Maine State Grange

Doing is communicating…

As I worked on the program for Valley Grange’s Community Celebration, I was reminded of the old platitude that, “what you’re doing shouts so loud, I can’t hear what you’re saying.” Often attributed to kids when we think they’re not listening, it reminds us that perhaps they are listening to what we are doing and perhaps what we are doing (or not doing) is more telling than what we’re saying.

Like many Granges this time of year, we’ll honor a local “Citizen of the Year” for her “boots on the ground” efforts to build strength in our communities. As is often the case, I learned more about what she does after we’d selected her. I knew we’d made a good choice when people stopped me in the grocery store to ask about her honor and our Community Night Celebration.

Another aspect of that celebration is a short two-part presentation entitled “Just Five Minutes.” It looks at the value of volunteering with photo examples and some basic math showing the dollar value of those efforts. (Both will ultimately be available on the MSG website and YouTube Channel.)

As I worked on the photo examples portion, a light bulb went off. Historically, the photo examples have been from our Grange Programs like Words for Thirds, Blanketeering, and the Blistered Finger Knitters. These programs are well-known in our area because we say (publicize) them well. It is common for them to be covered by local television stations and newspapers. I like to think of it as a marriage between saying and doing. You might even hear me say, “It’s easier to make news than it is to write press releases.”

But there’s more, and I was inspired by the number of different things our Community Citizen is involved in and does. It started me thinking about individual Grangers and the possibility that we aren’t saying enough about their actions.

After a discussion with Valley Grange’s community service chair, we agreed that we aren’t “saying” enough about the individual members’ efforts that aren’t necessarily directly connected or part of a formal Grange program. Those efforts and that time count, and they do represent Grange values. Examples are endless—many times we don’t even know about them. One of our members has served as president of her community’s historical society for years. Another member supports her local volunteer fire department in several ways. I volunteer with 4-H and FFA and participate in a group cleaning headstones in our local cemetery. Valley Grange is anything but unique. I recently added an event to the MSG website calendar. Members of Ocean View Grange will be joining their local Legionnaires to help place flags on veterans’ graves. If you can stand another platitude, “You’re known by the company you keep.”

But someone who keeps an eye on a neighbor serves their community equally well. I live on a dead-end gravel road, and we joke that we have an informal road association that keeps us tuned into what is happening with each other. We never have meetings.

Community service is not just a program. And it goes beyond “doing” to a state of mind. We may not always make the connection consciously, but we often say a patron “has faith in God, nurtures hope, dispenses charity, and is noted for fidelity.” We’re about a lot more than ritual and meetings. The Grange is people. We shout it by the way we live. We come together to strengthen our efforts and find support for the things we do.

► FACT: Year to date, the Directory of Granges is the most viewed page on the website. People are looking for you!

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