By Rick Grotton,
Membership Committee Director
207 582-5915
I hope everyone had a great summer and a good beginning to our new Grange season. Harvest is wrapping up, as are the agricultural fairs in our grand State of Maine. There were many great fair booth exhibits displaying the hard work done by our Grange members in the previous year. Congratulations to all of you!
Membership growth is an ongoing project which we should all take very seriously. Hopefully, your labors in the preceding months have attracted new members! I do have the past year’s membership results and noted that 16 Granges had increases in membership totaling 65 new members. Very encouraging, HOWEVER; we need increases from more than just the 16 Granges. We need increases in ALL Granges. The overall losses have once again outnumbered the gains. I encourage every Grange; no, I challenge every Grange to take in more new members by promoting, advertising, word of mouth, or by other means. It is not just a request; it is a plea, as we are in great demand. Losing more Granges is not an option! Do you have a plan to attract new membership? Is your Grange ready? If our Granges stick to our traditions and rituals, educate our members (new and seasoned), keep a positive attitude, make yourselves visible to the public, support your communities, and keep your doors open, then we have a chance. Otherwise, Granges that are just social clubs with no respect for Grange rituals and traditions continue to hurt our image and do nothing but disillusion the public. These “social clubs” are Granges that are in name only and are self-serving. This is why we need to educate our members on the true meaning of a Grange member and how we serve our families and communities. Keep plugging away as members have done for 159 years.