Meandering Around the Grange Way of Life
by Walter Boomsma
Report of Grange Services
Have you ever been to a Grange meeting where the Master/President didn’t skip the agenda item “Grange Services?” I can’t recall one. Once in a great while, someone gets curious as to what it’s supposed to include. So, after a little research, I have an answer!
As you might well expect, there’s a little history involved. A comparison of old manuals suggests it was at one time a “Report of Insurance or Business Agent.” A 1908 manual that was assigned to my great uncle list it as such. Since over the years, the Grange did provide services to farmers, one might rightfully conclude this is the place where the status of the services would be reported. By the way, my uncle often shared his displeasure with the Grange Insurance Program when one of his cows was killed by lightning. They didn’t pay the claim because it was an act of God. His argument that “God isn’t in the business of killing cows” did not prevail.
In my research, I’m told that there are still a few states that offer a form of Grange Insurance. (State insurance regulations often have created issues for these, but some remain out west. Here in Maine, Halcyon Grange has a silo and, I believe, participates in cooperative grain buying, Those Granges have something to report on.
But what about the rest of us? Are our community Granges not providing services?
Perhaps not in the historical sense but when we truly think about it, the Grange is all about service. Now it probably happens that many of those services are reported elsewhere during the meeting.
But before we drop this agenda item or tap the gavel and skip over it, let’s think about some of the services the Grange offers its members. Just change the word “services” to “benefits.” Perhaps during the Grange Services portion of the meeting, there could be a review of one member benefit offered at the national level. There is an entire section on the National Grange Website devoted to member benefits ranging from health-related to travel-related to shopping. Your membership chairperson could select one or two and review them briefly as a “report of Grange services.”
The Heirloom Program also qualifies as a Grange service. Every month we have the opportunity to be reminded of an important practice or principle of our Order.
Yet another opportunity exists in what might be called the “soft” benefits of being a member. I remember some years ago conducting a survey that asked people what they enjoyed most about the Grange. The answers were certainly rewarding. Some spoke of meeting new friends. Others enjoyed the opportunity to learn new skills such as leadership and public speaking. One person wrote that her parents met at the Grange and married as a result. She was thankful for the Grange because, without it, she wouldn’t be here!
Maybe it’s time to do that again—if not officially, at least locally. We could report how our Granges have served us. Who will step up and accept responsibility for a “Report of Grange Services?” I’m not sure it matters who it is, but this seems to fall naturally to a membership chair. It wouldn’t hurt us to devote some time thinking about the services/benefits we receive from being a member. And it definitely wouldn’t hurt for other people to start hearing about those services and benefits.
Once again, we prove the value of tradition and ritual. Let’s make this one work for us! When the master calls “Reports of Grange Services” and raises the gavel, who’ll jump up and respond, “I have something to report, Worthy Master!
(Special thanks to Phil Vonada, Amanda Brozana Rio, Steve Verrill, and Vicki Huff for their thoughts and contributions that will help us refocus on Grange Services.)
Any degree or ritual quotations are from the forty-sixth edition of the 2013 Subordinate Grange Manual or the most recent edition of the Pomona Grange Manual. The views and opinions expressed in “Exploring Traditions” are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official doctrine and policy of the Grange. Information about the book “Exploring Traditions—Celebrating the Grange Way of Life” can be found at http://abbotvillagepress.com, on Mr. Boomsma’s Amazon Author Page, or by contacting the author.
