Category: Community Service

Community Service Committee and information

Judi Olson Receives Jefferson’s Spirit of America Award

Submitted by Laurie McBurnie, Willow Grange

Willow Grange No. 366 President Ed Worthley presents Jefferson’s Spirit of America Award to Judi Olson on Thursday, July 27. (Paula Roberts photo, used with permission.)

Judi Olson, of Jefferson was honored with the Spirit of America Award on Thursday, July 27 at Willow Grange in Jefferson. Members of the public joined Grange members for a potluck supper and program to honor Olson on her much-deserved award.

Olson heads up the Jefferson Blessings in a Backpack chapter. She started the weekend meals project at Jefferson Village School in 2011 and has managed the program for the past 12 years. Over the years, her family members have helped with the program. When she first started the program, she had lots of volunteers, but now it is pretty much a one-woman show.

Olson fundraises, purchases food, bags it up, and delivers it to the school. The school puts the food in children’s backpacks in their lockers.

During the 2022-2023 school year, she delivered 37 bags of food a week to the school. The previous school year was her biggest, with 47 children served.

Her food bags contain two breakfast items, like cereal or granola bars, and two entrees, such as soup, canned spaghetti, mac and cheese, canned chicken, tuna or ham, peanut butter, or Vienna sausage. She also includes a couple of snacks like fresh or canned fruit, applesauce, crackers and cheese or peanut butter, and snack bars.

Olson keeps her inventory in a room in her basement. She has accounts at Walmart and Sam’s Club. All the money she raises goes into the Jefferson Village School Blessings in a Backpack account at the two businesses.

“It is quite convenient,” she said.

She raises $3,500 annually for the Blessings in a Backpack program at JVS.

During the program, Worthy Master Ed Worthley presented Olson with a plaque noting her award. Lecturer Paula Roberts gave her $238 raised from a  pie auction, lecturer’s march receipts, and donations.

The Blessings in a Backpack program is a nationwide project that feeds children throughout the United States. The program started in 2005, and there are now 1,000 programs throughout the United States. Since 2009, Blessings in a Backpack has grown from feeding 9,022 to 89,579 kids a year.

Olson said the most rewarding part of Blessings in a Backpack is feeding hungry children.

“When they go back to school on Monday, their brains will be working, and they will do well in school and go on to college and get a nice job,” Olson said.

Parkman Grange Scholarships Awarded

The Parkman Grange awarded four MSAD#4-area college students Minnie Welts Bridge Scholarships of $500 each for the 2023-24 school year. Winners this year were: Matthew Chadbourne, Sangerville, a Social Work major at the University of Southern Maine; Mercy Harper, Sangerville, a Criminal Justice major at Husson University; MacKenzie Kain, Parkman, an Early Childhood Education major at Kennebec Valley Community College; and, Merrilee Levensailor, Guilford, an Accounting major at the University of Maine Augusta. Awards were made at the ninth Minnie Welts Bridge Memorial Supper on Saturday, August 12th, where approximately 40 diners enjoyed smoked pork loin, potatoes, and a variety of salads and desserts. With these four, Parkman Grange has awarded $15,000 in scholarships.

2023 Minnie Welts Bridge Scholarship Winners Matthew Chadbourne and Mercy Harper with Parkman Grange Master Sue Manchester. MacKenzie Kain and Merrilee Levensailor also received Scholarships but were unable to be present.

Maine Referendum Questions Offer Granges an Opportunity!

By Walter Boomsma
MSG Communications Director

Listed below are the eight referendum questions Maine voters will be asked to address in November. I’m providing them with several ideas and suggestions–not necessarily that you and your Grange take a position, but can you offer programming that could be helpful to voters? Starting with members, could your Grange (lecturers and legislative committees note) devote a meeting or program to exploring (discussing) one or more of these questions? Or (community service and legislative committees note), could your Grange offer a public discussion opportunity–or a panel discussion? With three months remaining, you have some time to put something together!

Just remember the rules of friendly discussion/debate and that the Grange is non-partisan!

QUESTION 1: An Act to Require Voter Approval of Certain Borrowing by Government-controlled Entities and Utilities and to Provide Voters More Information Regarding That Borrowing. Do you want to bar some quasi-governmental entities and all consumer-owned electric utilities from taking on more than $1 billion in debt unless they get statewide voter approval?

QUESTION 2: An Act to Prohibit Campaign Spending by Foreign Governments and Promote an Anticorruption Amendment to the United States Constitution. Do you want to ban foreign governments and entities that they own, control, or influence from making campaign contributions or financing communications for or against candidates or ballot questions?

QUESTION 3: An Act to Create the Pine Tree Power Company, a Nonprofit, Customer-owned Utility. Do you want to create a new power company governed by an elected board to acquire and operate existing for-profit electricity transmission and distribution facilities in Maine?

