal.

In fact, it never exactly seemed like a tradition, per se, according to Bray. It was more that everyone was hungry so they ate together. Through the years, as he looks back, Bray believes these gatherings meet all the criteria of tradition.

Even though Bray now resides in Texas, and the remainder of the family still gathers in California for Sunday meals, he has taken that idea of gathering and

“Traditions can be made in many ways, but no matter what traditions bond people – related by blood or shared experience – as a family, they are important.”

shifted it to fit his family of six.

of the Taylor family that have taken the degrees, many helping to present them, to become Patrons of Husbandry.

The tradition began with two sets of charter members – her great-great-greatgrandparents, Isaac and Olivia Perkins, on her father’s side, charter members of the Blazing Star Grange #71 in Danbury, N.H., and great-great-great-grandparents, James and Loriette Jackman, on her mother’s side, charter members of Mont Calm Grange #70 in Enfield, N.H. Being a Grange member and all that entails is just part of life in their family.

Across the country, in Washington, Barr, Meske, and Hartzell, share a multi-generational

history

of

Grange

He and his wife, Carolyn, spend

As an adult with his own kids, he

membership, too, and some of their

every New Year’s Eve with their four kids,

takes the time to gather and read “The

stories begin to sound very familiar as they

eating finger foods and playing games.

Christmas Story” each year, and carries

recount their Grange’s work and activities.

They close out the night, beginning the

on part of his aunt’s tradition by giving

new year, with s’mores.

Not

unlike

many

members

small gifts with great thought and

generations deep in the Order, Tricia’s

meaning. While these are not packed

mother has a story of attending her first

into a giant stocking, each carry with

Grange meeting in a laundry basket at

His maternal great-aunt would give each

them the same feeling of love that he felt

just 10 days old in 1936.

person an extremely large stocking, easily the

radiating from what he received as a kid.

Bray also recalls Christmas gatherings being about more than just food.

size of a 20-pound burlap sack of potatoes, he said. In it were gifts she had collected all

BROTHERHOOD

throughout the year. Each item was wrapped

For some, membership in the Grange is

and placed with love into the stocking. The

a family tradition all of its own.

gifts could be anything from toiletries to arts and crafts to a favorite canned good.

And, Bray said, there would always be candy.

For the Taylor family, a simple truth prevails: “It is a family tradition,” Tricia

AND

SISTERHOOD

said. “Tradition keeps us together – and for us, Grange brought us together.”

In their tight-knit community where

As a fifth-generation Granger, 61-year-

everyone knew one another and kids

old Tricia Taylor of Danbury, N.H., is about

couldn’t get away with anything, according

to help usher into the Grange another

to Taylor, many were Grange members.

grandchild. He will make seven generations

Grange served as a common bond

THROUGH THE YEARS Seven generations on both sides of the family of New Hampshire member Tricia Taylor, far right, have been active in the Grange.

46

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

throughout the area, Taylor said.

The members “just felt like family – go to meetings and everyone gave each other a ton of hugs – called each other

betters the lives of its members and

is all you have. It’s where you turn when

gives them shared experiences, making

everything else and everyone else turns on

them feel like family.

you,” Bray said. “When we fail, or succeed,

Several members said you knew

family is there to pick you up or to celebrate

someone’s values were similar to your own

with you. And family is not necessarily

She said the people “simply behaved

if they were a member – a good reason,

blood. Sometimes you get so close to

like family to each other and were always

one rationed, that you find many marriages

someone that they become part of you.”

there for one another.”

between two people who had already

Brother and Sister.”

In addition to having an extended family,

membership

in

Grange

is

belonged to the Grange when they met.

Ultimately, the practice of traditions binds families, no matter whether born in blood or united by choice, across

rewarding in a multitude of other ways

LIVING ‘ON IN THE HEARTS OF THOSE

generations, place and even across the

that pay off throughout life, Taylor

WHO LOVE US’

world of the living and those who have

said, from leadership training, to pubic speaking

coaching

learning

to

and

collaborate,

Traditions can be made in many ways,

passed on.

experience,

but no matter what bonds people – related

“Traditions allow us to remember

showing

by blood or shared experience – as a

where we came from, where we are, and

family, traditions are a kind of social glue.

allows all of us to live on in the hearts of

kindness, understanding the needs of others, and much more, the Grange

“When it comes down to it, family

CREATE YOUR OWN

By Jenna Spinelli Every great family tradition has to start somewhere, and it’s never too late to get one going in your family — whatever form that family may take.

Leave your mark on future generations while honoring your family’s heritage. Traditions do not necessarily require a lot of planning and, in fact, are sometimes best when they develop organically.

Use these ideas as a springboard to create your own tradition.

HOST AN UNEXPECTED FAMILY DINNER Anyone who has ever hosted a family dinner that they can seem like more trouble than they are worth. You spend time making the sure the house is spic and span, washing the good dishes and shopping for special ingredients. And then it’s over in a matter of hours and you are cleaing up again.

What if it didn’t need to be that way? What if you could invite your family over without cleaning a thing and cooking whatever you had on hand? That is exactly the idea behind the unexpected dinner party.

In some versions of this concept, friends and family even show up unannounced at dinner time. That might be a little too extreme for some families, but the idea of spontaneity can help families bond by working together to plan a creative meal on short notice. It may take some time to get used to, but it will lead to greater peace of mind about family gatherings in the long run.

those who love us,” Hammel said.

Tradition

CELEBRATE A HALF BIRTHDAY Birthday celebrations are family staples, but happen so infrequently that you need to cram a year’s worth of celebrating into one day. A half birthday is a great way to add another celebration into the mix and have a little fun in the process.

You can really go crazy with the “half” theme — bake half of a cake, drink half glasses of punch, eat half hamburgers or hot dogs — the possibilities are endless.

COMPLETE A NEW YEAR’S INTERVIEW Start the new year off right by having your family set goals and intentions for the months to come.

Have everyone complete a questionnaire about their favorite parts of the past year and what they hope to accomplish in the year to come. Take turns reading the answers on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day over a big meal.

Far-flung family members can participate in this tradition, too. Send the questions in advance and connect them in via Skype or on the phone to talk with those in person about their responses or ask them to send their answers back in writing and share copies of yours as well.

No matter how many people participate, this provides an opportunity for a family to reflect on good times over the past year, and start the new year feeling more connected.

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

47

Larry Hanna holds cards in his hands during a game of May I

FROM ONE GENERATION

By Kim Stefanick Her worn hands host a collection of 13 cards.

Mumbling about the hand she just received, she lets a few words slip through her lips.

“If we were doing two sets of four, I would be golden!”

“Skip Larry!” echoes in the air as the game gets started.

Lois is just getting settled into this week’s round of cards.

Between telling stories, and gossip of the week, this group miraculously find the time to play the two games that make it to the schedule every week: Phase 10 and May I, though canasta and Kings in the Corner may occasionally slip in as well.

Words turn in to warnings and whispers turn into shouts as the friendly game grows. A gentle “skip, Larry,” turns into as shout at Larry, the second eldest of the four Hanna siblings, for putting his cards down and winning the game. The love is never gone, but competitive spirits thrive on Friday nights when three of the four Hanna sibilings and several friends who have become extended family gather for cards as they have for nine years.

Like Saturday football in the South, for the Hannas and their close group of friends, card games here are like religion

48

around the table in the small house in Flemington, N.J. The communion wafers are replaced with potato chips and cheese doodles and each eats their fill.

“My children know not to bother me,” says Donna Stefanick, a family friend who has been at the table since this particular tradition began with a simple New Year’s Eve party in 2007. “They know that Friday nights, Momma is at cards.”

Surrounded by good friends, food, and heartwarming and gut busting stories, this is more than a routine for the Hannas, and it harkens back to a simpler time when each of the four siblings were young.

Seated around a table the Hannas recount their early experiences with card playing.

“We had a register in the floor, but when we were told to go to bed we laid on the floor and we’d watch ‘em,” Barbara, the third of the four Hanna children, said.

“That’s how I learned really, is watching mom and dad play cards.”

“The hole was small,” Larry says while holding up two fingers in the shape of a circle to describe the size, “but boy, you’d figure out that learning it was hard to do.”

Lois Hanna, the eldest, said, later they received a more formal education in the games.

“Mother and Father, and our aunt taught us. Aunt Florence taught us an

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

to Another awful lot of cards games, but mom and dad played cards. They taught us how to play pinuochle. They taught us how to play canasta, too.”

“Daddy played, not all the time but he would play at events,” Barbara Hanna, the third child, now in her seventies chimes in. “Once in a while. Canasta wasn’t his favorite card game, but he would play.”

“It was hard, but you had to concentrate,” Barbara said. “I would sit with my uncle or Aunt Florence and watch them play. I learned by watching other people, my aunts and uncles, do it.”

With the end of the round drawing near, the competitive spirits at the table grow.

“I needed a 10, what were you collecting?” Stefanick asks Sarah Williamson, the Hanna’s cousin and Stefanick’s good friend, Williamson slyly answers, “Twelves.”

It is as if a dam has burst.

The recollections flood otu from the Hannas.

When asked where they played cards as children, Larry, a soft-spoken man, said, “Oh, they were all over.

“It was tradition when my grandparents were alive that their children, our aunts and uncles, would visit their mother on Sundays and the cards went on the table,” Lois says. “The

kids went outside and played, the adults stayed inside and played cards. So, we came from a card playing family.”

“And some of us just stay with it,” Barbara quickly replied.

“Are you going out?” resonates across the table throughout the night, hoping to warn the players to begin counting cards.

Barbara continues the story of the family tradition’s roots.

“Aunt Edith and Uncle Bill would come down to the house,” Barbara says. “Then Aunt Bessy and Uncle George would come New Year’s Day.” Time has given each of the Hanna children years to learn a variety of games and choose a favorite – or not.

“I don’t have one,” declares Lois when asked which games she enjoys most. “I don’t have a favorite.”

“Let’s see, my favorite would be…” Barbara begins before being interrupted.

“52 pickup,” declares Stefanick, cutting Barbara off, which is not uncommon among this group. Finishing a thought is a virtue at this table on Card Nights.

Amidst the laughter at the table, Barbara responds, “No! I don’t play 52 pickup. Mine would really be canasta. I really like canasta.”

Lois answers for Larry with poker or pinochle to which Larry gingerly responds, “Yeah, it’d be between them two.”

Getting distracted by what he has deemed the poor dealing of cards by Barbara, Larry quips, “You’re no help,” to which Barbara says through a giggle, “I never was.”

KNOW YOUR MOTIVES WHEN INCLUDING

By Jenna Spinelli Including people from outside the family in traditions can be great way to practice and teach values like diversity and tolerance.

But before you do anything, make sure your intentions are good warns Michael Masocolo, a professor of psychology at Merrimack College in North Andover, Massachusetts.

The desire to help others may be fueled by a more selfish interest resulting in a situation where the outsider may feel like they are being used by a family rather than welcomed into one.

“They key is that it’s got to be genuine and based on real care and compassion for the person you are bringing on,” Masocolo said.

FAMILY MISSION STATEMENT In order to determine whether your family is ready to add someone else into the mix, Masocolo suggested drafting a family mission statement, a term coined by author and educator Stephen Covey.

The mission statement, much like that of a business or nonprofit organization, outlines the family’s beliefs and the principles that govern decisions.

“All families should have an identity, a set of explicit ideas about who we are, what we value, what we do together, and what we’re about,” Masocolo said. Putting together a family mission statement forces conversations about beliefs and values that are not always easy to have, but are critical to moving forward.

“There is a certain amount of weirdness in having the conversation because there’s a potential to expose things a family might not otherwise talk about,” Masocolo said. “It’s difficult In that sense but one of the most important things a family can do.”

DO YOUR HOMEWORK Once you’ve made the decision to welcome someone new into a family tradition, it’s important to understand who that person is and how they might interact with your family, especially if that person has a disability or comes from a marginalized group.

This is also very applicable to welcoming a family member’s significant other into the fold.

For example, if you are going to invite someone from India or China to your house, you want to know about their culture,” Masocolo said.

“You want to learn a little about their

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

Others

culture or the ways they have been marginalized and what would be insulting to them.”

In the end, it’s important to balance your desire to help with the feelings of those you are trying to include.

WAYS TO REACH OUT This idea of outreach extends beyond a family tradition into something a Grange can do to expand its footprint in a community. Your Grange may already do this by attending a school for the deaf or providing scholarships to help children with disabilities.

Other ways to connect with others in the community include planning an event to reach out to another part of the community that does not have good representation in the Grange.

Invite someone from that organization to come to one of your meetings to tell your members more about who they are and what they do, then do the same at one of their meetings.

Sparking discussion and sharing ideas in avenues like that puts everyone on the same page and ultimately reduces the notion of the “other” entirely.

49

ANNUAL EVENT CREATES

Priceless Memory

Sometimes, traditions are begun from the smallest of suggestions

By Karie Blasingame

The couple started by serving coffee and donuts to other volunteers from

While studying for an advanced degree at

their area. Then Jim was asked to help

the University of Wisconsin-Madison 50

in the Jersey show as a ring man, which

years ago, Jim Olstad, was encouraged

he continues today and has added to the

to volunteer by one of his advisors at the

list ring man in the Holstein show.

brand-new World Food and Ag Expo,

Sonjia

Olstad

helps

coordinate

which was being held at the Dane County

the refreshments for the international

Exposition Center in Madison.

participants while their son, Eric, has

That one bit of encouragement

overseen the Jersey show for 11 years –

led to three generations of Olstads

probably the most exciting part of which

volunteering, showing and encouraging

was bossing his dad around in the show

others to participate in the World

ring.

Dairy Expo – the current name of the

Today, even though some of the

event – which celebrated its own 50th

Olstads have moved from Wisconsin, their

anniversary in 2016.

volunteer work at the Expo continues.

