Trenton Grange Announces Suppers

Trenton Grange will host free Community Pot Luck Suppers on the first Friday of the month as follows

  • December 1, 2023, 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
  • January 5, 2024, 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
  • February 2, 2024, 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
  • March 1, 2024, 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
  • April 5, 2024, 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

The Trenton Grange Hall is located at 1134 Bar Harbor Rd, Trenton, Maine. All are welcome! Contact Emily Muise for more details.

Open Mic at Trenton Grange

Tuesday, December 5, 2023 – 6:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

Open Mic Event (acoustic) at the Trenton Grange Hall, 1134 Bar Harbor Road, Trenton featuring music, comedy, stories/poetry. Admission is $5 per person. Contact Emily Muise for more details.

National Grange Elects New President

Christine Hamp

NIAGARA FALLS, NY – The National Grange, the country’s oldest agricultural and rural service fraternity, has elected its 24th President – Christine “Chris” Hamp of Spokane, Washington.

A member of Tualco and Five Mile Prairie Granges in Washington, Hamp has served as Vice President of the National Grange since 2021, Program Director/Lecturer for four years before that, and has been a National Grange officer for more than a decade.

“Thank you for your trust and honor in electing me as your President,” she said. She is also a proud member of the Board of Directors of the Quilts of Valor Foundation. Hamp succeeds Betsy E. Huber, who was elected in 2015 as the first woman in the position in the Grange’s history.

December Events Around the State

woman in a blue top looking at paper
Photo by Anna Nekrashevich on Pexels.com
  • December 1, 2023, Fellowship Breakfast for Supper at Valley Grange. Potluck Breakfast at 6 p.m., meeting at 7 p.m. FMI visit Valley Grange Website. This will be a joint meeting with Piscataquis Pomona Members.
  • December 2, 2023, Deputy School at MSG, 10:30 a.m. – 1:30 pm. Contact Master Sherry for more information.
  • December 8, 2023, Baked Bean Supper at Community Grange in East Wilton, 5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. FMI see this post.
  • December 9, 2023, Kids’ Christmas Party at Parkman Grange, 1:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. Additional information is available from Sue Manchester, Parkman Grange Master, at 207 717-6248
  • December 14, 2023, Deadline for the MSG Bulletin
  • December 16, 2023, MSG Junior Grange Meeting at Danville Junction Grange at 11 am. Contact a Junior Director for more information.
  • December 17, 2023, MSAD 4 Santa Project Distribution at Parkman Grange. Additional information is available from Sue Manchester, Parkman Grange Master, at 207 717-6248

Community Grange Bean Supper

Bake Bean Supper Friday, December 8, 2023, from 5:00-6:30. Community Grange in East Wilton will be having a Bake Bean Supper with molasses cake for dessert. $10 per adult, $5 for children under 12. Hope to see you there!

Mill Stream Places Stickers

Mill Stream Grange members Paul Lavender, Jill Sampson, Kirsten Heck, and her daughter Natalie met at the Franklin Cemetery in Vienna to attach ID stickers to the stones of veterans. The small, unobtrusive stickers were placed low on the back of the stones in an effort to make them easier to find when placing flags for Memorial Day. Permission for this project was given by the Association which oversees the care of the cemetery on Tower Road in Vienna.

Excelsior Grange Christmas Fair

Vendors, White Elephant Table, wreaths, raffles, and lunch eat-in or take-out (beef stew, corn chowder, chili, or baked beans plus dessert and a drink $5). For more information, call 207-998-2301.

Excelsior Grange is located at 446 Harris Hill Road in Poland, Maine.

Email Cautions

By Walter Boomsma, MSG Communications Director

This is a strange irony. As I was writing the “Caution and Suspicion” post, I received a weird email that appeared to be from MSG Chaplain Christine Hebert. Shortly after that, I received a legitimate email from her requesting I let people know she had been “hacked.”

Unfortunately, this is likely to become a more common event than we’d like. Many will remember getting similar bogus emails and text messages that appeared to be from MSG Master Sherry. Some even received bogus emails from NG Master Betsy Huber.

