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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Betsy E. Huber

The 155th Annual Session of the National Grange was very successful, and so good to be together in person after two years apart from our brothers and sisters! About 100 resolutions were considered, many awards given, several new officers elected, and great speakers heard, all of which you can read about in this issue.

Again I was amazed to see and hear about all the Grange activities you were able to accomplish in spite of the ongoing pandemic, now nearing two years duration. Thank you to all those Granges who have continued to meet in some way, either virtually, by phone, or in person, to continue your work helping others in your communities.

We all need to take this opportunity, while people are re-setting their priorities, to invite them to your meetings and involve them in your community service activities. We can step in now to fill that void created when all other activities shut down, if we show our value to the individual and the community through our service to others. Use these unusual circumstances as an opportunity to showcase your Grange as a vital resource in your community.

Our theme for 2022 is “Raised Right Here.” This simple phrase can have many meanings, depending on which word you emphasize.

Raised—the Grange educates and trains individuals beginning at 5 years old and continuing as long as they live. Education is one of the founding principles of our Order, and most of our programming is aimed toward education in some way. Raised also has an agricultural connotation—we plant the seed in our members, as in the First Degree, and cultivate their characters through our departmental activities, eventually reaping a bountiful harvest. We support our farmers and gardeners through lobbying for good government programs and laws to assist them rather than put more obstacles in their path. We advocate for funding and opportunities for local farms, agricultural and small businesses to improve their economic well-being and therefore the health of rural America.

Right—We abide by the laws of our state and nation, and the Constitution and Bylaws of the National Grange and our State Grange. We pledge to “inculcate a strict obedience to all laws and edicts emanating from the proper authority.” We exercise our rights to free speech and assembly, but we follow the rules of an orderly society. We search for the truth; we don’t just accept statements and opinions, but do our own research and pursue the facts. We train our children and new members to respect each other, respect our government and Grange leaders, and become outstanding leaders in their communities.

Here—where we live. We bloom where we are planted, in every local village or countryside. We work in cooperation with other community organizations for the betterment of our local areas. The Grange does not live in Washington DC; it lives in the Community Grange and the hearts of all our members.

Right Here—combining these words gives it the meaning of immediacy—we are being raised, educated, trained, grown right now. The phrase doesn’t just refer to past successes, but more importantly, our current work and our future. What are we doing now to “raise” our next generation of Grangers?

Throughout the next year we want to focus on local resources, sustainability and resilience for rural and hometowns. We will advocate for small businesses and local farms to help them thrive. The last two years have been especially challenging for these folks and we want to engage our army of Grangers to help them.

We want to involve all ages of members—from the Junior Grange, to youth programming, to adults. We encourage you to plan programs to examine what sustainability, resilience, food security, and protecting the environment mean in your community. Consider inviting local businessmen and agriculturalists to your meetings to learn more about their problems and how the Grange can help them. And we hope you will share your successful programs with others across the country.

We have a chance to make 2022 the best Grange year in our lifetimes!

ADVERTISE WITH US

Our quarterly publication welcomes advertisers. Up to a 20% discount may be offered to Grange members on their ad purchases. All rates shown are for pre-designed content submitted at least 2 weeks in advance of press date for an issue. You may request rates for ads to be designed by our staff.

GOOD DAY!™ PRESS DATES 2022 Issue Due Date Hits Mailboxes

Spring February 1 April 1, 2022 Summer May 1 June 1, 2022 Fall August 15 September 15, 2022 Winter November 15 January 1, 2023

Classified ads are also welcomed at $0.50 per word up to 25 words, $1 thereafter; $2.50 per website, email, or other link regardless of word count; $5 per photo (will appear no larger than 1.5”x1”). Special requests (bold design, font increase) available for extra charge. All copy should be submitted no later than 10 days prior to the due date. National Grange assumes no responsibility for that which is advertised in Good Day!™ and reserves the right to reject ads deemed offensive or irrelevant. Please contact Amanda Brozana Rios at abrozana@nationalgrange.org or by phone at (301) 943-1090 for details.

WRITE FOR US

This is your chance! This is your magazine.

Submissions may be made by any Grange member in good standing, especially including Junior and Youth members and must be your own original work.

For Juniors, you may get your parent, guardian or another mentor or adult’s assistance to write or draw the piece, but we expect all those who assist to adhere to high ethical standards and allow the Junior’s work to be reflected without influence by the adult/ older assistant.

All work must be in good taste and appropriate for our audience. The National Grange reserves the right to reject any submissions. Guidelines & The Fine Print

Entries may include: photo essay (at least three photos that together tell a story with captions identifying the people in the photo if applicable and what is happening in the scene); short story (max. 1,500 words); poem; essay/article (maximum 1,500 words and must include at least two relevant photographs with captions); skit (no more than six speaking characters; should not take more than 10 minutes to perform and should not require an elaborate set); D-I-Y (do-it-yourself) project with supply list, step-by-step instructions and photos of each step; or open category (examples include but are not limited to a coloring book page related to Grange or agriculture; comic strip or box; recipes, etc.).