Held every October in Madison at the

Eric recently took on a different

Alliant Energy Center, the Expo includes

position and now gets to work in the

This year, Emma followed in her

vendors and exhibitors from all over the

exhibition side of things, not as a

grandfather’s footsteps, studying at the

world.

volunteer but as an exhibitor. He still takes

University of Wisconsin-Madison. As a

time each year to show for friends from

member of the Badger Dairy Club, she

his hometown of Oregon, Wisc.

volunteers with them as part of the manure

Over the years, the Olstads have done different jobs at the event, and in 2002, Olstad and his wife, Sonjia, were named Expo Volunteers of the Year. Officials said

Angie, Eric’s wife, keeps everyone’s

line – which needs no explanation.

One of the greatest moments for the

schedule straight.

one of the main reasons for the award to

Today, the youngest generation of

family was when all three generations

the couple was their ability to bring in

Olstads has joined in the family tradition,

were in the show ring at one time – Eric

new volunteers for the event – many of

working the show ring. Emma and

showing, Emma on the manure line

which come from the Olstads’ Grange,

Molly both help show livestock in the

and Jim as ring man. Unfortunately, no

Prairie Grange #1832, in their new home

Jersey show and participate in a dairy

one could get a picture, but for all the

area of Boone County, Illinios.

showmanship competition.

Olstads, the memory is priceless.

ORDER YOUR GRANGE MONTH

Awards

Honor your members or community heroes during Grange Month with one of these awards: • Award • Pomona Grange Award for Public Service • Subordinate Community Citizen Award

• Subordinate Award and Paperweight

For more information, call Sales, Benefits, Programs and Member Recognition Director Loretta Washington at (202) 628-3507 ext. 109 or email sales@nationalgrange.org.

50

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

BE THE KEEPERS OF

your History

By Rachel Spassiani

Remember

The history of the Grange is the history of America.

that

history

is

everywhere – what’s in the books is

especially

in

this

sesquicentennial

celebration year?

Farming and community are what built the

just a report on what happened in

United States and the Grange Hall and local

the opinion of the author. History

Granges served as a center of rural life for

belongs to everyone, and it is our

EASY

so many communities. The Grange was and

responsibility to tell our own story.

Let’s get one thing straight, preserving

IT’S A FACT, PRESERVATION AIN’T

is an important tool for community building

As we all know, the foundation of

the past is not always simple and even

and preservation. As the oldest national

this organization is the Community

large organizations struggle to maintain

agricultural advocacy group, the Grange has

Grange, so why not start at the

collections.

much to add to any dialogue about American

local Grange level and embark on

history and the preservation of heritage.

the journey of historic preservation,

In 2005, Heritage Preservation, now American

Institute

for

Conservation

of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC), in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services, published a report called “A Public Trust at Risk: The Heritage Health Index Report on the State of America’s Collections.” The results of this deep dive into America’s collections were not good. Millions of artifacts, and indeed, entire collections were so vulnerable to damage and destruction that they could be gone in as little as 50 years.

This is why your work to preserve Grange history is so important. Little by little, you are doing the work of preserving the history of rural America.

You’re thinking: what chance does a Community Grange or other group of like-minded people have for preserving their own small piece of American history?

Well, as it turns out, small groups and individuals can have a lot of impact on the preservation of local history because

SASHES

their own collections and recollections are some of the greatest resources

Regalia from different levels of the Grange are examples of ephemera that may be of interest to scholars or casual historians.

available to future historians.

You’ve got to start somewhere, so why not start small? Below you will find

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

51

some suggestions for projects, and ideas for preservation that anyone can do.

MAKE YOUR OWN COLLECTION EPHEMERA/PHOTOS

In our homes and among our family heirlooms are all the things we need to start an historical preservation project. Grandpa’s old sash, check! Local recipe collection from Mom, check! Photos of Uncle Joe’s days on the youth drill team, check!

It’s a safe bet that each one of us has a few things lying around the house that would make great artifacts.

If everyone gathered those “few things” that are about their personal history with the Grange and loaned them to their Community Grange, that would be the beginning of a great collection. This would make an amazing display showing the impact of your Grange on your community and the lives of your members over time, a great addition to your Join the DO·ers Grange Month display.

Charter applications from the founding of the Grange have been bound into books and housed at the National Grange Headquarters

Be sure to record and catalogue each piece for future research and explanation.

Ask

each

person

who

provides an artifact to fill out a form with simple who, what, when, where and why and use a spreadsheet or scanner to make your catalogue or whole collection easily available and searchable.

If you receive something with unclear origins; add it to a newsletter, scan and email it, put it on Facebook or call the local library/historic preservation society/news

Plan to interview a few Grange

larger community.

leaders after a meeting and see what

When you feel confident that your

you find out. Word of mouth and a few

project has merit and is well underway,

well-placed announcements on social

or nearly finished, alert the media.

media or a local news story can help you

Write a press release and send it to a

reach out to anyone who has memories

local newspaper or news station. It’s

to share.

not that hard to do. Consult the Grange

Start with a few standard questions,

Communications

Handbook

available

particularly demographics, then let the

on the National Grange website or in

conversation flow from there.

print through the Grange Supply Store.

Don’t be afraid to use free audio

You can also contact the National

and video editing software to create a

Grange Communications Department

presentation or better preserve your new

to request help by one of the trained

you might find connected to your Grange.

oral history archive.

Communications

GET IT ON THE RECORD - ORAL

‘ONCE SHARED, TWICE ENJOYED’ -

Everyone has a story to tell and the

There is a lot of truth to old sayings

scale history project, consider sponsoring

particularly

historical

research projects at local schools or within

preservation. If you embarked on your

your own Junior Grange. Ask some high

own preservation projects, either on

school students to consider taking on

your own, or with your fellow Grange

the project to fulfill community service

members, there will come a time when

requirement or find a local youth attending

you need to share your work with the

college who may wish to do this as a

media. Someone might recognize a person, place or reference and give you a fresh perspective. You never know who or what

HISTORY

Community Grange can be a repository for those stories.

Modern technology, especially cell phones, give us lots of options to record sound and video.

52

Fellows

located

in

many of our states.

SHARING HISTORY as

related

If your local Grange doesn’t have the time or manpower to complete a full

to

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

capstone project. There are lots of eager

research tool, because for so long

and intrepid young historians who would

they

love to know more about their local area

America to the outside world. Even

and maybe even their family history.

the advertisements, classified section,

These history projects are skill-builders and a community can bond through them.

They teach children and teens the value of community and civic duty.

RESEARCH DIY – SOURCES There are a few places in every community where local history is best explored.

are

what

connected

rural

and obituaries contain a wealth of knowledge about your community.

• Go to your local municipal office ask if they have an archive.

Land records, permit filings, and tax records hold a treasure trove of information if you take the time to

• Start at the local library and

review them. Often local buildings

don’t be afraid to ask for help from

have been moved, improved, or

the librarian. Many libraries maintain

were even used in different ways.

their own collections of local artifacts

Research when your Grange Hall

and would be happy to assist you

was built, and who built it. You may

with a local history project. You can

be surprised by what you find.

often find extensive collections of local news sources online through the library or on microfilm. Don’t forget to ask if their archive contains any

personal

correspondence.

Letters and notes from the past are rich sources of information about people’s personal experiences.

• Contact a local preservation or historical society. Many towns and most counties and states have one. These societies have access to collections, and may employ professionals who know where to look for documents and records.

• If your town or community has

An historical society may even be

a newspaper, call or stop by their

interested in sharing resources if

offices and ask about their archives.

your collections or plans mesh well

Newspapers are such an important

with their ongoing projects.

Master’s

Photo Courtesy of: Miss Messie Flickr

From National Master Betsy Huber

Purchase a new Grange Record Book or the Grange Communications Handbook through the Grange Supply Store. Go online to shop at www.grangestore. com or order by calling Sales, Benefits, Programs and Member Recognition Director Loretta Washington at (202) 628-3507 ext. 109.

To get help writing a press release or with other publicity, contact Communications and Development Director Amanda Leigh Brozana by email at communications@ nationalgrange.org or by phone at (240) 623-1867 to find the Communication Fellow in your area.

INGREDIENTS

FAMILY RECIPE APPLE CRISP

FIRST VERSION OF HISTORY

•

5 apples, sliced and peeled

Topping: • ¾ cup brown sugar • ½ cup flour • ¾ cup quick oatmeal • 1 teaspoon cinnamon • ½ cup butter

Evenly place peeled and sliced apples into 9 inch round or 8 inch square pan. Combine the brown sugar, flour, quick oatmeal and cinnamon into bowl and mix Cut in butter with pastry blender or fork. Spread mixture on top of sliced apples. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes until apples are done.

Serve warm with ice cream.

Photo courtesy of Miss Messie Flickr

Tomb

GRANGE LAYS WREATH AT

On Monday, Nov. 14, the National Grange honored the sacrifice of our men and women of the armed services by laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown in Arlington National Cemetery.

Active duty Iowa Air National Guardsman Doug Baldwin; James Foster, West Virginia State Grange Master, an Army veteran who served during the Korean War; Marine Corps veteran Peg Johnson, of Potomac Grange #1, Washington, D.C.; and Navy veteran Chip Narvel, National Grange Steward of New Jersey, approached the tomb and assisted in the silent, moving ceremony in front of about 150 gathered Grangers and members of the public.

Foster said it was one of the greatest honors of his life to be part of the event.

The National Grange in conjunction with the National Grange Sesquicentennial Committee is proud to announce the 2017 150th Anniversary

Four-Minute Movie Contest

Break out your video cameras or even your smart phones and help us tell your Grange story through the medium of film! We want to commemorate our members and our stories through the production of four-minute movies that can be used to tell the world how amazing Grangers and the Grange are! Get creative as you or a group of participants put together your own four-minute-movie celebrating Grange! And here’s the best part: The prizes sponsored by the National Grange Foundation!

The top three finalist submissions will receive up-to a $200 travel stipend, Friday and Saturday night accommodations (one room per submission finalist) at the 151st Annual Session of the National Grange in Spokane, Washington and two tickets to the Celebration banquet where the winning movies will be shown and first, second, and third place awards announced!

1st

2nd

3rd

$1000 CASH PRIZE

$500 CASH PRIZE

$250 CASH PRIZE

All entries will be judged on content, quality, and creativity following a designated grading rubric (See attached). The top seven videos will be part of a social media popularity vote August 15 - August 31, 2017, with the top three favorites moving on to the finalist round at National Session in Spokane, Washington on November 11, 2017.

DEADLINES:

June 1, 2017: SUBMISSIONS OPEN

August 4, 2017: SUBMISSIONS CLOSE, midnight PST

August 15 – August 31, 2017: Top seven finalist popularity voting contest

September 1, 2017: Top three finalist announced

November 11, 2017: Prizes awarded at National Grange Celebration Banquet

Full rules and details available on next page

Four-Minute Movie Contest

RULES AND DETAILS:

• This contest is open to all Grange members!

• Videos must not exceed four minutes in length (not counting credits).

• Individuals may only enter one submission, but may also be included in an additional group submission.

• All entries must be accompanied by a completed submission form and waiver no later than MIDNIGHT (PST) on AUGUST 4, 2017.

• Late entries will not be accepted.

• The Sesquicentennial Committee reserves the right to close the Four-Minute Movie Contest at any time due to lack of interest or less than twelve quality submissions by close of submission deadline on Friday, August 4, 2017.

• All entries remain the property of the creator, but to qualify for any prizes, a waiver allowing the Grange to use the video for promotional purposes must be signed at time of submission.

• Members of Sesquicentennial Committee will qualify the top seven videos to move onto the public voting round. The top three videos will be judged by a qualified judge outside of the organization’s membership.

• Members of the Sesquicentennial Committee reserve the right to remove any entries from judging due to quality, themes, language, or violence deemed inappropriate for an all-ages audience.

• Due to large file sizes, submissions should be uploaded to DropBox, Google Drive, or similar program. Submissions will be considered complete upon receipt of sharing link emailed with entry form to 150videocontest@nationalgrange.org

WHAT WE ARE NOT LOOKING FOR: • • • •

Slide shows or PowerPoints of still images/photos with voice over narration A broad history of the Grange An internal critique of the Grange A “How to” video for current Granges, i.e. “How to Grow Membership,” or “Successful Lecturer’s Programs” • Negative or critical views of the Grange, Grangers or aspects of Grange History • Quickly produced movies/low quality More details will be announced in the Patron’s Chain and this magazine when they are made available

CHANGES MADE TO

Junior Grange

By Richard Bogdanowicz

Every year, the Grange and Junior Grange make updates to programs intended to enhance the member experience and remain relevant for today’s children.

If you need guidance or training for the Junior 1+ program, contact Junior Grange Development Director Samantha Wilkins by email at junior@ nationalgrange.org or call (210) 838-7892.

WHAT I S THE SA ME •

Creative Art Contests – This year the Creative Art Contest will incorporate the theme for 2018 “Stand Up and Speak Out for the Junior Grange”

•

Creative Writing – The Creative Writing Contest will use the 2017 theme “Follow in the Footsteps of the Junior Grange.” We want the Juniors to be creative in telling a story that represents this theme.

•

Photography – Using the 2017 Theme, Juniors are encouraged to take photos of something that portrays the theme best.

•

Mini-Scrapbook – This is a compilation of pictures and stories that tell about the Junior Grangers’ year and how they were able to “Follow in the Footsteps of the Junior Grange”

This year is no different. There are several modified and brand new elements to Junior Grange programming.

“It is my goal to keep strong the values of the Grange while still progressively moving forward with the times,” National Junior Grange Development Director Samantha Wilkins said.

“I feel it is important for all Grangers, young and old, to understand the roots of our organization. Understanding where we came from and how far we have come in the last 150 years, and continuing to stay strong and develop programming that will still be alive within this organization in another 150 years,” Wilkins said.

Additionally, each year the Junior program has a theme. For 2017, the theme is “Follow in the Footsteps of Junior Grange.”

Wilkins said the yearly themes for Junior Grange are chosen by the outgoing National Junior Grange Ambassador – in this case, Sarah Jordan of Massachusetts.

Jordan wanted to encourage Juniors to become leaders in their own Grange, Wilkins said.

Grange programs that have proven successful will continue as usual. These

Rules and Guidlines for Junior Grange programs are listed in the 2017 Program Guide available at nationaljuniorgrange. org.

programs are staples of the Grange.

