Patrons of Husbandry – a website dedicated to the Granges located in Maine
Mill Stream Grange members (l-r) Ingrid Grenon, Debbie Lavender, Jill Sampson, and Wendy Leighton (plus Paul Lavender taking photo) placed American flags on Veterans’ graves at three cemeteries on the Tower Road in Vienna. This is Mill Stream’s annual Memorial Day community service project honoring Veterans. If anyone visits the cemeteries and your loved one did not get a flag, please call 293-4960.
Mill Stream Grange members marked Grange Sunday by visiting the Mt. Vernon First Baptist Church on April 23. Eighteen members attended a nice service and were treated to a lovely brunch spread in the church’s Hall.
Excelsior Grange at 446 Harris Hill Road in Poland will have an open house on May 20, Noon to 2 pm. Lunch will be served at noon and is free to all. Rick Grotton, membership director of the Maine State Grange, will be the guest speaker.
Excelsior Grange is entering its 150th year of continuous operation in Poland, and we would like to introduce friends and neighbors to the opportunities available to them through Grange membership. The Grange today is not only for farmers, even though agriculture is still very important to the Grange. Membership is open to all who are over the age of 13, with social and service activities of interest to all. If you like working with others for the common good, the Grange is for you.
Seeds for the Grange-sponsored 2023 Pumpkin Growing Contest, for youth ages 5-12, will be available that day.
For more information and/or rsvp for lunch, please call 998-2301.
Mill Stream Grange member Lisa Goucher (r) receives the Vienna, Maine Spirit of America Award. It was presented to her at a recent Grange meeting by Secretary Jill Sampson on behalf of the Vienna Selectmen. Lisa’s hard work helping elderly community members, and any neighbor in need, was recognized and praised by the Spirit of America Foundation. Thank you, Lisa, for your selfless, generous, and kind help to friends, family, and organizations in the area!
Friday, May 19, 2023
Community Potluck 5:30 pm, Program 7:00 pm
a “webatorial” by MSG Communications Director
Walter Boomsma
Seth Godin recently wrote an interesting post suggesting that when people move away, cards and cake should read, “You’ll miss us” instead of “We’ll miss you.” He points out that the community remains.
One of the more powerful sentences in the short post was, “When a marketer serves a community, they create the conditions where they’d be missed–because the ideas or products or services they bring are important, not simply tolerated.“
With apologies to Seth, I changed a word or two. “When a Grange serves a community, they create the conditions where they’d be missed–because the ideas or services they bring are important, not simply tolerated.“
My revision raises a question for Granges. Would your communities miss you if you were gone? Would they even notice? Are you important or simply tolerated?
One of the challenges we face as an organization is relevance in communities that are loosely defined and increasingly diverse. If our vision is narrow and our goals are limited, we will be missed an ever-diminishing number of people. For example, not everyone likes potluck suppers.
Seth’s short message is that marketers should see that as a worthwhile goal, creating ideas, products, or services that the community would miss.
Maybe it’s time for Granges to figure out what they can create and offer that their communities would miss.
Guests at Sagadahoc Pomona Fifth degree, April 26, 2023. Mr. and Mrs. Gerry Simmons from Minuteman Pomona in Massachusetts, Henry and Sharon Morton, and Rick Grotton from Lincoln Pomona in Maine. They were a great help to us filling in as Guest Master, Assistant Steward, Lecturer, and Spector. We had no candidates but new Graces who need the experience, so we did the Degree anyway. Everyone needs a reminder of what Pomona is all about including our secretary, who filled in as our acting candidate.
Saturday, April 29, 2023, 9:00 am – 2:00 pm
Sunday, June 25, 2023
8:30 am Kids Run
9:00 am 5k Walk/Run
Why should you participate?
🦞 Proceeds donated to help area non-profits serve those who are battling cancer
🦞 Racecourse is on a quiet, scenic, ocean-view road far from traffic
🦞 A Professional Chip Timing service will be timing our race this year
🦞 Unique lobster 5k t-shirts for sale
🦞 Mostly flat out and back course
🦞 Water Station at the turnaround point
🦞 Handmade lobster-themed awards
🦞 Photo booth with lobster-themed props
🦞 Fun race atmosphere
🦞 An AMAZING finish line view
🦞 FREE cupcakes and post-race treats
🦞 Lucky number
🦞 And MORE – We will share soon!!
Sign up today! $30 Online registration closes June 18. $35 Day of registration.
Can’t join us in person? Register as a virtual participant! Join folks from Colorado, Florida, New York, Indiana, Ohio, and Maine. Walk or run when and where it is convenient for you!
At Chelsea Grange’s April meeting, James Meserve was given the Golden Sheaf Certificate issued by the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry in recognition of fifty years of continuous Grange Membership. It certifies Jim has been enrolled in the permanent records of those who have devoted half a century of service to the Order, to Agriculture, and to Mankind. The Certificate was given by the National Grange on January 31, 2023, and presented to Jim by Rick Grotten, Master of Chelsea Grange #215, on April 8th, 2023, at our monthly meeting.