Each entry must be submitted digitally and include name, address, phone number, email (if applicable) and Grange details (name, number and state of Subordinate Grange and office held). Junior 1+ members can list the Subordinate or State Grange they are affiliated with. E-members can list National Grange E-member.

Submission is acknowledgment that publication is authorized. In the case of Junior submissions, this is acknowledgment of right to publish by both Junior and their parent/ guardian.

All submissions must be made via email to communications@nationalgrange.org.

From the desk of the Editor

AMANDA LEIGH BROZANA RIOS

The communities in which the Grange lives are special. There is a richness of life in our hometowns that has nothing to do with dollars and cents. But sometimes, it’s hard to see, especially for “outsiders.”

In rural areas, failing infrastructure, opioids, the digital divide, loss of manufacturing jobs and outmigration have been hot topics for three decades or more. Yet in spite of these issues and hundreds more unique to America’s most remote and smallest hometowns, we persist in living in them and loving them.

As a flood of individuals return from suburban and urban centers or become rural residents for the first time because of the pandemic and the paradigm shifts it brought to the world, Granges and Grange members are presented a golden opportunity to serve as welcome wagon, pride patrol and activist allies for our communities.

The Grange theme for 2022-23, “Raised Right Here,” allows us to do just that.

Just after returning home from the National Grange Convention, I was able to get a jump-start on using the theme as part of a display for our local Grange, Jefferson #1384, that reorganized in May 2021.

Our membership - with an average age of just under 35 and a lot of “littles” running around our meetings - has focused so much of our efforts on supporting local agriculture, local businesses, local craftsmen and more. We have used our pride in what is raised in our county - be it produce, people or spirit - to connect to one another and to help tell the story of why we exist when there are hundreds of other charitable organizations operating in or around our area.

In our first few meetings, we introduced new farms or products to our members through our potlucks and giveaways of locally grown produce at our meetings. From a variety of strawberry that would bear fruit late into October making its debut at a farm now owned by a young couple with Grange ties, to a taste test of various apple varieties available at another grower’s farm-stand, the new members and guests who had often previously never heard of the Grange came to expect that when they stepped into our meeting, they would be greeted with food, friendship, a kind of farm tour and most importantly: a group that cherished the area in which we are all invested.

That focus on local led us to intentionally purchase potatoes grown in our county to use at our fair booth this past summer. We made sure to feature this fact in our press release, social media ads, banner at the stand and all other advertising about our stand. Our pride in our hometown products was evident and contagious. We were even interviewed on the local radio station about our stand and the humble, but local, baked potatoes we were offering because of the hometown connection.

By November, we finally had words for the work and pride and focus we had found, thanks to the “Raised Right Here” theme.

We secured a space at an annual decorated tree festival held by a local arts nonprofit, the Walk-In Arts Center (WIAC). WIAC offers other nonprofits in the area the opportunity to decorate trees that individuals visiting the center can vote on as their favorite or place silent auction bids on to take home - tree, decorations and all. There is no fee for entry if you bring your own tree, but most other organizations “purchase” an artificial tree from WIAC and go from there.

For our Grange, this was an awesome opportunity to sing the praises of a local Christmas tree farm that was selected as the winner of the national tree contest and farm from which the 2022 White House Christmas Tree will hail. That farm, too, has a Grange connection that we’re pretty proud of.

Our theme for decorations was a no-brainer - patriotic with White House Historical Association ornaments and the

opportunity for our members to tell people that WHHA is a tenant in the National Grange Headquarters, just a block from the White House.

Then we added a few finishing touches that tied the tree back to our county - most specifically the farm on which it was grown. We put a few wooden photo frame ornaments on the tree with photos of the three-generations farm family tending to, and standing with pride with their product. Off to the side, we added an 18”x22” sign (pictured to the right) with information about the tree and our Grange along with a box of Jefferson Grange brochures and flyers about our upcoming “Free Photos with Santa” event.

The sign includes the “Raised Right Here” logotype and an outline of our county - a very recognizable shape for many in “the Skook” as we affectionately call it. It also includes text that unmistakably conveys: “If you are proud to be from this place, we are the group for you to affiliate with.”

But if you’re a transplant, just trying to figure out where you fit in our rural corner of the world, what then?

We believe our efforts to elevate the pride of place we have in our area also says, “We’re the group that can help you establish your own roots here and appreciate all that this place has to offer.”

Having moved to several communities in my life where I had only academic or professional connections, I was longing for that group or individual who rooted me in a way to my new area and made me feel like I was experiencing the best of the place.