The merit badge program remains

I remember most of these contests. It was always such a thrill to see your work displayed at National Convention, or tell others about

the same; however, new badges have been

the new Merit Badge you had earned,”

added and are introduced in this magazine

Wilkins said. “It really builds confidence and

on pages 60-61.

gives you such a sense of pride in yourself

“Starting out in the Grange as a Junior,

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and your organization. I am excited to be

57

able to carry out these traditions and

Juniors are given an earlier opportunity

build upon them in the coming years.”

to be exposed to an audience and

Wilkins said the changes to the program

develop great public presentation skills.”

come after she received feedback from Junior leaders and almuni of the program from around the country.

“I feel these are important changes that will help the Junior program move forward and continue to be relevant in the lives of its members,” Wilkins said.

“With the new age limits on the Sign-ASong and Public Speaking contests, gives

WHAT I S NEW •

2017 AWARENESS AWARD PROJECT THEME IS HONEY BEES This year’s theme is honeybee awareness.

Honey bees give us so much, Wilkins said, so it’s appropriate to devote 2017 to learning more about them and how they contribute to our everyday lives.

Each

Junior

that

successfully

• •

completes requirements for the Honey

W H AT H A S CHANGED •

• •

• •

• •

• •

Super JG Award – The Super JG is the highest Junior award that can be earned.

The requirements for 2017 have been changed.

However, for 2017 previous requirements will be accepted as we transition into the new program.

Bee Awareness Award will receive a certificate at the Junior Grange Breakfast during

the

151st

Annual

National

Grange Convention in Spokane, Wash., this November. Instructions on how to earn the award are included in the 2017 Program Guide, which is available online at www.nationaljuniorgrange.org.

Some requirements to earn the Awareness Award include demonstrating an understanding of why honey bees are important to our world by talking

Ambassador Program – This has been changed to allow Juniors from every State to represent their State as an Ambassador at the National Session.

to a local beekeeper. Juniors will create

Sign-A-Song Contests – These are now open for all ages to participate at the National Session.

“Honey bees are vital to us for many

Public Speaking Contests – These contests are now open for all ages to participate at National Session.

flyers to hang around their communities in an effort to educate people about the importance of honey bees. They may also help to create a “bee-friendly garden: in their community, at their Grange or at their home.

Good Day! Magazine quarterly writing contestIn each issue of Good Day! magazine there will be a theme announced for a writing contest. The winner for each quarterly topic will have their story published in the next issue of Good Day! Magazine.

for each Junior to learn how to have a voice about something of importance.

They must truly understand the why: why it is important, why they should care, why others should care, and what should they do about it,” Wilkins said.

“Developing a plan to bring awareness to others and seeing their plan through very important and educational.”

IT’S TIME The Grange is always looking for new members, and some of our greatest

58

12 Month Meeting GuideYou can find the 12-month guide for Junior Grange meetings on the National Grange website. This is your tool for any Junior Grange leader or new persons needing a kick start.

Badges, crafts, activities and Grange work are included in each month’s meetings.

reasons, and I feel that it is important

and see its effect on their community is

Merit Badges – 18 new Merit Badges have been added this year!

• •

Awareness AwardEach year, a theme will be selected, and we encourage all Juniors to help bring awareness to the issue by following some program guidelines.

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Grange leaders have come through the Junior program.

Do you have a friend that has the same great community and family values that you do? Why not bring them along to your next meeting and invite them to join?

Part of being a Grange member is wanting to help others succeed. Please introduce your friends, or your friends’ children, for our adult reading audience, to the Grange and show them how truly great it is to be a Granger.

New JUNIOR DIRECTOR Introducing the new Junior Director, Samantha Wilkins

By Richard Bogdanowicz Samantha Wilkins, born in San Antonio, Texas, has been a lifelong member of the Grange. At the age of 5, Samantha joined Junior Grange, making her mother, Penny and father Morris (Smokey) Martin proud. Today, at 29, she remains a member of Alamo Grange #1446.

She is deeply rooted to her heritage – both family and of the Lone Star State.

She, her husband Glenn, and their four boys reside on the same property her great-grandmother established.

Wilkins has served her local and State Grange in numerous roles throughout the years. Currently she is a member of the Texas State Grange Executive Committee and works in the State Communications Department. She also sits on several standing committees in her local Grange.

Her sons, Daniel, 10, Zachary, 6, Tilden, 4, and Jacob, 2, are all part of the Junior Grange and help inspire her when she thinks about new programming and service opportunities for children through the 5 to 14 year old spectrum covered by Junior Grange.

To contact Wilkins, send an email to juniors@nationalgrange.org or call her at (210) 838-7892. You can also find her on Facebook.

WRITE FOR Good DAY! DETAILS ON JUNIOR SUBMISSIONS

The work must be your own original writing. You may get your parent, guardian or another mentor or adult’s assistance to write the piece, but we expect all those who assist to adhere to high ethical standards and allow the Junior’s work to be reflected without influence by the adult/older assistant.

With the introduction of Good Day! magazine, we want to encourage all of our young writers out there! Each quarter we will have a new topic for our Juniors to write about!

For the May 2017 issue, we are looking for your best “campfire tales.” Be creative in telling a story about: •

Your family camping trip

•

Junior Grange Camp

•

Or any creative camping tale Submissions may be made via email to juniors@nationalgrange.org. The winner will have their submission published in the

next issue of Good Day! magazine.

Also, there is no age restriction on any creative submission category, so Juniors interested in photography, creative expression through poetry and prose and skit-writing may submit to communications@nationalgrange.org before any deadline of upcoming editions. Most issues will not have a required or requested theme for open-category submissions.

RULES FOR WRITING CONTEST •

Contest is open only to Junior Grange Members in good standing.

•

Each entry must be a minimum 500 words with a maximum for 1500 words, typed and double-spaced.

•

Each entry must be labeled with name, mailing address, phone number and email (if applicable) and birthday of Junior member and the state, name and number of the Junior Grange OR Subordinate Grange with which the Junior 1+ member is affilaited

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59

NEW MERIT Badges THE GRANGE ADVENTURE

GA 15 PEN PAL PROGRAM

GA 16 SIGN-A-SONG

GA 17 MUSIC

Join the Junior Grange Pen Pal Program.

Learn a song in sign-language from “Lift Up

Learn and memorize a minimum of three

Maintain handwritten communication for

Your Hands; Popular Songs in Sign-Language”

songs from the Junior Grange Songbook.

a minimum of one time per month for 6

by the National Grange or other resource.

Teach the songs to other Juniors at a Junior

months. Report back to your Junior Grange

Perform at Junior Grange meeting, Grange

Grange event.

Leader

Talent show, or State contest

GA 18 BAKING

GA 19 CROSS STITCH

GA 20 AWARENESS PROJECT

With adult supervision, make a cake or baked

Find a cross stitch pattern. Create a piece

Each year the Junior Grange has an

good from scratch. Prepare a meal for your family.

of any desired size by cross stitch. Show

Awareness Project. Find your own topic to

Present pictures to your Junior leader with written

your work to your Junior Leader. Enter (if

bring awareness to. Create a Flyer about your

testimony from someone that ate your treats.

applicable) your appropriate state contest.

topic. Tell other people about your topic and why it is important to be aware of it.

TEAM UP AMERICA Preamble

TUA 15 PREAMBLE

TUA 16 OCEAN DISCOVERY

TUA 17 HISTORICAL FIGURE

Memorize the Preamble to the U.S.

Name each ocean, and each ocean that

Select an influential person in American

Constitution. Recite at a Junior Grange

touches America. Gather pictures of sea life

History. Go to your local library to conduct

Event or to your Junior Leader

that only live in oceans touching American

research about this person. Create a picture

shores. Write a story about you if you had to

collage with informative tidbits. Ask your

live in one of those oceans.

library or teacher to display your project.

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TUA 18 FOOD FOR THOUGHT

TUA 19 HOMETOWN ROOTS

TUA 20 PATRIOTIC PRIDE

Talk to your family about healthy food and

Discover how and when your hometown

Create a drawing displaying your pride in

making healthy choices. Take a trip to the

was founded. Talk to older citizens in your

America. List three reasons you are proud to

local grocery store with your parent/guardian

community to discuss changes they have

be an American. Write a song or poem about

to discuss healthy food with your store

seen over their lifetime in the town. Create a

the founding fathers of the United States of

manager. Select items to create a meal that

display of your findings. Ask your local library

America.

has a balance from each food group.

or school to hang your display.

THE DISCOVERY NETWORK

DN 15 ANIMAL SHELTER

DN 16 SMALL WORLD PROJECT

DN 17 TREE IDENTIFICATION

Visit an animal shelter. Learn about the

Research a country of interest. Present an oral

Identify five to seven types of trees. Make

needs of the shelter. Collect items to donate

report or display about your chosen country.

a drawing of each tree. Create a list of facts

to the shelter (i.e. dog food, news paper, cat

Prepare a native dish to share.

about the trees ( bark, how its used, leaf

litter etc‌).

identification, etc.).

DN 18 DANCING

DN 19 CAMPING

DN 20 WHEN THEY WERE YOUNG

Learn a traditional two-step, line dance, folk

Plan a camping trip with your family. Make

Visit a nursing home or retirement center.

dance, or any other ethnic dance. Teach

a list of everything you would need to take.

Have a conversation with a few of the

other Juniors the dance.

Learn how to build a fire in the wilderness. If

residents. Discover what life was like when

you can, actually go on a camping trip with

they were your age. Write a story using the

your family.

facts they gave you to create a story about you if you lived in that time.

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61

FOCUS:

HONEY BEES Bees are amazing creatures, and with 20,000 different species in the world, they can get quite confusing. Some can look alike, and some look very different.

The type dearest to our hearts is the honey bee. This domestic honey bee is a docile bee that works in a colony to do one thing: make honey. Honey bees collect nectar and pollen to make honey. This is why they don’t have a mouth designed to chew: they lap liquid instead. Honey bees do their job so well that we can share some of that honey without hurting the bees.

What Honey Bees are not

An Intro to Honey Bees

By Richard Bogdanowicz Do you know how important honey bees are? Honey bees are fantastic for two big reasons: they make delicious honey, and they also pollinate our plants, so we can eat. Honey bees are in danger, though, and we need to do what we can

BUMBLE BEES

to protect them.

Honey is a great food source for us. Not only does it taste good, but it has all sorts of medicinal properties.

One amazing fact it has is that it never goes bad! Honey has been found by archaeologists that was about 5,500 years old, and it’s still edible.

Some of the medicinal properties of honey are: relieves allergies, provides

WASPS

added energy when you mix it in your drinks, boosts memory, soothes coughing, helps you sleep, and heals wounds/burns.

Honey bees help us make food and flowers by pollinating. Some crops, like blueberries and cherries, need honey

KILLER BEES Page Graphics courtesy of FreePik.com

causes the Colony Collapse Disorder, but

care of the bees and move them to areas

bees to pollinate them. Other crops

scientiests have some ideas, including

that need to be pollinated. This also helps

like almonds can only grow because

the use of powerful pesticides

the bees by giving them access to more

of the honey bees. Could you imagine

Some scientists are also investigating

food. Bees repay the favor with honey,

not having any blueberries, cherries or

another potential cause: mites. The

pollen, bee’s wax and royal jelly. You

almonds?

specific mite is called” Varroa mite.” This

probably know the first three but royal

Our honey bees are disappearing

little parasite can only reproduce in bee

jelly? Royal jelly is a secretion produced

because of Colony Collapse Disorder,

hives. They climb on the bees and suck

by worker honey bees. It’s used to treat

also known as CCD, according to

the hemolymph (the fluid in bees similar

asthma, hay fever, liver disease, high

scientists. American beekeepers report

to blood in us) until the bee dies. These

cholesterol and more. Some even say it

that they are losing up to 80 percent of

nasty little mites can kill off a whole bee

helps people fight the effects of aging.

their bees. This could endanger our food

colony.

supply because of the importance of bees in the food chain for humans.

No one is exactly sure about what

Honey bees are extremely important

Beekeepers are called “apiarists.”

to the life on our plants, and a very worthy

Apiarists can have a few hives or up to a

subject for everyone in the Grange to

few thousand hives to care for. They take

learn more about.

HONEY BEE

AWARENESS AWARD Complete the following to receive your 2017 Awareness Award.

All articles MUST have your •

Age

•

Grange Name & No.

• • •

Name State

Mailing Address

Here are some topics that could be addressed:

1. Talk to a local beekeeper about why honey bees are good for us 2. Create a flyer to raise awareness about honey bees. Hang the flyer at your Grange Hall, local businesses or grocery stores.

3. Encourage friends, family and neighbors not to use toxic chemical pesticides 4. Find out what plants honey bees are drawn to and plant a small (or large) garden, or help a local gardener or small group plant a garden.

5. Speak at your Junior Grange and/or Subordinate Grange about the importance of honey bees.

1)

Bees

aggressors.

are

defenders

not

2) Do you know how hard a bee has to work to bring you honey?

3) Medicinal products from the beehive.

4) Small Cell Beekeeping is making a difference reducing the CCD.

5) Feral bees are the bees of the

Submissions for Award:

future.

•

Submit a copy of your flyer

•

Any written testimonials about your efforts to bring awareness

•

Junior Leader must submit a letter stating your efforts.

•

Submit pictures of your efforts to bring awareness! (Talking to neighbors, at your Grange meeting, hanging flyers, etc…)

6) Did you know that bees were

around when there were dinosaurs?

7) Insecticides and fungicides kill bees slowly in their hives.

8) Progressive cities like New York

The Awareness Awards will be presented during the Junior Grange Breakfast at the 151st Annual National Grange Convention in Spokane, Wash. If you are unable to attend, we will mail your certificate.

and San Francisco allow people to keep bees in their gardens and balconies, does your city or town?

9) How to behave around bees.

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63

Help the honey bee find his outsigma of his hive.

30way by 30 maze

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Copyright © 2017 JGB Service, http://www.mazegenerator.net/ Copyright © 2017 JGB Service, http://www.mazegenerator.net/

A GRANGE

Story

By Ava Grenier-Riley Moosup Valley Junior Grange #27 (RI) Junior Submission

There were once green pastures, rolling hills, and dirt roads. People were happy. Families were together. Children ran through the streets without a care in the world.

