Tag: Grange Activities

Wayside Grange Returns to Hall

“It’s nice to be back in the building,” says Dave Pearson during their first “Open Mic and Sunday Brunch.” Dave also gives us a tour and briefly explains some of the major repairs that have been made over the past year and a half. Public events were canceled in 2020, but behind-the-scenes care and maintenance of our 100-year-old building continued. The north wall has been reinforced, and an entrance has been made on the ground floor for access to the kitchen and dining room. Ellms Construction did the ground preparation, and Lancaster Construction did the wall reinforcement. Grangers are working on finishing the renovation building the roof over the entrance and restoring our dining and kitchen areas.

Wayside Grange and Theatre is located at 851 North Dexter Road (Route 23) in Dexter, Maine. Concerts are planned throughout the summer on the last Saturday of every month through October. Doors open at 6:30 pm, and Concerts begin at 7:00 pm.

Visit the Wayside Grange Facebook Page

Communication Shorts 6-1-2023

By Walter Boomsma,
MSG Communications Director
207 343-1842

Communication Shorts are brief (short) but important items posted for your information and use. Send us your ideas and thoughts!

June Bulletin Deadline

Columns and articles for the June Bulletin must be received before June 15th. Earlier is good! Remember, you can always find recent issues of the Bulletin on the Program Books and Information Page.

Monroe Classic Grange Store

As a reminder, the Monroe Classic Grange Store is still open as an officially licensed Grange Store. They carry a wide assortment of Grange-related and branded items such as jewelry, flags, signs, awards, fundraising and promotional items, apparel, signs, and name tags.

Cumberland Grange Information

We’ve had a request for information regarding “Cumberland Grange” from Judy Gagnon of the Cumberland Historical Society. Apparently, there were actually two: Cumberland #69 and Cumberland #500. If you can help Judy and the Society, please add a comment or let us know and we’ll put you in touch with her! Thanks!

Open Mic at East Madison Grange

Bring your talent and friends to the East Madison Grange for an Open Mic night on the first Friday of every month at 7 PM. Refreshments are available, free to the public, but donations are appreciated. Contact hideandgopeep@gmail.com or 207 716-6441.

Do You Love the Grange?

The world wants to hear about it! Fill out the simple I Love the Grange Form… it only takes a couple of minutes! Thanks to all who have shared so far!

Ideas for Granges

How about a collaboration with your local Commission on Aging or another Senior Group to create a Grange Cares Day, a day when people are able to give back and help the senior citizens in their community?

Thought for You…

“When everyone’s thinking alike, someone’s not thinking.”

General George Pattaon

Online Directories Available 24-7

  • The ODD Directory features all state officers, directors, and deputies with contact information.
  • The Directory of Granges features all Granges in the state with a contact person. Please make sure your listing is correct!

Do You Have FOMO?

“FOMO” is, of course, a Fear Of Missing Out. One strongly recommended treatment is to subscribe to the Maine State Grange Website. We’ll send you a daily summary whenever news and columns are posted, and we won’t share your email address with anyone!

Subscribe to the Maine State Grange Website

Ag Committee Report — June 2023

By Wilma Grenier, MSG Ag Director
(207) 437-2099

On Thursday, May 4th, the Agriculture Committee of the Maine State Grange met at headquarters with eight members present.

The scholarship fund is currently at $5,980.42 due to fundraising and donations from the Grange Store at Fryeburg Fair, Maine Agriculture in the Classroom, and the raffle at the State Conference. Two of the three winners from 2022 have been paid. Sharon will contact the remaining student, Chantal Cyr, to see if she is eligible for her scholarship after the fall 2022 semester.

The group voted to fund five exceptional applications for 2023. 2023 Winners are:

  • Lily Mae Jaffray from Blue Hill to study Pre-Veterinary Science.
  • Emma L. Alexander from Dexter to study Forestry,
  • Zachary Dean Skidgel from Newport to study Sustainable Agriculture,
  • Grace Cassandra VanBuskirk from Thomaston to study Pre-Veterinary Science,
  • Ashley Nicole Stubbs from Addison to study Animal & Veterinary Science.

The committee discussed fundraising to continue the scholarship program into
the future and will conduct a raffle with the drawing at State Grange Session in October. Granges wishing to support the scholarship program should send funds to State Grange labeled AGRICULTURE SCHOLARSHIP FUND.

2023 Fairs and events calendar was mailed by the State master to existing judges. Some fair dates may have changed. The Fryeburg Grange Ag Store moved last year and had a much better location. Volunteers are needed to work during the week of October 1 – 8. Let Sharon know if you would like to volunteer.

