By Sherry Harriman,
Maine State Grange President/Master
207 490-1029
A quick reminder: Deputy School, scheduled for Dec 2 has been canceled. Your packets of information will be put in the mail next week. Thank you for your understanding.
We had 20 Grangers from Maine attend the National Grange Convention in Niagara Falls, NY, the week of Nov. 12th. It was a very busy seven days for all who attended. There were close to 600 Grangers registered, the most in recent years. 25 candidates received the 6th degree, and 150 took their 7th degree, again the largest class of candidates for quite some time. The Northeast Region hosting the convention did a tremendous job planning and carrying out the conference and activities. Debbie Ivers was Maine’s host coordinator. Thank you, and congratulations on a job well done.
Richard could not attend the convention due to a health issue just before we planned to leave. Since Maine is allowed two voting delegates, I asked Pete Ivers to fill in as delegate with no advance instructions or information on what is involved. Pete did an exceptional job being fully involved in the Grange work and participated in committee work, discussions, the resolution process on the floor, full elections, and all activities that were part of the session. I was very proud of his involvement. Congratulations, and thank you very much, Pete. There were a total of 134 resolutions presented for consideration by the seven committees of the delegate body. Pete was assigned to Labor, Judiciary, and Transportation, and I was assigned to the Citizenship and Taxation committee.
Workshops were presented on a variety of subjects, and new programs/partnerships were introduced. The National Grange is requesting e-mail addresses from the membership to provide program information to all. Please sign up for National Grange posts and newsletters. Full elections were held, with Chris Hamp (WA) being elected as the new President and John Benedict (NJ) as the newly elected Vice-President. Several other new officers were elected, and several remained the same. The full list was posted on the web. Thousands of socks were collected for a local mission as part of the regional community service project.
Jim Meserve was honored by the “Quilts of Valor,” receiving a beautiful quilt during the presentation ceremony.
Roberta, Rick, Jimmy, Judy, Tracy, and Bill helped out in the hospitality room and cleaned up at the end of the week. Thank all of you for being there. Sharon and Henry ran the National Grange store during the session, selling Grange jewelry, Grange socks, etc.. Great job.
Terry LaCombe Stevens and Betty Young, Co- co-junior directors, drove out bringing Carrie Coffin, Nicole Nickerson, and 5 Junior Grangers with them: Edith, Mary, John, Laura, and Sebastian, to participate in the Junior program and activities. It was great to have you there.
It was very exciting sitting in the audience and hearing a Grange or member from Maine having their name called to receive one of the many awards presented. Congratulations everyone. Items will be mailed to you. Maine received the following recognition awards:
Photography: Rebekah Hodgson, Jonesboro – 1st in “Grange Family”
Photography: Laurie McBurnie, Willow – 2nd in “Potluck Activity”
(each received a ribbon and a package of winning photo postcards)
Communications: National Grange Connector Award: Rebekah Hodgson, Jonesboro
Membership & Leadership Awards:
Honor Subordinate/ Community Granges for Net Gains:
- Huntoon Hill #398 plus (20)
- Pleasant River #492 plus (12)
- Harraseeket #9 plus (10)
- Jonesboro #357 plus (10)
- Union Harvest #591 plus (9)
- Saco #53 plus (8)
- Trenton #550 plus (6)
- Wayside #550 plus (5)
- Lamoine #264 plus (3)
- Old Town Riverside #273 plus (3)
- Granite #192 plus (2)
- Hudson #456 plus (2)
- Paugus #450 plus (2)
- Farmington #12 plus (1)
- Golden Harvest #33 plus (1)
- Lakeside #63 plus (1)
- Oak Hill #104 plus (1)
- Pioneer #219 plus (1)
Richard and I wish to send you, your families & friends a most wonderful Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year. Take care of yourselves; we care about all of you.