Amidst this life, a wooden building stood. It was painted white with tall doors that seemed to be able to let in 100 people at a time. There was a Hall so grand, the floors gleamed and the furniture sparkled like newly-polished silverware.

Every Saturday the community members flooded the building. Women gossiped about all the town drama, men bragged about job promotions in the big city, and children played games with each other and danced around.

At the rap of the gavel, the community is brought to order, as each member found their place and listened intently.

Their meeting would then commence.

Ideas were stated, votes were taken, and community work for the betterment was completed. This was the Grange.

Years and generations passed. Large concrete buildings were built around the Grange Hall. A city was formed and many community members left, and moved, or just stopped coming.

The Hall floors became dull and worn after many years of use. Some of the furniture had broken. The white paint that had once covered the Hall like a blanket was now chipping away, revealing the

wind-washed wood. And as the years passed, less and less families started coming, until there were only eight of us remaining.

There were the Clarks, the Albertsons, the Judges, the Fielders, the Bentleys, the Silvas, the Posts and us, the Carlsons.

My family had been coming to the Grange since my great-great-grandfather joined in 1902. The Clarks,The Bentleys and us were the only young families who still participated. The rest of the families were old, with few or no children. My parents said that this would most likely be the last generation of our Grange.

When I heard this, my heart felt heavy.

I felt like if we let the Grange die out, it would be like a smack in the face to our family members and all the other past Grangers who had worked so hard to get the Grange to be what it is today. So, I took it upon myself to be the one to get new members to join.

I was only 12, so I needed to grow the Junior Grange. I also needed to grow my knowledge and understanding of other people different than me. I had grown up with the same people all my life. I made this decision, to grow my understanding and acceptance of others in order to help grow the Grange, last year.

It is now 2016, Mr. Fielder passed away, and Mrs. Fielder moved to a retirement home in North Dakota.

Mr. and Mrs. Silva moved to be with

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their only daughter, Susan, as she was preparing to start a young family. So, we were down to eleven adults, one baby and two teenagers. Jacob Bentley and I were the teenagers. We had been best friends since we were born. We had both grown up in the Grange and he agreed to help me get new members.

At school, I went up to my friend, Lausha. I told her about Grange, and I told her that she should invite her parents to come, too.

“What are the meetings like?” she asked.

“Well, we all sit down, the Master or President opens the Grange, we say the Pledge of Allegiance, we say a prayer...”

“My family doesn’t pray,” Lausha said.

“Oh.” I couldn’t think of anything else to say. I’m pretty sure the Grange would be okay with that. Lausha is really nice and so are her parents.

“That’s okay. You don’t have to pray.

The Grange is super open to that kind of stuff,” I improvised. “I’m pretty sure it would be okay. As long as everyone is respectful during the prayer.”

“I’ll come with my mom,” Lausha said.When is it?”

“Saturday. You guys can come to my house first,” I said. I was so excited. ”’K, thanks,” she said as she left. One down. Five was my goal.

“Emily!” I heard Jacob say.

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Ava Grenier-Riley Ava Grenier-Riley, 13, is the daughter of Kelly Riley and Patrick Riley. She lives in Rhode Island with her little brother Jonathan, and two kitties, Marie and Harlequin. She is in 8th grade and a fourth generation Granger.

She is the master of Moosup Valley Junior Grange, and Master of the Year for the Rhode Island State Grange Junior Department.

planned to tell them what I had learned at the next meeting. I am so glad that I invited Lausha and Falhado. I know that my friend Libby agrees that it’s important to learn about other cultures to make our community better and stronger.

She will definitely help me prepare a program for the Grange about growing our understanding of cultural differences.

“Okay,” Jacob said. “I have to get to class. Bye!”

“What?” I asked. I could tell that he had news.

“I got Marcus to agree to come,” he exclaimed, clearly proud of himself.

“Great. I asked Lausha. I also texted Libby, and she said that she would come to help out.”

“She’ll be great,” Jacob told me.

Three down. Two to go.

That night when I went home and told my parents, they said that I was really doing my part to help the community.

I didn’t tell them about Lausha though.

I wasn’t sure if they would accept our differences. I called Jacob and we talked forever about who we would ask next. We didn’t know who had cultural differences, and who wouldn’t be willing to come because it or they were different. I was also nervous that the Grange wouldn’t be able to accept them.

The next day, I walked into school and saw my friend, Falhado. I hadn’t talked to her much but she was really nice. I decided to ask her to come to the Grange with us. But, there’s a catch.

English wasn’t even her first language.

She moved here from Iran two years ago. I wondered if she prayed like us. I decided to find out.

“Hey! Falhado, right?” I asked.

“Yes, and you are Emily,” she said very calmly. I felt as though she was only half listening.

“Yup! I was wondering if you wanted to join Jacob, Libby, Marcus, Lausha and I on Saturday at a Grange meeting.” I

66

wondered what she would say.

“What is a Grange meeting?” she asked. She was very polite.

“Well, there is a Master, like a club President, and we have meetings. The Master opens the meeting, we say the Pledge of Allegiance, we say a prayer.”

I paused to see if she would say anything but she didn’t.

“And we discuss community issues and try to solve them by making a plan. We vote on and working together to complete projects that help our community. Your parents can come, too.”

“Sounds like it could be fun. But, my mom is Muslim. Will the Grange be okay with that?” she asked.

“Yeah, totally. Do you guys pray?” I didn’t know.

“Oh yes. She and I both pray,” Falhado said.

“Okay. The address is 106 Piney Boulevard,” I told her.

“Alright, see you there!” she said.

I saw Jacob in the hallway later and told him that I invited Falhado and he was unsure.

“I don’t know. She’s Muslim, right?” he asked.

“She is. We might just have to grow our knowledge and understanding of their culture. Different shouldn’t mean bad, you know.” I couldn’t believe him.

He should be more accepting.

I guess, I should be, too. I decided that my Grange and I needed to grow our knowledge of other cultures. I

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“Good

luck.

I

am

excited

for

Saturday,” and I genuinely was.

Jacob told me later that he had also invited Pierre Petmanguer, the new exchange student from France. I was glad that he, too, was bringing in people from diverse cultures to Grange. After all, our community was made up of lots of different people from all over the world.

For Grange to grow, we would have to make room for all kinds of people who shared our interest in helping our community be better.

On Saturday, the Grange meeting went smoothly. The Grange members were nervous at first, but once we all started discussing our spring service project, they forgot their differences. It was just about the work that needed to be done and the skills and information each of us could offer to the project.

We, as a Grange, needed to grow our knowledge of other cultures and learn to respect them more, because for urban and suburban Granges like mine, other cultures needed to be accepted to growth the Grange. And my whole Grange agrees.

YOUTH PROGRAMS OF

Distinction

5 state, 3 Community Granges earn annual award

By Charlene M. Shupp Espenshade They organized community service projects, brought Youth together to learn about rural advocacy, taught leadership and mentored Grangers to aspire to greater accomplishments.

This year, a total of eight youth programs across the country were named 2015-16 Distinguished Grange Youth Programs and honored during the G.R.O.W. Club Banquet at the 150th Annual National Grange Convention.

This program was established four years ago to recognize Grange youth programs that go above and beyond to benefit their Grange Youth and Young Adult members.

“It takes time, effort and commitment to achieve this award. I am proud of the work that each of these programs have done to impact their Grange programs and generate a new crop of Grange leaders,” National Master Betsy Huber said.

Youth lock-ins at three different Grange Halls in New York State provides several opportunities for New York State Grange Youth to gather for workshops, contests and fun. Each event is hosted in different parts of the state to give Youth multiple chances to participate. The winter conference is where the state’s Youth lay the groundwork for their regional conference drill to present at the Northeast Regional Youth Conference’s drill contest.

“Here in New York, our youth get together for three youth weekends each year in addition to contest day, Northeast Regional Youth Contest, and State and National Grange,” New York State Grange Youth Directors Paula Turner and Elaine Smith said in an email. “We move the weekends around the state so people don’t always have to travel as far.”

A typical Grange Youth Leadership Weekend begins with Friday night games, snacks and fellowship as they arrive throughout the evening. On Saturday, they

host workshops, tour a local attraction, and organize group games followed by nightly vespers. On Sunday, there is a worship service led by a Youth, a local Granger, or occasionally by a local minister.

The Pennsylvania Grange Youth committee revamped and revived their State Grange Young Adult conference. An event targeted to members ages 21 to 35, and “young-at-heart” Grangers focused on providing workshops on how to purchase a house and other life skills. The group toured the Milton Hershey School and stopped by Hershey’s Chocolate World. The weekend’s greatest benefit – giving Grange young adults a chance to connect with their peers, State Grange Youth Director Ellen Wadsworth said.

“We were excited to start the Young Adults/Marrieds weekend up again in Pennsylvania,” Wadsworth said. “I think it is key in maintaining the interests of our older Youth and providing them a way to enjoy fellowship with their peers. These are the Youth that we don’t want to lose interest as they are the closest to being able to step into leadership roles at their county and at the state level, if they haven’t already.”

The Washington State Grange Youth collected more than 1,300 items for their “Keep Washington Warm” community service project. The Grange Youth and Young Adults collected hats, gloves and other winter clothing to donate at different emergency agencies in the 12 counties that hosted the 2016 state session.

“It was a great experience that really brought the Youth Department in Washington State together to accomplish the same goal as a Youth group,” said Washington State Youth Kennedy Gwin, who was named the 2016-17 National Grange Youth Ambassador in November.

“It also helped us learn to network with other Youth from across the state and got us more active in the community service aspect of Grange.”

The North Carolina State Grange Youth

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Department organized its annual “Youth Caravan” where their state Grange Youth team traveled across the state encouraging youth – Grange and non-Grange – to attend their annual summer youth Grange camp.

The Massachusetts Grange Youth Association hosted quarterly meetings to offer leadership training opportunities for their Grange members. The association helps newer Grange Youth members to learn more about the organization, connect with other Youth and Young Adult members across the state and compete in state-level contests.

The three Subordinate Grange honorees were active making an impact in their communities. Youth from these Granges hold Subordinate, Pomona and State offices, competed in public speaking contests and other Youth Achievement Award activities, are members of the State Officer teams and more.

Youth from North Cameron Grange #355, in New York, hosted a coffee break at a rest stop, encouraging holiday drivers to take a break for safety.

Youth from Uxbridge Grange #200, in Massachusetts, participated in a resolution-writing workshop at their State Grange convention and had a youth write a resolution that was passed and sent to the State Convention for consideration.

Youth from Humptulips Grange #730, in Washington, entered a Grange Youth promotional display in their county fair.

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GIVE BACK THIS

Earth Day

By Jenna Spinelle

Earth Day is an opportunity to reinforce the Grange ideals of community service and conservation.

Founded in 1970 by former U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, it has grown into a global event aimed at spreading the message to protect the planet.

While Earth Day is a few months away on April 22, it’s never too early to start planning, especially for Grange Youth and Young Adults as well as Junior leaders.

Not sure what type of project to do this Earth Day? Here are a few ideas for way to give back while teaching children and young adults important lessons about the environment: TREES FOR THE EARTH Trees for the Earth is a worldwide campaign organized by the Earth Day Foundation that seeks to plant 7.8 billion trees worldwide by April 22, 2020 — the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. According to the Earth Day Foundation, it takes roughly 96 trees to absorb the amount of carbon dioxide produced by one person in a single year. Trees also absorb other pollutants such as nitrogen oxide, ammonia and ozone.

Get involved by raising money to support Trees for the Earth, or organizing a tree planting drive in your area. Not only will children feel like they are helping the environment, they will get the satisfaction that comes with being part of something larger than themselves.

Visit earthdayfoundation.org for more information on how you can get involved.

EARTH DAY GROCERIES PROJECT The Earth Day Groceries Project is an awareness project in which students decorate paper grocery bags with environmental messages for Earth Day. This simple activity can help spread an environmentallyfriendly message throughout your community and let children see their work in action at the grocery store.

The project was founded in 1994 and has spread to thousands of schools around the world. Anyone can participate by contacting your grocery store and asking to borrow paper bags. The bags are usually packaged in bundles of 500.

Once you have the bags, encourage students to decorate

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them with environmental messages like “Reuse this bag!” and “Keep Our Earth Clean.” Deliver decorated bags back to the grocery store and ask to have them distributed on and around Earth Day. The project’s website, earthdaybags.org, has more information on how to get started and ideas for decorating bags.

TRASH ON YOUR BACK This challenge gives new meaning to the term “zero waste” by asking participants to carry all of the trash they generate on their backs for five days.

It started at MIT in 1989 and has spread to colleges, K-12 schools and businesses around the country.

Trash On Your Back may be better suited for Youth or Young Adults, but it can easily be modified for Junior Grange members by restricting it to trash collected during the school day. Either way, the goal is to make participants think twice about every piece of trash they produce.

According to the EPA, the average American generates 4.4 pounds of trash per day. Even if children don’t carry that much trash, the exercise will provide a lesson on how to be more conscious about individual trash production.

Pair the activity with a trip to a local landfill or participate in a community clean up day to take the idea even further.

For more information, email info@trashonyourback.com or visit trashonyourback.com.

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

IN THE SPOTLIGHT Mandy Bostwick

National Grange Outstanding Young Patron’s Grange Roots Run Deep

By Robert Gilman After generations of members on both sides of the family have worn many sashes signifying their leadership at all levels of the Grange, you would think there was no accomplishment in the fraternal order the Bostwick and Steffey families – with five and four generations of Grange heritage respectively – could celebrate anew.

Roger Bostwick serves as the Priest Archon for the Assembly of Demeter and was elected in October at the Kansas State Grange convention to his second tour of duty as State Master.

Immediately following his election, his wife Melanie (whose maiden name is Steffey), clothed with her State Secretary sash that she had worn for two years, stood and said she would – because of Roger’s new again position – not accept the position if reelected to Secretary for the State Grange. That didn’t stop their older daughter, Molly, from being re-elected Lady Assistant Steward and their younger daughter, Mandy, who also serves as the State Youth Director, from being elected State Ceres.

