Tag: Grange Procedure

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 – 1^st in “Grange Family”
Photography:  Laurie McBurnie, Willow – 2^nd 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.   

By Sherry Harriman,
Maine State Grange President/Master
207 490-1029

Deputy School will be held on Saturday, December 2, 2023, from 10:30 am to 1:30 pm. Instruction for Ritualistic Floor Work at State Grange HQ, 146 State St., Augusta. (weather permitting) Call Sherry’s cell if there is any question.

We will cover:

• Opening & Closing (Opening the Bible, Presenting the Flag, Introducing Honored Guests, and Draping the Charter)
• How to properly make the Salutation
• Review the report form
• Go over Officer, Deputy, and Director duties

 Once again, I am offering to hold instruction meetings around the State starting in the spring, please invite me to your area or Grange, I would prefer a Saturday meeting during the day but could accommodate an evening if requested.  Everyone is invited to attend.

State Grange was a wonderful success once again. Election of Officers was held, thank you for your confidence in re-electing me to Master/President. Other officers elected: Mike Griffin, Overseer; Missy Baldwin, Lecturer; Ben Edgerly, Steward; Rick Grotton, AS; Roberta Meserve, LAS; Christine Hebert, Chaplain; Laurie McBurnie, Treasurer; Sharon Morton, Secretary; Pete Ivers, GK; Betty Huff, Ceres; Kathy Gown, Pomona; Debbie Ivers, Flora and Jim Meserve, EC. Thank you to the tellers for helping with election and the Master’s Address committee.

A sincere thank you to our retiring officers Margaret Morse, Lecturer; Steven Haycock, Steward; Clay Collins, Chaplain; and Vicki Huff, Treasurer; we appreciate your dedication to the Grange and wish each of you much success.

Thank you to the 69 Delegates and 30+ Members who attended. A lot of awards & certificates were presented, the Juniors participated, a heartfelt Memorial Service was held, our National Grange Rep Cindy Greer gave us some inspirational words of wisdom, and a wonderful banquet and luncheon was enjoyed. Welcome to our nine new State Grange members who received the 6th degree. I would like to hear from you what you thought of the schedule. I like the facilities and most likely will return there again. There is a lot less work to do to set up for the meeting, degree, and sales room, plus you can’t beat the price, it is excellent. I am open to other options.

A BIG thank-you to ALL who stepped up to fill in or help out in any way, it was once again a great show of teamwork and helped make a very successful session. Officers, Deputies, Department Directors, and Committees, thank you for your continued work during the past years. Several of our Deputies, Directors, and Committee members have changed and I am looking forward to working together with each of you. I have included the list here.*

The new roster will be sent to the printer at the end of next week. I have heard from about 2/3 of the Granges.

You may download the new program books and annual reports from the web under “Program Books and Information,” or if you want a printed copy, email the office or me and we will send them to you. You may request all or just select ones. Agriculture, Community Service & Family, Health and Hearing, Communications/Web, CWA, Junior and Lecturers. Agricultural Scholarship, Educational Aid & Howes Nurses Scholarship requirements and applications can also be found on the website or requested from the office.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Hug your family and friends. Help someone today.

*Note: The Communications Department is developing a one-page ODD directory based on this information. A copy will be mailed with the Bulletin. A copy will also be available for download and printing from the MSG Website.

By Sherry Harriman,
Maine State Grange President/Master
207 490-1029

I want to say a huge THANK-YOU to the Secretaries who have already made the corrections and updates and returned their lists to me for the new database. 

In addition to updating the instructional guidelines, roster, state session & budget and other items I work on, I have worked on getting a new database completed. I typed in all the information for our 82 Granges, 2,359  names, addresses, and other information into a more user-friendly format that can be accessed without the internet. The basic information has been compiled, and copies sent to the Grange Secretaries for corrections, additions, and deletions. Yes, I can hear the grumbles but it needed to be done. if I am spending this much time putting it back together from older versions provided by the State Secretary, your assistance is greatly appreciated. Each of you, as an individual member can help by checking your information, is your name spelled correctly, is your address up to date, if not, then please correct whatever may be required.  I am most interested in the date you joined the Grange, and the Granges you have belonged to, many of the dates or previous membership in a different Grange (because of closure or consolidation) are not listed. Some are listed as Golden Sheaf members (50 years of continuous membership) but do not list the date of joining or where. Most Granges exempt all Golden Sheaf (50-year) members from paying dues to their respective Granges and the Maine State Grange does not charge dues on any Golden Sheaf members but the Maine State Grange must still pay dues to National on them.  Golden Sheaf membership attained before Jan 1, 2001, the Maine State Grange does not pay dues to National Grange on those members. Golden Sheaf membership attained after Jan 1, 2001, the Maine State Grange must pay dues to National Grange on those members. 

September and October is the time of new Grange year beginnings with installations, setting goals and making plans for the coming year. This is the time of year for year end wrap-ups such as your annual audit, reports to be submitted and evaluate your goals, what was successful and what was lacking. There are very few Installations Teams or Installing Officers traveling, so I encourage each Grange to do their own Installation. There is an Alternative Installation Ceremony (half the words) in the new Manual which can be read with one or two people in charge and working with the members present.

Congratulations to all the Officers and members, I wish you much success for the coming year.