How this happens can vary, and I honestly can’t be helpful with resolving it. I can tell you that having a strong email password is necessary. Also, a virus-checking program on your computer is essential. The simplest explanation is that “bad people” are somehow gaining access to your email address book. Once they have that, it’s relatively easy for them to spoof or actually use your email address to send messages to people you know. It’s not much different from the telephone calls you get that appear to be from a local number.

This is not something related to or stemming from the Maine State Grange Website. We use very aggressive virus and malware protection software, and any email addresses on the website are “obfuscated,” making them impossible to harvest by bots.

Similarly, I receive at least a half-dozen fake invoices every day (a typical day shows 300+ emails coming in). It annoys me, but the best reaction is to simply delete them. If you receive an email from someone that looks strange or suspicious, you can probably ignore it and delete it. You can also contact that person by some other means to investigate. If you think your email account or address book has been compromised, you should immediately change your password and contact your service provider.

We will not be posting a warning every time a suspicious email is reported. We’ll count on you to be “suspicious and cautious.”In a sense, it’s the price we pay for the technology we enjoy. AI (Artificial Intelligence) will be a positive in prevention but like most tools, it can also be used for evil. Certainly, if you have any questions or concerns, let me know!

Cautious or Suspicious?

By Walter Boomsma, MSG Communications Director

Unfortunately, a certain amount of both is in order when using the Internet. Of course, it’s not just limited to the Internet, although the Internet makes other scams and schemes possible. In the most recent Communication Short, I mentioned receiving some inquiries regarding a letter members are receiving that appears to be coming from National Grange. Since then, I have received it and dug a little deeper.

First, congratulations to those who were suspicious and cautious. If you’ve been wondering why Dave keeps calling about your car warranty, it’s because some people fall for it–enough to make it worthwhile.

One of the first questions about the letter I was asked was, “Did it really come from National Grange?” Now that I’ve received it and looked it over carefully, I can answer that question accurately. A precise answer is, “no.” It was postmarked from Texas. Everyone knows National Grange is located in Washington, D.C. It seems more likely that it was mailed by the Insurance Company making the “free” insurance offer. (American Home Life Insurance Company-AHLIC is located in Texas.)

The next logical question was, “Is it legitimate?” In order to answer that question, I visited the National Grange Website Member Benefits Section. There is no mention of AHLIC there. (I should note that any offer described as “free” puts me on alert because I know that’s not the whole story.) Personally, I’d be done with the offer at this point, but I went one step further so I could share it with members.

I did a quick check of the company on Investopedia. AHLIC (under several different names) is a “legitimate” company. They’ve actually been around for 75 years. There is, however, some big BUTS. The Better Business Bureau assigns them a one-star rating (five being the best). And a quick read of the reviews on Trusted Choice was enough to send me running.

My point is to use caution and suspicion–I am not reviewing the company on your behalf. Before you accept any “free offer,” you should do a little research and your own thinking. In the business world, we call it “due diligence.” I honestly don’t know how this letter came about. I’m sure this insurance company is legitimate, but their products and business model aren’t for me. Obviously, they are for some or they wouldn’t be in business.

With all National Grange Staff at the National Convention, it wouldn’t be easy to quickly confirm validity of the letter. It may, in fact, have been “authorized” by someone at National Grange, although I seem to remember an agreement that National Grange would not share member contact information with other companies and organizations. That might be a different issue.

The point this allows me to make is that we do well to view all communication with some degree of caution and suspicion. Many of you will recall some email and text messages that appeared to come from MSG Master Sherry.

We can wish the world was a safer place, but it isn’t. Caution and suspicion don’t have to become paranoia. Caution and suspicion are tools. We need not live in fear.

One fellow who decided to “take on” a fraudster shared his experience. If you’d like ten minutes of entertainment on this topic, I have embedded a video for you to watch. It just might prove that spammers are not always terribly bright. In fact, our hero uses caution and suspicion in a funny turnabout!

I couldn’t resist putting this post in the “Family Health and Hearing” category. Safety is an important aspect of health!