While interesting to have three of four members of the nuclear family as part of the State Grange leadership, none in the family saw this as much of a fete but rather a calling and humbling responsibility.

However, in November, when Mandy was announced National Grange Young Patron 2016-17, there were tears of joy and pride – maybe more than were shed at Molly’s wedding, Roger whispered. It was the first time in anyone’s

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

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A glance through time The family members we’re looking at are Nannie and John Bostwick (great grandparents) and Nannie Bostwick and Byron and Lola Mae Bostwick’s (grandparents) sixth and seventh degree certificates. All photos by Molly Newman.

memory that a young person from

Activities Director Beulah Winter, a call

hearing deficits to get what they needed

Kansas had been selected as a national

went out for Grange members to send

to interact with the world and learn along

role model for other members and

old neckties to the Kansas home of Eva

with their peers.

spokesperson for the Grange.

Jean Steffey, Mandy’s grandmother. The

Kermit Richardson, who was serving

ties were then cleaned and cut apart by

in his second term as Master of the

Mandy and her grandmother.

National Grange, and his wife, Margaret,

NOT NEW TO THE SPOTLIGHT This is not the first time Mandy, now

Eva Jean fashioned the neck-ties into

were great supporters of the project,

26, has been in the National Grange

intricate quilts for raffles, which provided

Melanie said, and invited the family

spotlight, however.

funding for a program that was just in its

to attend the 131st Annual National

infancy – “The Mandy Project.”

Grange

At the age of 3, Mandy was sitting in front of the television at her grandparents’

“The

response

from

Convention

in

Springfield,

Grangers

Mass., to recognize the family and the

house, when her grandfather, Delvis, said

to donate ties to this project was

importance of the programs that were

something and noticed that Mandy did

overwhelming.

springing up throughout the Grange

not respond.

coming,” Melanie said.

The boxes just kept

family nationwide.

Delvis asked her the question again and

While the National Grange provided

“It was such a beautiful moment when

again she did not respond, but her sister,

some funds, raised through the raffles

Kermit presented Mandy with her plaque,

Molly, and her cousin, Cody, sitting beside

and other projects, to many Grange

savings bond and teddy bear from the

her both got in front of her and asked the

members who suffered hearing loss to

Vermont Teddy Bear Company,” Melanie

same questions and she spoke to them.

offset their costs of hearing devices and

said. “She beamed ear-to-ear and then

services, some states took the initiative

gave both Kermit and Margaret a hug.”

While some had noticed Mandy was slow to speak as a toddler, no one

much further.

“As parents we were humbled by the

expected when Delvis took Mandy to a

Colorado State Grange Master Cindy

love and support Grangers shared for

“Count your Kid In” screening where she

Greer said the State Grange proposed

Mandy and our family. At that moment,

tested with 95 percent hearing loss.

a pilot “Mandy Project” to the National

we weren’t just members of the Grange,

Grange, and was given permission to

we were family of all Grangers.”

She was diagnosed with Chronic Otitis Media with severe scarring in both ears.

open the program.

By that time, Mandy had regained

But the Bostwick and Steffey families

“Our vision included reaching out

most of her hearing – about 80 percent

refused to be paralyzed by tragedy, and

to non-Grange families,” Greer said, to

or more in each year – thanks to a

instead, a movement was born.

help with the cost of hearing aids and

successful myringotomy to release fluids

other devices that allowed children with

followed by surgery to remove scar tissue

Thanks to then National Grange Deaf

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GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

in the ears. However, she was still working

In 1999, Congress passed the Newborn

with a speech therapist and beginning to

and

and

After years of infrequent use, Mandy

learn American Sign Language.

Intervention Act that helps fund testing

had forgotten many of the lesser-used

Infant

Hearing

Screening

FULL CIRCLE

At the convention and for years to

for hearing deficits in babies before they

signs for words and was out of touch

come, she would meet others her age or a

leave the hospital, making it part of the

with the slight variations and changes in

few years older who were also learning sign

standard of care for newborns in the U.S.

American Sign Language since she was

language as part of initiatives in the Grange

Although The Mandy Project ended

Youth and Junior Grange departments to

at the national level in 2001, today it lives

But in 2015, she learned she would

match deaf and hard of hearing activities

on in several state and local Granges,

have a deaf student in her classroom the

being done throughout the Grange.

including Colorado, which has helped

next fall and she knew she would need to

about five-dozen people and counting.

re-learn sign language.

As happens with many Grange efforts, an advocacy component was born as well.

a child.

Melanie said she and Mandy often

“I needed practice and I needed

laugh about the great irony of the project.

someone to practice with,” Mandy

something, they really do it,” Melanie said.

“After Mandy helped cut all those

said. “I learn things sometimes best by

Granges across the nation began to

ties, Grandma never did make Mandy a

teaching them or seeing if I can teach

quilt,” Melanie said.

them, so that’s what I decided I should

“When

Grangers

decide

to

do

speak in favor of infant-deafness testing.

As parents we were humbled by the love and support Grangers share for Mandy and our family.

At that moment, we weren’t just members of the Grange, we were family of all Grangers.

Teaching her niece Kimber to sign helped the language skills and passion return

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

71

do.”

Mandy

She went to her niece,

considering

said

she

is

operation known as Paradise

reaches farther than the farm

returning

to

Simmentals.

Mandy’s family

and agriculture. It gives you

Kimber, who was 18-months

college to pursue her master’s

lives on part of the land in trust,

opportunities to teach people

old at the time and just

degree in deaf education so

raising chickens and helping

about agriculture and what

starting to speak.

she can “help deaf students

with the care of the cattle.

agriculture does for you.”

“I taught her a few signs,”

get past language barriers and

Mandy and Molly were both

Mandy said. “Then she started

make sure they have every

in 4-H as children, showing

together, so it makes sense that

singing and signing, so she’s

opportunity available.”

steers

entering

it is the starting point for the

learned it, and her baby-sitter

and

swine,

“Food

brings

people

photography, arts, crafts, foods,

Grange,” Mandy said. “But it’s

has continued that so she’s

AGRICULTURE AND SERVICE

horticulture and fashion items.

not the end. It’s the beginning.

learning a lot more signs. “

IN FOCUS

Roger and Melanie served as

I want people around my age

Much of the lost language

Third-grade science, math,

parent leaders for their projects

to know that being part of the

began to rush back as she

reading and ASL are not the

and today Mandy and Molly

Grange helps you get out and

taught Kimber and prepared

only things Mandy hopes to

each continue to assist with

do something good for your

for her student’s arrival, and

teach others about.

4-H — Mandy as the assistant

community. It helps you be

her passion for the language

“I want people to know the

for the District Ambassadors

more rounded and helpful as a

did as well when she saw

importance of agriculture, not

and Molly as the countywide

person.”

Kimber’s excitement.

only in the farmland but also

photographer.

“My overall hope is that

within the urban communities,”

works

one day she’ll be bi-lingual so

Mandy said. “Understanding

Extension office, helping agents

she can communicate in both

agriculture

and

horticulture

and

English and ASL.”

and

they

impact

among her many other roles.

how

all

for

Melanie

the

marketing

“Agriculture

also

Meadowlark programs,

When she entered the

people helps you to appreciate

classroom in the fall, Mandy

where you live... rural America

Grange have been such huge

and

the

said she was able to speak

or urban America. ”

NEW BEGINNINGS For that reason, Mandy is focusing in 2017 on starting a new Grange – and in doing so, giving up a long-held dream.

In

1919,

Pleasant

View

parts of my life,” Mandy said.

Grange #1459 was chartered in

with the child, her parents

The Bostwick Family is a part

“Agriculture is the basis of

Ozawkie Township with many

and teach basic signs to the

of the Steffey Irrevocable Trust,

everything that we do. Without

of Mandy’s relatives as part

rest of her class so they were

which helps the family remain a

it, we wouldn’t have the things

of the original membership.

all able to interact and look

part of the cow-calf operation

that we have. But the Grange,

The land the Grange Hall

past the difference most were

as well as the custom hay

it’s so much more because it

was built on was donated by

encountering for the first time.

“It was a true blessing,” Mandy said, to have the opportunity to connect with this

student

and

reignite

her own passion for sign language,

deaf

awareness,

advocacy and education.

“Having a deaf student in my classroom was eyeopening and gave me a different watching

perspective, her

and

interactions

with students was humbling,” Mandy continue

said.

“I

helping

want

to

students

to have the experience my student had communicating with others”

72

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

charter members Ira and Eva Steffey, the great-grandparents of

Hall published by National Grange in the early 20th century.

Melanie, with a clause in the deed that should the Grange ever

The solid structure with beautiful wooden floors that could be

close, the land and building would revert to the Steffey family.

overlooked by others because of its need for cosmetic updates

In 2006, Pleasant View Grange, which still meets today

fascinated the high-school aged Mandy who later began to

in a church about six miles from the building, abandoned the

dream of the building that feel like a sanctuary – a home.

Hall because the building did not have good heating and air

She began planning to make the Hall her home one day. She

conditioning or up-to-date restrooms and the group was no

would turn the back half of the upstairs into an open kitchen and

longer able to afford the taxes. The clause kicked in, making

leave some of the Grange memorabilia on the walls, which include

Melanie the owner of a acre and a half of land with the dusty

many pictures of Grange functions held there in the past, and of

two-story stucco building, complete with a stage for degree

course, some Bostwicks and Steffeys sprinkled throughout. Her

work, constructed from suggestions on how to build a Grange

imagination was endless with the possibilites of making this a home.

But her dreams began to change again when she started to

A FAMILY AFFAIR Kansas State Grange Master Roger

see how the Hall could be a community center and gathering place for a new Grange with younger members and a different type of service focus and programming that felt more relevant to Millennials.

Bostwick, his wife, Melanie, second from left, along with their oldest dau-

“I hope that the Grange can help youth understand their importance to the community around them – to see themselves

ghter, Molly, far right, are part

as part of a balance between doing and benefiting from those

of the team installing Mandy,

who do,” Mandy said. “I want them to know there are others –

Roger and Melanie’s youngest

some younger – who are making their communities better and

daughter, middle, as State

stronger and they can join us in the Grange and feel fulfilled.”

Grange Ceres and Mandee

Mandy said it is important that the new Grange, even with

Strawder, second from right,

members who have never heard of Grange previously, keep

as State Grange Flora during

with tradition and include ritualism in their meetings and work.

the 2016 Kansas State Grange Convention.

“The ritualism of Grange meetings helps keep alive the traditions, allows members to understand the lessons and the foundation that the Grange was based on and unites us all as a family,” Mandy said.

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

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GRANGE Book Club The Georgia Peach: Culture, Agriculture, and Environment in the American South

If you’ve ever driven Interstate 85, maybe traveling nearby South Carolina exits 90 and 92, it would be hard to miss.

You’ll start to see it come into view: a giant water tower fashioned into the shape of 1-million gallon peach, 135 feet tall, whose base resides in Gaffney, S.C., while the light orange orb makes its home in the hearts of fuzzy fruit lovers and those who swoon a bit at southern cultural symbols.

While the peach – the fruit not the water tower – is certainly an icon of the American South, William Thomas Okie, a professor at Georgia’s Kennesaw State University, artfully examines the history and cultural importance of the fruit, which is anything but larger than life in the region’s agricultural economy.

Okie’s look at the influence of advertising, science, technology, cultural forces, race issues and international politics all take a bite out of the idea that the peach is indeed as powerful as the lore surrounding it.

More agriculturally inclined readers will enjoy Okie’s inclusion of business, breeding, botany and biology of the peach and our human relationship with the world around us.

The more general reader will find the examination and intersections of immigration, rural reform efforts especially in relation to race relations and marketing efforts intriguing.

All readers will come away enjoying the flavor with which Okie makes us engage with the peach.

By Amanda Leigh Brozana

Hardcover $34.99 (Prime eligible) Kindle e-book $28.

Buy William Thomas Okie’s “The Georgia Peach: Culture, Agriculture, and Environment in the American South” through smile.amazon.com and support the Grange Foundation with your purchase.

PAST MASTER PENS SECOND BOOK FARM GROWN LEADERSHIP, Edward L. Luttrell e-Book (Kindle Edition) $2.99 In mid-January, past National Grange Master Edward L. Luttrell released his second e-book, “Farm Grown Leadership,” on Amazon.

The series of short stories offered in the 93-page book, are drawn from Luttrell’s experiences during his formative years, each of which tie to leadership lessons he took from his time with 4-H, FFA and the Grange. The writing often has great humor and class, and is approachable for leaders of all levels or those interested in leadership development.

Luttrell is now the District Secretary/Executive Director of the Pacific Northwest District of Kiwanis International.

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GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

FIZZY PEACH PUNCH Before picking up your copy of “The Georgia Peach,” take a few minutes to prepare a tasty beverage you can enjoy while learning more about the peach.

Ingredients 4 peaches 2 cups boiling water 3 green tea bags

1/4 cup lime juice 2 tablespoons of honey 36 ounces ginger ale

Boil two cups of water, remove from hea and add three green tea bags. Steep for 20 minutes, remove bags and allow tea to cool.

Prepare 6 cups of water to boil in sauecpan. Take four peaches and put a small X on the bottom with a paring knife. No need to slice into the fruit, just split the skin and set aside. When your water is boiling, set peaches one at a time onto a metal fruit or fryer strainer and dip the peaches into the water for 3040 seconds. Remove the peaches from the water, then slip the skins off. Slice and pit as usual.

Put slices into a blender with 1/4 cup of lime juice and 2 tablespoons of honey (more to taste) and blend to puree.

Combine 3 cans (36 oz.) of ginger ale, cooled tea and puree in a 2-quart pitcher with some ice. You can garnish with a few peach slices in the punch and a slice of lime on the rim of the glass.

NEW SHIPPING RATES FOR SUPPLY STORE Effective as of March 1, new shipping rates will apply to the below items. The

otherwise it will take a minimum of three weeks to complete your order.

increase reflects a portion of the rising

All shipping and handling costs for

costs the National Grange faces to ship

National Grange items will now be the

items to members.

same price as the Grange Store.

View

the

affected

items

below:

Membership Recognition • Golden Sheaf is $10, plus $4 for shipping and handling.