QUESTION 4: An Act Regarding Automotive Right to Repair. Do you want to require vehicle manufacturers to standardize on-board diagnostic systems and provide remote access to those systems and mechanical data to owners and independent repair facilities?

QUESTION 5: RESOLUTION, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine Regarding the Timing of Judicial Review of the Determination of the Validity of Written Petitions. Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to change the time period for judicial review of the validity of written petitions from within 100 days from the date of filing to within 100 business days from the date of filing of a written petition in the office of the Secretary of State, with an exception for petitions filed within 30 calendar days before or after a general election?

QUESTION 6: RESOLUTION, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine to Require All Provisions in the Constitution to Be Included in the Official Printing. Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to require that all of the provisions of the Constitution be included in the official printed copies of the Constitution prepared by the Secretary of State?

QUESTION 7: RESOLUTION, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine to Align the Proceedings for Circulating Written Petitions for People’s Vetoes and Direct Initiatives with Federal Law. Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to remove a provision requiring a circulator of a citizen’s initiative or people’s veto petition to be a resident of Maine and a registered voter in Maine, requirements that have been ruled unconstitutional in federal court?

QUESTION 8: RESOLUTION, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine to Allow Persons Under Guardianship for Mental Illness to Be Electors. Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to remove a provision prohibiting a person under guardianship for reasons of mental illness from voting for Governor, Senators and Representatives, which the United States District Court for the District of Maine found violates the United States Constitution and federal law?

Valley Grange Thanks MHFCU!

Twice a month, the employees from each of the six offices of Maine Highlands Federal Credit Union dress casually for “Caring for Community.” Each employee pays $3 for the privilege of wearing jeans and a Caring for Community Shirt. The total funds collected on these dress casual days benefit a local non-profit organization. Valley Grange of Guilford was recently named the recipient of those funds. Thank you, Maine Highlands Federal Credit Union Employees, for supporting our programs! Members and friends of the Grange, please say “thanks” when you visit one of the MHFCU offices!

Mill Stream Grange Opens Tool Lending Library

Mill Stream Grange Tool Lending Library
Mill Stream Grange is located on Tow House Road in Vienna, Maine.

Mill Stream Grange announces the start of a Tool Lending Library located on the grounds of the Hall in downtown Vienna. It will be open Saturday mornings from 8 until noon.

Have a project and need a tool, especially for gardening? Come on by and see if we have it before spending the money to buy it. Inventory includes shovels, rakes, hand tools, some power tools, and even two Have-a-Heart traps. Get that project done!

Why a Printed Dictionary?

By Mary French, Director of the Dictionary Project

Communication Director’s Note: Now is the time to start planning your Words for Thirds Project–or, if you’ve never done one, consider starting it! If you need some help or information, just let me know!

Reprinted from the Summer 2023 Issue of the Dictionary Project Newsletter

The Dictionary Project is about giving people value in their lives. We are helping children build their lives one word at a time. The purpose of an organization is to help people have lives. Giving people lives refers to many characteristics that
are the result of education, support, work, and relationships.

This year the Dictionary Project has confronted the reality that hundreds of thousands of children in schools are discouraged and prevented from using a paperback dictionary because school administrators do not think they are beneficial in this age of technology. It is a disservice to the clubs that want to improve literacy in their communities by providing dictionaries to the students
and letting them know what a civic organization does and looks like. Presenting the dictionaries in the classroom lets the students know that they are valued and supported and that the club members want to see them succeed by giving them an essential tool for a quality education.

We often hear that children don’t need dictionaries because they are tech savvy and they won’t use a dictionary because it is old fashioned. Nothing has been created to replace a printed dictionary. Children who do not have a dictionary
will not understand the “world they live in. They will feel confused and angry because they cannot comprehend their surroundings and describe what they see. It is putting children at a disadvantage in the world when educators leave them in front of a screen eight hours each day. Children cannot learn how to approach and solve problems without using their five senses. They need to learn what their five senses are telling them and how to use this information to live a better life.

A dictionary is the fastest, easiest and most cost effective way to learn new words. lt teaches children sequential learning; there are steps to take to reach a goal. It is important to know the meaning of words and that most words have more than one meaning. Children are curious how our world works. To collaborate with people to solve problems they need to learn new words to contribute solutions to improve the world we live in.

Everyone comes from a different place and they see things from where they stand. This diversity of thinking enriches our country and expands our ability to create new tools and make the best possible use of our resources. It is disappointing that lead educators are not encouraging children to learn new words by using a printed dictionary to expand their frame of reference; this is the most beneficial way to grow and live. By not giving children a dictionary, they are deprived of fulfilling their potential by teaching themselves new words. Giving children a dictionary is giving them their lives, because their lives depend on their ability to express themselves with words. The thoughts of children are important and they need to know that they are innate gifts to be shared because they are unique.