The group discussed the 2023 State Conference on October 20 & 21 (Friday &
Saturday this year) at the Auburn Masonic Hall, which is behind the Auburn Mall. It will start on Friday after lunch and include a Friday dinner banquet and Saturday lunch. The dining room made it difficult to hear a speaker last year, so the group decided instead to just draw the raffle winners and have some Maine Ag in the Classroom bookmarks and other information to hand out at the luncheon. It will be a very busy session this year!

MAITC supplied over 800 books for both virtual and in-person readings this year. The book was “Honeybee” and was very well received by everyone.
The committee will meet again at state headquarters in August to review Grange Enterprise applications, go over fall plans, and any other business. Please submit applications! They are due August 1, 2023. Be well, everyone! Spring is here, the rain has finally stopped, and the sun is shining!

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!

2023 Northeast Youth Conference

The Northeast Regional Youth Conference will be held July 15-16, 2023, at the Vermont Grange Center in Brookfield, VT. The conference is designed for Youth Members aged 14-35, but all are welcome to attend. The cost to attend is $35 and the registration deadline is July 1, 2023.

Additional information and registration form is available here.

President’s Perspective – May 2023

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

I hope to see many of you at one of the Information/Instruction meetings I have scheduled. Or invite me to your Grange or Pomona area if you are interested.

  • May 15, Evening Star in Washington, 6:00 pm refreshments; 7:00pm meeting
  • May 17, Winthrop, 5:30 pm
  • May 21, Harraseeket in Freeport 1:00 pm 
  • June 17, Arbutus in Surry 1:00 pm
  • June 22, Paugus in Fryeburg 6:30 pm
  • June 27, Granite in Searsport 1:00 pm, Also Conferring the Fifth Degree Obligation Ceremony
  • Victor in Fairfield has invited me, we are working on a date.

RESOLUTIONS are due to the State Grange office by August 15 — email or standard mail. 

PROCEDURE FOR ELECTION OF OFFICERS

Yes, Maine still uses paper ballots for each officer, and should be held in June. The committees are named by the elected Master.

  The Master will appoint tellers to count the ballots, and a table or place to count the ballots is set up for them. Paper ballots are passed out to all members of that Grange. Count the members that are eligible to vote.  Yes, the tellers may ballot, if they are from that Grange.

 Then the Master will say:  “The Chair awaits presentations of names for the office of….”  Any member of that Grange may present or suggest a name, the proper words are…“I present or suggest the name of… ”  (nominate is not the proper term).  The Master will repeat the name presented and ask, “Are there any others?”, asking a total of three times, repeating the list of names for that office each time they ask, “Are there any others?”.  Anyone’s name may be presented for any office by any member. 

 A person may decline or withdraw their name for the office, if they wish to, at the time their name is presented. The person declining does not have to give a reason for declining.   (Something to remember, if you are not willing to accept the office that your name has been presented for, it is best to decline at this time rather than after the election.) 

 The Master will repeat the names and say, “You will prepare your ballots for the office of….” After a brief pause, the Master will instruct the Assistants to collect the ballots and may excuse the Assistants from carrying their staves.  Paper ballots are cast by the members, writing the name of the person you wish to elect to that office. You may write anyone’s name even if their name was not presented. 

You do not have to ballot if you do not wish to. You must write the word “Blank” on the ballot if you want to cast your ballot but do not want to vote for one of those names presented or any other name,  but want your ballot to count in the “total ballots cast”. (A plain ballot may have been stuck to another and not intended to be put in the ballot count, plain ballots will not be counted in the total of ballots cast.) 

Once the Assistants have collected the ballots, the Master asks, “Have all balloted who desire to do so?” Hearing no one speak up, the Master will say, “I declare the ballot closed.” The ballot is then given to the tellers, and the Assistants return to their seats.

The tellers will count the ballots and make the report.  Reporting as follows each time: “WM, there were… total ballots cast for the office of…, necessary for choice… (majority, one more than half of the ballots cast), then will list the number of ballots cast for each person or name on the ballots. The ballot is then thrown away after the result is given by the Master.

The final choice is announced by the Master, “By your ballot, you have elected ___________ to the office of ____________.” and the results are recorded. Once a majority has been reached,  the Master will ask the person, “Brother or Sister _______________, do you accept the office of ______________?   If they decline or there is no majority of the ballots cast, the Master will say, “Since we have no majority, you will prepare your ballot for the office of _____________,” repeating all names listed. You will proceed to ballot once again on the same office until a majority is reached.   The same procedure is followed for each office.

Upon completion of the election, the tellers are excused with thanks.   

After the election, the Subordinate or Pomona, the Secretary will provide Officer (Master, Lecturer & Secretary name, address, phone & email) and the same for the Committee Chairs, plus meeting day and time, and Grange address, to the State Grange as soon as possible for the new Roster.