• 75-year Diamond Certificate and folder is $10, plus $4 for shipping and handling.

• Special letters or congratulatory letters: no charge.

If you need the certificate to be delivered by specific date for presentation,

Prices are listed below: Grange Hall Award The 100-year and 125-year awards (including certificate and a 8”x10” wood plaque) are at no charge, but shipping and

TOTAL ORDER COST Up to $10 : $4.00

$10.01 - $19.99 : $5.00 $20.00 - $49.99 : $7.00 $50.00 - $74.99 : $9.00

$75.00 - $99.99 : $10.00

$100.00 - $124.99 : $12.00 $125.00 - $249.99 : $15.00

$250 and above : $20.00

handling will be $10.

Please note if you need the certificate

The updated order form is available

to be delivered by specific date for

at the National Grange website or

presentation, otherwise it will take a

contact Loretta Washington at sales@

minimum of three weeks to complete your

nationalgrange.org or by phone at (202)

order.

628-3507 ext. 109.

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MOTHER’S DAY

By Jenna Spinelli

On a Budget

Showing your mom that you care on Mother’s Day — on Sunday, May 14 — does not necessarily mean breaking the bank. There are a variety of gift options that can make your mom feel special no matter what your budget.

Before you buy another candle or send the same bouquet of flowers, check out these ideas and think outside the box this May. FOR THE OLDER MOM: MEMOIR WRITING One of the most important things any child can do is work with their parents to capture family stories and important moments before they are lost forever. Start this Mother’s Day by purchasing the book “Letters to My Grandchild: Write Now. Read Later. Treasure Forever” (available using smile. amazon.com).

The book includes paper to capture memories and words of wisdom and envelopes to seal them away for later reading. Topics include “Here is a special story about our family” and “The best advice anyone ever gave me was … “

Think of the notes like a family time capsule that can be treasured for years to come. The writing process is a great activity for retired moms who have time to collect their thoughts and put them to paper.

If writing presents a challenge, another gift option is to hire a writer in your area who can interview your mom about her life and capture it in an oral or written history that is preserved for your family.

FOR THE FIT MOM: INFUSER WATER BOTTLE If your mom likes to work out, she probably has a ton of water bottles, but she might not have one with an infuser. This type of bottle has space in the middle to add fresh fruit, mint, cucumbers, or whatever else you’d like to use to flavor your water. The flavor seeps into the water while the ingredients remain separate.

Infuser bottles start at around $10 and come in a variety of shapes and sizes that can be used on the go or at the gym.

Find them at stores like Target and Wal-Mart, or online.

FOR THE LITERARY MOM: TEXTURE SUBSCRIPTION Moms who like to read on a Kindle or tablet are bound to love a subscription to Texture, an app that houses digital

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versions of more than 200 magazines. It includes everything from Cooking Light to National Geographic and is updated with new issues at the same time they hit newsstands.

Content can be downloaded for later reading, which is great for saving things like recipes and decorating ideas.

Apple rated Texture one of the Best Apps of 2016. A gift subscription costs $10 for three months of unlimited access, with the option to renew after that.

FOR THE FOODIE MOM: ENGRAVED ROLLING PIN Your mom’s amazing cookies, cakes, and pies are about to get even better. Patterned rolling pins add a fun twist to classic recipes. Every time the pin is rolled over dough, it leaves an imprint behind. Patterns range from flowers to fruit to dogs and cats.

Valek is the most popular brand of these rolling pins.

Find them at valek.com, Amazon or Etsy. There are several recommended patterns for Mother’s Day, and custom patterns are also available. Prices start at around $25.

FOR THE CRAFTY MOM: PHOTO COLLAGE CELL PHONE CASE Every time your mom looks at her phone, she can be reminded of her loving family. To make this D-I-Y gift, assemble a collage using photo editing software like Photoshop or PicStitch, print it on 4” x 6“ photo paper and mount it inside a clear cell phone case.

While you’re at it, consider making a few collages that your mom can swap out — maybe one containing photos from each season or one devoted to each grandchild. Change the photos as often as needed, or show your mom how to make her own collages.

FOR ANY MOM: VOLUNTEER TOGETHER Rather than buying your mom a gift certificate for a spa day, spend time volunteering together at her favorite nonprofit and make a donation to that organization on her behalf. It’s a great way to get some quality time together while helping the community.

You may not be able to do this on Mother’s Day itself, but if you know the organization in advance, you can have a date, time and location set up and ready to reveal on May 14. If you have siblings, encourage them to do the same — either with a different nonprofit or with the same organization on a different day or do it as a family together and create a lasting memory that mom is sure to cherish.

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

DO-IT-YOURSELF

Wood Photos

Step-by-step instruction of how to transfer photos to wood.

This transforms any photo into a precious piece of art that is perfect to keep in your home, give as a gift, or to sell at a fundraising event. You may also choose to give it to your someone special for Valentine’s Day or as a Mother’s Day gift.

The best part? You will only need four items!

So, let’s begin.

1

In addition to your favorite photographs, you can also print out pictures of your favorite quotes to use as sophisticated decorations around the house!

2

Choose Photograph & Upload to Your Computer Once you know what photograph you would like to use for this project, make sure it is saved onto your computer. If it is an older photograph, scan and upload the photograph onto the computer.

Edit Photograph (Optional) When you transfer this picture from the fabric transfer

This step is not required.

paper and onto a new surface, it will appear backwards. To prevent this, edit the photograph on your computer so it

MATERIALS • Photograph (this will need to be saved on a computer) • Block of wood • Fabric transfer paper (sometimes called T-Shirt transfer paper) • Scissors

prints out as a mirror image that will transfer onto the wood as the original orientation of the photograph.

To do this, simply open editing for the picture on the computer. You should be able to find options for “flip” or “mirror image” under the tools section.

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77

Yourself

DO-IT-

3

Fabric transfer paper can usually be found at your local craft store, and often come in packs of 6 pages or more.

Print the Photograph onto Fabric Transfer Paper Place the fabric transfer paper into the printer with the logo side facing up, this means the side you want the picture to print on will be face down. As you print the photograph, you can also decide if you want it to be in color or black and white. The final product will come out great either way. For this project, a black and white photo was used for a more aged appearance

4

Cut Excess Paper After you have printed the photograph onto the fabric transfer paper, cut the photograph out. It is important to try to leave as little of a border around the photograph as possible.

If children are completing this project, it would be best that a parent assist with this step.

5

Prepare to Transfer the Photograph Place the photograph face down onto the block of wood and secure one edge with a small piece of tape. Make sure that the picture is placed exactly as you desire, and do not remove the outer layer of the fabric transfer paper.

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6 The more pressure you apply with the iron, the better the photograph will transfer.

Try using two hands to press down with the iron.

Transfer the Photograph Place the iron directly on the photo and hold it down with pressure for about 10 seconds, focusing on each area of the photograph. Spend a total of three minutes ironing the picture, and be sure to pay close attention the edges.

It is important not to slide the iron across

In a few minutes, your beautiful piece will be ready to display!

7

the back of the photo as this could move the photograph and cause smudging.

Now that you are an expert at this project, get creative with it! Glue a few blocks of wood together for a more artsy appearance, or add hooks to the block so that the piece can hang on the wall!

Remove Backing Remove the back layer of the fabric transfer paper slowly and carefully. If the edges are lifting along with the backing, you can place it back down and iron it for a little longer.

Do not worry if tiny pieces of the photograph lift as you are peeling away the backing. This will give the piece a naturally weathered appearance.

After you have peeled the rest of the backing away, your project will almost be complete. Try your hardest not to touch the transfer of the photograph until it cools and is no longer sticky.

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79

UPCOMING QUILT

By Kim Stefanick National Master Betsy Huber announced during the 150th Annual National Grange Convention that the Grange Foundationwill hold a crafty fundraiser in 2017.

The Foundation will host the Great American Quilt and Handicraft Expo, which will take place in November 2017 at the end of the 151st Annual National Grange Conference in Spokane, Wash.

The Expo is a public event designed to promote the Grange and find donors outside our membership base for Grange programming such as Junior Grange, Grange Youth, Kelley Farm and more, Huber said.

“Quilts and handicrafts reflect our history – our American roots – where everyone created necessary household items by hand and turned them into artwork, passing on these skills to their children and grandchildren,” Huber said. “We are very

excited to be hosting this event in Spokane to be able to show the public what our members can do and let them know one small facet of what the Grange can mean in improving their lives.”

The event will highlight the important quilts and handicrafts have had on American culture and as tools for outreach and charitable work. One example are the handmade stuffed animals Grangers produced for several years to provide to first responders who deal with children experiencing crisis situations.

“Quilts and handicrafts are passed down through the generations and bring forth feelings of family, tradition and heritage,” National Grange Lecturer Chris Hamp said.

“Their presence have the power to incite emotional joy and elicit nostalgia for simpler times or an easier way of life.”

The event will also include a Quilts of Valor Memorial showcase where Grange members – those still living or passed – will

Expo

be able to display the Quilts of Valor they were awarded for their military service.

Granges are invited to be involved in the event in multiple ways.

“We will be looking for Granges to generate interest among their members, and non-members, to make and donate quilted and quality handicraft items for sale at the Great American Quilt and Handicraft Expo,” Hamp said. “There will also be an opportunity for Granges to sign up to have sales tables at the event as well.”

Hamp said she hopes those who come to the show see the “Grange as an active, viable organization, and generate interest, attendance and advertising necessary to sell all of the donated items that will benefit the National Grange Foundation.”

“I look forward to seeing the planning and work put into this event come to fruition,” Hamp said.

N E W Q U I LT B L O C K B E I N G U S E D C O N T E S T R U N S F R O M J A N . 1 - O C T. 3 1 , 2 0 1 7 Check with your State Lecturer or National Lecturer Chris Hamp for more details.

BLOCK INFORMATION 2017: GARDEN PATH, greens & browns, 10 ½” x 10 ½”

*The 2017 Quilt Block pattern is the GARDEN PATH in greens and browns with accent colors reminiscent of the earth and agriculture. The block must come UNFINISHED and measure 10 ½” x 10 ½”.

Previously the Spiderweb Star pattern was erroneously listed as the 2017 competition block. Please tell your friends and fellow members the Spiderweb Star will not be displayed or judged.

BLOCK INFORMATION Cutting Instructions: Dark print (please use browns or greens)

1 square, 4½” x 4½”

4 strips, 2½” x 5”

4 strips, 2½” x 3” Cream

print 4 strips, 1½” x 2½” 2 strips, 1½” x 6½” 2 strips, 1½” x 4½”

Piecing the Block (ALL seams are ¼”)

The Great American Quilt & Craft Expo November 10-12, 2017 Center Place Regional Event Center Spokane, Washington (Free parking) The Grange Foundation is the 501(c)(3) nonprofit, charitable arm of the Grange, which supports many programs and projects dear to Grangers’ hearts and allows them an avenue for donations that can be tax deductible.

Different designated accounts of the Foundation provide essential funds for our Youth, Juniors, Subordinate members and their communities. They also allow us to support our founder’s working 1860s farm, the Kelley Farm, as well as educate members and communities about deaf and hearing loss issues and trademark protection.

• Junior Grange Fund • Youth Leadership Fund • Kelley Farm Fund • Deaf Awareness Fund • Community and Leadership Development Fund • American Arts and Culture Fund • Trademark Protection Fund There is also the general fund of the Foundation that allows the Grange to meet the needs of members or communities that do not fit the description of use from dedicated funds.

So why is the Grange Foundation hosting a Quilt and Handicraft Expo and why should I donate my quality hand-made craft or quilt for sale?

The Foundation looks to fulfill two purposes with the Great American Quilt & Handicraft Expo. First, the Expo will showcase American handicrafts, their importance and imaginative expressions that allow artistry and functionality to come together. As such, we fulfill one mission of the foundation – to educate – in this case, in the area of American Arts and Culture. Secondly, the Expo will allow us to raise funds for the Foundation to be used to support programs essential to the growth and well-being of our organization and our continued relevance in communities. Funds can help youth leaders develop their skills at regional conferences and national conventions, provide Junior Grangers new opportunities to develop to their fullest potential and provide communities support in enhancing the experience and quality of life of their residents.

Your donated items will be on display, allowing individuals to both appreciate the talents of Grangers and the breadth of handicrafts. As you know, those who don’t know much about an organization are less likely to donate, but this Expo will introduce people to the Grange and allow them to purchase quality items while supporting our wonderful organization. Please consider making a quilt/s or other quilted or needlework item/s or handicrafts for donation to the Expo. Your donated items will not only help the long term relevance and vitality of the Grange in your community and all across this great country, but will become treasured heirlooms of the proud new owners.

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A LIFE RECALLED ON

Cook Ranch

BY Martha Cook Mica Flats Grange #436, Idaho MEMBER SUBMISSION

HOUSE ON COOK RANCH, 1954

The Cook Ranch was started in 1954, at Prairie, Idaho, which at the time was called Smith’s Prairie, Idaho. Located about 48 miles east of the state capitol, Boise, the ranch was started by Clyde and Priscilla Cook in April, 1954.

Prior to the Cooks, it had been owned by a few different folks, but most notably the Browns, so the ranch was often called “The Old Brown Place” as people in rural areas tend to refer to homesteads and geographic locators.

Al Brown, known as “Cyclone Brown” to some of the other residents of Prairie, was born during the Civil War and built a cabin on the property in the late 1890s and later a two-story house

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WAGONS AND HORSES

BUILT FOR WORK

Cook Ranch still uses wagons

This and other horses are part of

pulled by horses to complete

the Cook Ranch tradition

daily farm operations

that became the Cook homestead, in 1900. I remember being awestruck as a child with the nearly 100-year-old man, brought by his son to see the “old place” in 1960 and began to have a much more thorough appreciation of both history in general and the history that surrounded me.

100 years after it was built, the two-story house burned – set off by a problem in the chimney –and had to be removed. Some may say the house itself had so much of Cyclone Brown’s spirit, it had adopted an Earthly lifespan and found its way to a fitting exit a century after its own birth.