Albert Einstein said, “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what then is an empty desk a sign?” An electronic device cannot replace the activity and knowledge that a mind can develop by using it to solve a problem. If we do not teach children to approach a problem with words they will approach it with a weapon. If children do not have a dictionary they will not feel empowered by words. They will not have the words to defend themselves.

The idea for the Dictionary Project came from Annie Plummer. At the time she was looking for people to expand her initiative by giving everyone a dictionary in 1995. A middle school student in Charleston, South Carolina shot and killed his classmate in front of the school. Everyone was shocked that this would happen in our community and we never wanted it to happen again. School leaders said that mentoring would help the teenagers in the school. I was handed a young man who was I5 years old who was in the sixth grade. He had recently been released from the Columbia detention center where he spent six months after being arrested for pointing a 357 magnum at a woman in an embroidery shop to rob her of $20. I went with him to his home and met his mother who was illiterate and recently widowed. She supported her family by cleaning bathrooms at night in the mall across the highway. She walked to work in the dark every night. When I entered the cafeteria to meet Tyrone for our mentoring session, I saw him slapping girls who were talking to him, he hid in the bathroom when he saw me. I asked him several times in our meetings to apologize to the woman he had assaulted. He refused to acknowledge that he did something wrong. I told the principal that I could not help him because he had not learned to respect women. He wasn’t avoiding me he was avoiding the humiliation of being illiterate.

When I saw a letter to the editor asking readers to expand the Dictionary Project in Savannah, Georgia, I jumped at the chance to put a dictionary into the hands of children where I live because I knew that it is the antidote for illiteracy. It has been for hundreds of years. Reading is still the only way out of poverty.

Valley Grange Wants Five Minutes

(Click the arrow on the bottom left to begin the video.)

During their recent celebration of community, Valley Grange named Roger Ricker Community Citizen of the Year. Roger passed away last December but left behind a legacy of constant and lifelong support for his community.

After honoring Roger, Valley Grange Program Director Walter Boomsma challenged attendees to consider the impact of spending just five minutes a day in support of their communities. A five-minute video provided examples of the Guilford Grange’s programs and supporters. Boomsma noted, “If you buy a raffle ticket from us, you’re also buying a dictionary for a third grader.”

“We are restarting some of our programs suspended due to COVID. You don’t have to be a member to help and support us. When we asked people to ‘Sock it to us’ with donations to help provide socks to kids throughout the county, we received support from as far away as Pennsylvania and West Virginia.”

He also pointed out that five minutes a day isn’t much. “But it adds up. If there are 2,000 people in your community and just half (we’ll excuse young kids and people over 80) of them give five minutes per day, that equates to having nearly thirteen people working full time, making your community stronger. Based on the average salary in Maine, that’s worth over $700,000 to your community. Just five minutes every day. Of course, the ultimate value is not in dollars and cents. It’s in the difference you will make in individual’s lives.”

Just Five Minutes.

Mill Stream Grange Places Flags

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.

Quick Tip – Stop Summer Slide!

Cool Idea
Share your ideas with other Granges!

submitted by Walter Boomsma

As most know, Valley Grange is very much involved with our schools in regard to literacy and reading. Studies have validated what is called the “summer slide.” Children who don’t read or who read rarely over the summer encounter stagnation or decline in their reading skills. At least one estimate suggests this can be overcome by children reading just five grade-level appropriate books over summer vacation.

Can your Grange encourage this? Absolutely! You might consider partnering with your local library–many have summer reading programs and events. Or how about a community potluck supper with a side order of reading? This could have all sorts of variations: kids who bring a book they are reading eat free… or maybe there’s a “book exchange” where you invite kids to bring books they’ve read to exchange with others. At Valley Grange, we keep a milk crate of children’s books in the dining hall… whenever a child visits us for a supper or a program they are invited to take a book home as long as they promise to read it.

Don’t just think about reading to children–a key component of Valley Grange’s bookworm program is that we have the kids reading to us! Several months ago a second grader started a book with me that we didn’t have time to finish. When her turn came up again recently, she brought the same book and remembered exactly where we’d left off. This is a kid for whom reading is important. It’s nice to feel our program is contributing.

Just get something started–it doesn’t have to be massive and complicated.

“You’re never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read with a child.”
―     Dr. Seuss

Quick tips from Granges and Grangers are always welcome… on any topic that might improve or make things easier for other Granges. Use the submission form or email yours to the webmaster for consideration!

Mill Stream Member Recognized

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!