By Rick Grotton,
Membership Committee Director
207 582-5915
There was a previous column where the Grange was compared to a four-story building. The Subordinate or Community Granges were on the bottom floor, followed by Pomona, State, and National Granges. However, there are many cracks in our foundation, which have a name: Membership. If our membership problems are not resolved soon, the foundation will give way to a big collapse. Granges that don’t improve their membership collapse first, and as your membership dwindles, there are no replacements.
Our Youth and Junior Granges are nonexistent, with scattered pockets of younger members around the state. How do we survive without this foundation? Who will replace us if we cannot continue or pass away? It is a scary thought, but in reality, it is true. We have no organized leadership among our younger members. Even within our total membership, not many want to lead, and there are “social Granges” that do not follow the rituals and traditions of the Grange. Those granges will, and have, dampened our reputation. They hide behind the Grange name with no respect. When they lose their meeting places, they will be the first to wonder what happened.
We all need to “repair” those gasping cracks in our foundation before it’s too late. Many Granges cannot meet since they cannot make their seven-member quorums. We need a state-wide revolution to work together and beef up our future before we don’t have one. Scared? Yes, I am scared, and you should be, too. I understand that it is difficult, but we need to try harder. Are you with me?