While Prairie has changed some

since the time of my childhood, some things remain the same. The two main roads in and out of the Prairie community are dirt/gravel roads with some blind corners, and steep canyons. The 45mile routes take about 75 minutes when dry, longer with snow and ice. Not a commuter’s dream, to put it mildly.

Often, in the winter, one or both roads can be too snow-covered to keep open.

There is now a convenience store in the community, for gas, immediate needs, and an occasional meal; all other shopping and services are 45 minutes away.

Clyde and Priscilla raised four children – three boys, Nathan, Luther

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and Neilus, and myself, Martha, the lone daughter – on the ranch, and learned what it meant to stand in the face of nature and work to survive. Winters were, and still can be, severe and snowy because of the 4,800-foot elevation on which the ranch sits. Clyde began feeding cattle with a team of horses hitched to either a wagon or a sled, depending on snow conditions, as did his ranching neighbors. This operation is still continued today, as you see here, by my brother, Luther, who currently owns the ranch, and others.

When a snowstorm is rolling in, Luther hitches up the team to break trail a few times during the storm to keep a viable

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“Four generations of Cooks have been involved at the Cook ranch, in one way or another.” route open. He may haul as many as 25 bales of hay on this sled or wagon to the waiting cattle herd, and other animals – steers, bulls, horses and weaned calves - penned near the barns. This task can take three hours a day and is a daily chore after cattle are brought in off summer pasture in the fall.

Four generations of Cooks have been involved at the Cook ranch, in one way or another. Many, many cousins have spent summer vacations at the Cook ranch, also, sort of a “bar-mitzvah” for them, as they learn to ride, fix fences, milk cows, stack hay, operate tractors, and hay rakes, watch out for rattlesnakes, round up and herd cattle.

WORKING CLASS Horses pull a sled on Cook Ranch after a snow storm covered the ground.

MODERN PHOTOS TAKEN BY JULIE COOK, the wife of Jared who is the grandson of Clyde and Priscilla that started the Cook Ranch.

PHOTOGRAPHER UNKNOWN FOR BLACK AND WHITE PHOTO OF THE HOUSE, taken in 1954 when Martha and her brothers were children on the ranch.

Many of them are known or fondly remembered by the people of the town of about 80 hardy people (plus a few more in the summer months).

Prairie is a close-knit community where many of the families make their living raising cattle or crops. They work together, fighting wildfires, trucking cattle to market, responding in emergencies, and more.

Adventures beckon around Prairie, including hunting, hiking, river rafting, which all appeal to the adventurous public and often require the rescue operations of the community’s EMT’s and Quick Response Unit. Priscilla, a woman living at a time when the fairer sex weren’t often thought of as adventurous,

HAY PRODUCTION ON THE RANCH

Hay production is underway on Cook Ranch with horsedrawn wagons.

took full advantage of the area she was surrounded by. An avid backpacker who would lead many friends and family through the high lakes north and east of the Prairie, she was known to plant trees and even bag her own deer from time to time.

But with all the ruggedness and wild-spirit, she was domestic as well, churning butter and making her own laundry soap. She culled fruit from abandoned orchards and her own, sewed canvas aprons to protect the men’s pants from hay bales during stacking season and more.

She loved books so much so that she started, working in conjunction with many others, a small public library there nearly a quarter century ago. Her other passions included music and children, which she dovetailed together into a lifelong profession, providing music instruction for some 50 years at the small elementary school on the Prairie, as well as piano and accordion lessons to any child in the neighborhood typically at no cost. No rest for the faithful, her teaching continued on Sundays as she taught Sunday School for nearly 30 years. In a town with so few, you could see her impact crossed generations and spread far and wide like the children of the town when nearly 300 people attended her funeral in 2012.

Everything seems to move at a slower pace in Prairie including information. Mail is delivered three days a week, up from the two times a week in the 1980s. Telephones were brought into the community in 1986.

Today the school, near the Cook Ranch, where Priscilla taught remains a small elementary school serving about a dozen students from Kindergarten through 8th grade.

When our generation of Cook kids completed 8th grade, we moved onto high school in Boise, about a 90 minute drive today from the ranch, while some of our neighbors sent their children to Mountain Home, a somewhat smaller town an equally long distance away.

By the time my brothers came to have children, some parents in the area chose to homeschool their kids and one of their children today is also following in their footsteps, homeschooling from the ranch. Two of my brothers and their wives homeschooled seven of my nieces and nephews on the ranch, while the neighbors continued to send their children “into town” for high school, either boarding them with someone, or collectively renting a house in town with mothers taking turns “chaperoning” the teens.

Prairie is an amazing place – beautiful and somewhat rugged, definitely a slower pace. It is a place I will ever remember affectionately, having grown up on the ranch.

Each year, I revisit my home and recall and momentarily relive a different way of life.

IT’S JUST A

By Maurice L. Wiles Linganore Grange #410, MD Past Master and current Gatekeeper of the Maryland State Grange The Earth is just a toy as you look down from a plane, As the majestic peaks and valleys create the vast terrain.

And look at those tiny squares so neatly in a row, Is it a large or small town? I really do not know.

The miniature carved figures are hardly more than dots, With surrounding blends of colors with a touch of white at spots.

In my heart I was so excited a picture I did not take, Wow, look at all those tiny blue dots that represent the lakes.

The tiny cracks and crevices are so carefully created, They leave your body tingling and your mind elated.

I was fascinated observing that crooked blue line, I imagined a large ball of string as it begins to unwind.

I couldn’t help but wonder

Toy

about the many different shapes, Who drew the lines and put the colors into place?

I wonder who took the time to fill the big blue lakes, Do you have any idea how long that job takes?

And who else but God could cast a shadow down, On just any place, be it field, valley or town.

Written in 1974.

HOW TO SUBMIT CREATIVE WORK TO GOOD DAY! DEADLINE FOR MAY ISSUE: Arrives at National Grange by 5 p.m. Friday, April 21 In each edition of Good Day!, we hope to include creative works from our members – including Junior Grangers – to showcase talents and entertain our readers. We welcome poems, short stories (fiction or nonfiction), photo essays and skits/short one-act play scripts. Selections will be chosen based on quality and several other factors. There is no promise that any submissions will be printed but we appreciate and will recognize all submissions.

All works must be original to the author, appropriate for our readership, and must include your name, address and (optionally) email address, Grange name, number and state, number of years you’ve been a member, and a 75 word or less bio.

A headshot of the author is also highly encouraged.

Additional requirements include: • POEMS – All types of poetry will be considered. The writer may submit a 50 word or less background statement to provide the reader with context if they so desire.

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• SHORT STORIES – Submissions may be works of fiction or non-fiction, but should be labeled as to which it is at the top of the work. Authors are expected to follow the highest standard of ethical guidelines when presenting their work, especially works of nonfiction, and get the appropriate permissions from anyone mentioned or included in the work, with exception of public officials or figures.

• PHOTO ESSAYS – Photo essays must include at least three, no more than ten, high-quality (300 dpi, 1 MB or higher) digital photos relevant to the 1,000 words or less essay presented.

All photos must be submitted either through email or on a photo card or USB drive. The National Grange server restricts emails of more than 5MB, therefore submissions may be made on USB or through no more than three emails or via Dropbox links (highly encouraged) or other methods. Each photo must be clearly labeled and a separate file or paper with captions for each must be submitted as well. Our

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editorial team reserves the right to use only some of the photos or content submitted based on space restrictions.

• SKIT/ONE-ACT PLAY SCRIPTS – All skits/ one-act plays submitted should be no longer than 10 minutes when read and should require very minimal props. The skit/play should have a cover page with the list of characters (and any specific characteristics one would need to know in order to perform as that character), a very short synopsis of the play/skit and note of any props or special instructions needed for presentation of the skit/ play. Plays/skits should have at least two but no more than seven characters and should be written so they may be performed in a traditional Grange Hall/ setting (no elaborate staging, costumes, props, etc. required). Character lines should be clearly marked as well as any minimal stage directions.

Please send your original work to communications@nationalgrange.org or National Grange, 1616 H St. NW, Washington, DC 20006.

FOOD IN FOCUS:

Cabbage

By Jenna Spinelli

cabbage sold, and AMRC estimated

As you can see from the recipes,

of 2015. This puts cabbage slightly

cabbage is a jack-of-all-trades when it

below its cruciferous cousin broccoli at

comes to cooking. For the most part

$7,401 per acre but above cauliflower

that applies to how it is grown, too.

at $5,940 per acre.

the gross value per acre at $7,320 as

EASY CABBAGE ROLL CASSEROLE INGREDIENTS: •

1 to 1 1/2 lbs. ground beef

•

1 onion, chopped

•

1/2 green bell pepper, chopped

seen entire fields discarded because

growing season is similar to that of

•

2 garlic cloves, minced

the demand wasn’t high enough to

potatoes — moving from warm to

•

1 tablespoon parsley flakes

sustain growth, but those examples

•

1 teaspoon salt

cool climates as the year progresses.

are the exception and not the rule.

•

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

•

1/2 teaspoon pepper

CONSUMPTION AND PROFIT

•

2 1/2 to 3 cups boiling water

Lamont, a professor of vegetable

Some varieties of cabbage are grown

•

1/4 to 1/2 head cabbage, chopped

crops at Penn State University. “On

for fresh use, meaning they are sold

•

15 oz. diced tomatoes

the east coast, it starts in Florida in

whole in supermarkets, while others

•

8 oz. tomato sauce

the winter and works its way up into

are grown exclusively for use in

•

1 cup long grain white rice

New York by the summer.”

sauerkraut and coleslaw.

There’s not much that can stand

As with other crops, demand can

in its way and, once harvested, it can

fluctuate over time. Lamont said he’s

stay fresh for weeks at a time. The

“Cabbage can be grown just about

anywhere,”

said

William

Despite some of these recipes, the

Brown the ground beef in a skillet, stirring until

majority of the cabbage Americans

crumbly; drain. Stir in the onion, green pepper,

and

eat is consumed outside the home

garlic, parsley flakes, salt, Italian seasoning

the

– everything from coleslaw as a side

and pepper. Add the boiling water, cabbage,

United Nations (FAO), China is the

dish at a restaurant to sauerkraut on

undrained tomatoes, tomato sauce and rice.

world’s leading cabbage producer,

a hot dog at the ballpark, according

Mix well. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.

accounting for nearly half of the crop

to ARMC.

sold globally. In the U.S., the USDA’s

The

CABBAGE PRODUCTION According

to

Agriculture

Organization

Agricultural

the

Food

Rochester

Democrat

and

Research

Chronicle reported that in 2012,

that

75

New York cabbage’s farm gate value

percent of the country’s cabbage is

(the value the crop was worth when

grown in New York, Texas, California,

it left the farms, minus the cost of

Florida and Georgia.

marketing) was $106 million, making

Center

Marketing

of

(AMRC)

reports

Lamont said farmers can expect

it the state’s most profitable crop.

to get about $10 per 50 pounds of

Sweet corn came in second but was

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Spoon into a baking dish. Bake covered at 350 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes or until bubbly and of the desired consistency.

Yield 6 to 8 servings.

F. Dean Kistler Former Indiana State Grange Master From What’s Cookin’ in the Grange (National Grange, 2000)

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only about half as profitable at $68 million.

ensuring that soil is sanitized prior to planting.

Once harvested, cabbage can stay fresh for months at a

Plants are also prone to a pest known as the Cabbage Looper,

time, especially if it is frozen quickly after it is removed from the

which begins as a larva and grows into a medium-sized moth.

ground. This makes it desirable for shipping and storing.

The moths then lay eggs on the outer leaves of cabbage plants.

“They tend to yellow up a little after a while but can always strip off some of the outer leaves to take care of that,” Lamont said.

Cabbage loopers are heavy feeders and can cause damage to multiple heads at a time, but damage may be restricted to outer leaves. Other pests include the Cabbage Webworm and

INSECTS, WEATHER & OTHER RISKS

Cross-Striped Cabbageworm.

Like any crop, cabbage is susceptible to drought and flooding.

Ongoing drought problems in California have threatened the state’s

‘PLAIN JANE’ A SAFE BET

production, but no measurable impact has been seen thus far.

On the whole, Lamont said, the benefits of growing cabbage

Lamont said cabbage crops are also impacted by black

outweigh any pests or weather-related risks that may occur.

rot, which is caused when bacteria enter cabbage leaves and spread to the stem. It can be controlled through fungicide and

GRANGE

“I almost hate to say it, but cabbage is about as Plain Jane as you can get,” Lamont said. “But that’s not always a bad thing.”

Recipes

CHICKEN & CURRY CABBAGE OVER COCONUT RICE INGREDIENTS: •

1 large head napa cabbage

•

2 large heads bok choy

•

3 red or orange peppers

•

3 large white or yellow onions

•

3 lbs. chicken breast tenders

•

4 cups boiling water

•

1 1/2 tablespoons sesame oil

•

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

•

2 tablespoons minced ginger

•

2 1/2 tablespoons chicken base

•

3 1/2 tablespoons red curry paste

•

4 1/2 cups jasmine rice

•

3 14-oz. cans coconut milk

•

3 3/4 cups cold water

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Place chicken tenders in a plastic bag and add 1 1/2 tablespoons of red curry paste.

Close bag and massage until paste covers chicken tenders; set aside. Chop bok choy and napa crosswise into 2” ribbons, throwing away the last 1/2” from the stem.

Remove seeds from peppers and skin from onion. Cut peppers and onions into large pieces. Add bok choy, then napa, then peppers and onions into large roaster. In a bowl, mix boiling water, remaining curry paste, chicken base, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar and ginger. Pour mixture over vegetables in roaster. Lay strips of chicken over vegetables and cover with roaster lid.

Put in oven and bake for 2 hours then turn off oven as you prepare rice.

Add cold water, rice and coconut milk to a pot and bring to a boil. Cover pot and reduce to low heat. Simmer about 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally to ensure rice does not stick to the bottom of the pan.

Serve chicken and cabbage mix with broth over rice.

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GRANGE

Recipes

RED CABBAGE WITH APPLES INGREDIENTS:

Combine cabbage, apples, salt and

•

1 head red cabbage, chopped

small amount of water in saucepan;

•

4 or 5 tart apples, chopped

boil until tender. Add sugar, butter

•

Pinch of salt

and vinegar just before serving.

•

2 teaspoons sugar

Yields 8 servings.

•

1 teaspoon butter

•

1/2 cup vinegar

Mattie Vriezelaar, Sugar Grove Grange #2044 (IA)

KIMCHI INGREDIENTS: •

1 head (about 2 pounds) napa cabbage

•

1/2 cup kosher salt

•

Cold water

•

1/2 lb. daikon radish

•

4 scallions

•

2 oz. ginger

•

8 garlic cloves

•

1 tablespoon Korean salted shrimp

•

2 teaspoons granulated sugar

•

1/4 cup Korean red pepper powder*

•

1/4 cup fish sauce

•

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

YIELD: 2 quarts.

Refrigerated, kimchi will last for 4-6 weeks. *Korean red pepper powder has differing levels of spice and often can be found in different coarseness. Choose what is most preferable to your spice tolerance.

Cut the napa in half lengthwise, then into

Add to a stainless steel bowl 2” julienned daikon radish strips; scallion cut

1 1/2” pieces from top to about 1/2” above the

into 1” pieces, minced fresh ginger, minced garlic cloves, minced Korean

root. Sprinkle with salt and mix until the napa

salted shrimp sugar, Korean red pepper, fish sauce and rice wine vinegar. Toss.

is thoroughly coated. Add cold water until the napa is submerged, cover and set aside at room temperature for 24 hours.

Add napa and mix well until it is coated.

Transfer the mixture into a glass jar, tamping down to pack everything in, then

After 24 hours, drain the napa and rinse with cold

tightly seal the jar. Set kimchi in a dark place for 24 hours, then open to allow

water. Allow to dry, then squeeze excess water

pressure to subside. Close tightly again and refrigerate for at least five days

from napa, Set aside in colander.

before eating.

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89

BAKED BRUSSELS SPROUTS INGREDIENTS: •

2 lbs. Brussels sprouts, cleaned and halved •

2 tablespoons bacon grease, melted •

•

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 oz. finely shredded sharp white cheddar cheese (optional)

Place 9” x 13” glass casserole dish with bacon grease into oven set to preheat to 450 degrees. When oven is preheated, remove casserole dish and place Brussels sprouts in a single layer. Add vinegar and mix all ingredients lightly. Place in oven, uncovered and bake for 20 minutes.

Use spoon to turn Brussels sprouts and return to oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until crispy. Remove from oven and sprinkle shredded cheese over top before serving.

OVEN-ROASTED CABBAGE STEAK INGREDIENTS: •

1 head of green cabbage

•

4-5 tablespoons bacon grease

•

Granulated garlic powder

•

Pepper

•

Parmesan cheese

CABBAGE RAMEN SALAD INGREDIENTS:

•

•

1 head of cabbage,

•

2 tablespoons sugar

shredded and chopped

•

1/2 cup vegetable oil

•

1 cup toasted almonds

•

3 tablespoons apple cider

•

4 green onions, sliced

•

1 package chicken flavor

•

1 teaspoon salt

Ramen noodles

•

1/2 teaspoon pepper

vinegar

Combine cabbage, almonds, onions and uncooked, broken up Ramen Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut cabbage into

noodles. In a separate container combine sugar, oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and

1” thick slices from top of leaves to bottom near

chicken seasoning packet. Mix together and combine dressing into salad.

root (discard root) and lay single-layered on a

Janna Hegarty, Secretary, Buena Grange #836

baking sheet. Brush melted bacon grease onto

From the Treasured Recipes of Then and Now cookbook

cabbage, dust with garlic powder and sprinkle

(Washington State Grange, 2013)

with pepper and parmesan cheese; repeat on other side. Place in oven for 25 minutes; remove and turn each slice. Return to oven and bake 20 more minutes. Put oven on hi broil and broil each side for 5 minutes, then serve.

CHOCOLATE SURPRISE PIE INGREDIENTS:

Cream butter in mixer

•

3/4 cup softened butter

bowl until light. Beat in

•

1 1/4 cup sugar

mixture of sugar and cocoa

•

2/3 cup cocoa

gradually. Add eggs one

•

3 eggs

at a time, mixing well

•

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

after each addition. Add

•

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

flavorings; beat until thick.

•

1 cup finely chopped, rinsed

Stir in sauerkraut. Pour

sauerkraut

into pie shell. Chill for 3

•

1 baked 10” pie shell

hours or longer. Top with

•

1/2 cup whipping cream, whipped

whipping cream.

THE LAST Word

By Bruce Croucher

Over the holidays, you more than likely gathered with family or friends, as is tradition during that season of the year.

“We always do this,” you probably say.

Traditions, especially around Christmas or other major holidays, are common for most families, and mine is no different.

We always have homemade ice cream for our Christmas dinner dessert. (While it has been mentioned that doing ice cream in the summer may be more appropriate, I would argue that anytime of year is the right time for home-made ice cream.)

The menu for Christmas and for Thanksgiving remain the same.

We have

creamed onions for Thanksgiving and scalloped oysters for Christmas.

Even the order that the stockings are hung on the mantle doesn’t change. This is the way it was and the way it will be well into the future because it’s tradition, and traditions, we know, are passed down from generation to generation, connecting families sometimes otherwise disconnected by miles or ideologies.

My children’s grandmother always made peanut brittle for the family, and so our daughter has taken on this tradition and makes peanut brittle from the same recipe as “Gramma” and sends it to her list of relatives that enjoy the sweet and salty treat.

So why, in a Grange publication, are we taking so much time talking about tradition?

Simple.

Just like family traditions, the consistency of the way our Granges do their work forms a bond within our “Grange Family.”

For those of us who have had the honor of attending Grange meetings in other areas around the country, it is good to feel at home in the Grange wherever you may be. There might be small differences, but you know it is Grange and not just “any old meeting.”

There have been several occasions when non-members have been invited to our Grange for a special program, and we have opened and closed the meeting in regular form. We have had many comments on the impressiveness of the meeting ritual.

I distinctly remember our county historian commenting about this. His grandmother was an active Grange member, and he was certainly knowledgeable about the organization aware from his position, but until he was at a special meeting at our Grange, he had never seen the opening or closing ceremony. He was really pleased for having the opportunity.

I have thought a great deal about the value of the opening and closing as well as the degree work and have found there are several things that have specific purpose.

From the beginning, when the Master raps the gavel and says, “Let each repair to his or her allotted station,” we begin to focus

Just like family traditions, the consistency of the way our Granges do their work forms a bond within our “Grange Family.”

GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

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“Traditions, ritual or whatever we may choose to call the things we do consistently, build cohesion that is much needed in families” our thoughts on the business at hand, so the rap is more than just asking for attention but for our engagement. People know what they are supposed to do and where they are supposed to be for the meeting.

The opening song and opening prayer allow us to participate in common activities, and the normal order of business determines that all know what is coming next and are prepared for their part.

“Worthy Overseer, are the labors of the day complete?”

This is the signal that we are about to conclude with business and that we will soon close with words that remind us of what our organization is all about – what our shared beliefs and values are within the fraternity. And they send our members into the community with a purpose.

It is not, however, just the meeting form, but also the degree work that tells the members of those precepts or values that the Grange sees as important for us as individuals and as Grange members. It speaks in so many ways about the proper treatment of our fellow members and citizens as well as how to treat animals. We learn of the necessity of observing carefully the nature around us and to understand our place within that natural world.

Faith, hope, charity, fidelity and perseverance are important ideas to make any person’s life move towards a higher and better “manhood and womanhood.”

Many of the precepts of Grange use agriculture as the basis for the teaching – something that draws us back to the roots of our organization and the lives of our familial or fraternal ancestors. The lessons are easily extended to life far beyond the farm, and studying the degrees from a perspective of their modern relevance to today’s society can be valuable for improving society as a whole.

Traditions, ritual or whatever we may choose to call the things we do consistently, build cohesion that is much needed in families and in organizations; a common set of principles is what makes societies work and interact cooperatively. It is one of the things that has made my organization of choice The Grange, and a reason the Grange itself is part of the heritage and tradition of our family.

CLOSING REMARKS SAID AT THE END OF GRANGE MEETINGS

BY THE MASTER “Brothers and Sisters, as we are again to separate and mingle with the world let us not forget the precepts of our Order. Let us add dignity to labor and in our dealings with our fellow men be honest, be just and fear not. We must avoid intemperance in eating, drinking and language, also in work and recreation, and whatever we do, strive to do well. Let us be quiet, peaceful citizens, feeding the hungry, helping the fatherless and the widows, and keeping ourselves unspotted from the world.”

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GOOD DAY! MAGAZINE www.nationalgrange.org

Give TO GRANGE Make Donating to the Grange Part of Your Family Traditions

Giving back to an organization that has become part of your family has become simpler than ever. Now you can make a difference by donating to one or several National Grange or Grange Foundation funds.

Your donations help in many ways to strengthen our organization and ensure it truly lives on forever.

STEP 1. Tell us about you.

Name of Donor(s) _______________________________________________________ Address _____________________________________________________________________________ Phone or Email (optional) _____________________________________________________________ STEP 2. Select Funds or Program(s) you would like to support.

Please indicate the amount you wish to donate to each fund or project. Choose as many as you wish to support and indicate the percentage or amount of your total donation you wish to go to each fund or project selected. If you do not indicate amounts, an equal distribution of your donation will be made to each. Unspecified donations will be credited to the Grange Foundation Endowment/General Fund.

NATIONAL GRANGE A nonprofit, agricultural fraternity designated as a 501(c)(5) by the IRS. ÂŽ

______ National Grange

Headquarters Building Fund ______ Internship Program ______ Legal Protection Fund

The

Grange

Foundation

______ Endowment/General Fund ______ Junior Grange Fund ______ Grange Youth Fund

GRANGE FOUNDATION A nonprofit organization, centered around the betterment of rural America and agriculture based on education and leadership development, designated as a 501(c)(3) by the IRS. Donations to the Grange Foundation may be tax deductible.

Please consult your financial advisor.

______ Community &

Leadership Development Fund ______ American Arts and Culture Fund ______ Kelley Farm Fund ______ Communication Fellows Program ______ Grange Radio Project

Esto PERPETUA STEP 3. Indicate the type of contribution you wish to make.

Check One.

______ I wish to make a one-time donation of $______________. ______ I pledge my support to the Grange with monthly contributions of $ _____________.

STEP 4. Provide your payment details.

Check one

_____ I have enclosed a check, made payable to National Grange.

No matter the fund you have chosen, making your check payable to National Grange

allows us to deposit and properly receipt your donations.

_____ I wish for my donation to be made via credit card (Visa, MasterCard and Discover accepted).

Monthly contributions will be automatically debited from your card on or about the first of

each month until you contact the National Grange and request for monthly donations to end.

Name on card __________________________________________________________ Card Number _____________________________________________ Expiration Date ________/_________

CVC __________

Signature __________________________________________

You may also go online to www.grangefoundation.org to donate to the Foundation or call Sales, Programs, Benefits and Member Recognition Director Loretta Washington at (202) 628-3507 ext. 109 to make your contribution to the National Grange.

STEP 5. Send your completed form to the National Grange, 1616 H St. NW, Washington, DC 20006, and relax knowing you have honored our past and helped to secure our future.

You may also wish to include the Grange in your estate planning.

Consult your legal or financial planning professional, then contact National Grange Communications and Development Director Amanda Leigh Brozana at communications@nationalgrange.org or by phone at (202) 628-3507 ext. 102 or (240) 623-1867.

All conversations are confidential and contributions can be made anonymously.

No information provided should serve as legal advise.

New Items Now Available

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95

GRANGE

Calendar

FEBRUARY

& SPECIAL NOTICES

GRANGE EVENTS

HOLIDAYS

17-19 Master’s Conference Ekonk Community Grange #89, CT

14 Valentine’s Day 20 President’s Day 28 Mardi Gras

NATIONAL OBSERVANCES

American Heart Month | Black History Month | Children’s Dental Health Month | Canned Food Month | Great American Pie Month 14 Organ Donor Day | 17 Random Acts of Kindness Day | 26 Pistachio Day

MARCH GRANGE EVENTS

HOLIDAYS

21 Grange Ag Advocacy Day in honor of National Agriculture Day

17 Saint Patrick’s Day

12 Daylight Saving Time begins 20 First Day of Spring

NATIONAL OBSERVANCES

Women’s History Month | Irish-American Heritage Month | Craft Month | Nutrition Month | Frozen Food Month | Peanut Month Crochet (2nd) Week | 1 National Pig Day | 11 Johnny Appleseed Day | 18 Quilting Day | 23 Puppy Day | 26 Spinach Day

APRIL — GRANGE MONTH!

GRANGE EVENTS

HOLIDAYS

23-26 National Grange Fly-In Washington, D.C.

16 Easter Sunday 18 Tax Filing Day

NATIONAL OBSERVANCES

28 Arbor Day

21

Last day for submissions (to be received by National Grange) for Good Day! magazine.

Keep America Beautiful Month | Lawn & Garden Month | Sexual Assault Awareness Month | Pecan Month | Stress Awareness Month Library (1st) Week | 10 National Siblings Day | 19 Garlic Day | 20 Volunteer Recognition Day | 27 Take Your Daughter to Work Day

MAY

15

HOLIDAYS

5 Cinco de Mayo

| 14 Mother’s Day

20 Armed Forces Day | 29 Memorial Day

Subscribers will start receiving their second issue of Good Day! around this date.

NATIONAL OBSERVANCES Foster Care Month | Older Americans Month | Salad Month | Barbeque Month | Blood Pressure Month | Hamburger Month Nurses (1st) Week | Police (3rd) Week | Emergency Medical Services (4th) Week | 9 Teacher’s Day | 12 Military Spouse’s Day

JUNE

&

JULY

GRANGE CONFERENCES*

June 9-11 Mid-Atlantic Lecturer’s Pennsylvania

June 24-26 Great Plains Regional Kansas

July 7-9 Northeastern Regional Massachusetts

June 9-11 Eastern Regional Delaware

June 30-July 2 Midwest Regional Iowa

July (TBD) Southeastern Regional Florida

* More information will be provided in the May 2017 issue about these events.

®