A Grange that finds a way to excite the die-hards, the lifers and the generationally connected while inviting the newcomers, transplants and transients to the same table will provide a remarkable service for their hometown. By connecting the individuals without established roots to your community, you will increase investment by individuals who may come with big-city salaries or big-time connections that can raise quality of life in your area in a variety of ways. You’ll also help erase the label “outsider” and be able to squash tension before it begins. Finally, your pride may be contagious, too. You may help someone, like a fifth generation farm kid or a collegebound business-minded kid, make the choice to stay or come home after school to invest in your community as well.

Future-casting is important - a look at where you want to be and how to get there. That means understanding the outcomes you are seeking and relentlessly walking or creating paths to get there.

Next year, we’ll take part in the tree event again. We’ll have an evergreen from a different farm (there are lots of them in our area and it’s important to spread the love). We’ll have a different theme, but the message will remain: things that are raised here are raised right, and from that, greatness grows.

I believe every Grange member can relate. There is something great about the community or area you serve, something that calls you to its service and the service of your neighbors also invested in that place.

I can’t wait to see how you use this theme to tell the story of your community and the Grange. Make sure to share that story with us - how you are instilling in both the lifelong and new residents of your area a sense of pride and what makes your hometown special to you. Send your story to communications@nationalgrange.org.

By Lindsay Schroeder

Senior Communications Fellow

Philip J. Vonada of Pennsylvania has been hired as Communications Director of the National Grange.

Vonada has big shoes to fill as he assumes the role left open by Amanda Brozana Rios, who was appointed in February 2021 as National Grange Membership and Leadership Director.

“I am looking forward to the challenges and opportunities this new role provides.” says Vonada. “As somebody who has grown up in the Grange, I am excited to be able to continue growing the Grange by increasing our outreach and communication, both within our Granges and out to the public at large. Over the past several years, Amanda has set up a strong Communications department, and I am grateful for her leadership and our ability to continue to work alongside each other as she completes the transition into her new role.”

Vonada’s first major project in his new role was to be the primary lead on the Communication Fellows program at the 155th Annual Convention.

He is eager to expand his abilities and provide essential services for the Grange to grow as an organization, he said.

A major goal for Philip in his new position is to connect with Granges who may not feel tightly connected to the National Grange.

He hopes to provide improved resources members can use to enrich their local communities and see a value in being part of the Grange as a whole.

“Philip brings a positive attitude, a strong work ethic, and a broad background in the Grange and public relations to this position,” said National Grange President Betsy Huber. “He is going to be a strong asset in connecting Granges at all levels and is an exciting addition to the National Grange staff.”

Vonada resides in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where he is a member of Penns Valley Grange #158 in Centre County and Eagle Grange #1 in Lycoming County. He serves as the Director of the Pennsylvania State Junior Grange, and was previously a Communications Fellow in 2019 and Trimble Legislative Youth Delegate in 2018.

“The communications department is multifaceted and fast-paced. I think having a fresh perspective will provide our members and our organization as a whole with a renewed energy, and Phil has a deep Grange background that will help him hit the ground running. I’m really excited to see where Phil will take us,” said Brozana Rios.

Vonada is the General Manager of the Community Theatre League in Williamsport until the end of this year, when he will officially assume his new role.

He holds a bachelor’s in Speech Communication and Theatre from Millersville University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Arts from Villanova University. In his spare time, Vonada enjoys theater, baking, cooking, working out and reading.

Let’s hear your story

Indeed, being a Grange member is one of the most rewarding experiences. For many, the story of how they came to join the Grange does not capture the essence of how they came to be a Granger and what that means in their lives.

We want to hear from you!

What is your #Grangestory that tells how you became a Granger? Did you see application of degree lessons to your daily life and relate them to friends and coworkers? Did you find yourself embracing new ideas and finding ways to overcome differences?

Submit your story of no more than 650 words and a photo, if applicable, to Philip at pvonada@nationalgrange.org by February 1 for potential inclusion in a future issue of Good Day! or use on our social media.

By Philip J. Vonada

Communications Director

Following months of emotional and passionate discussion, a decision has been made regarding the National Grange headquarters. A roll-call vote on Wednesday afternoon showed a clear majority in favor of selling the building, located at 1616 H Street NW in Washington, D.C.

“It was a necessary step,” said National Grange President Betsy Huber. “It was an emotional decision - I understand that. But our mission is not to operate a building as landlords. We need to dedicate more of our efforts and money to Grange programming rather than managing a building.”

Delegates, assembled in Wichita at the 155th National Grange Convention, spent many hours debating the pros and cons of retaining the headquarters building, and what to do if a decision was made to sell.

In her report to the Delegates, Operations Coordinator Samantha Wilkins pointed out that the structural and maintenance issues the building has faced over the past few years are just the beginning.

“We all love this building,” but she advised that continuing discussion would force the Grange to spend on a building that is no longer in prime shape.

She advised that the history and sentimentality behind the National Grange Headquarters are not strong enough reasons to face mounting debt from taking on consistent maintenance problems. Following the vote, Grange members nationwide are now grappling with the question of “where do we go from here?”

Delegates and past Delegates have expressed concerns of allowing a debt to be paid for by the next generation of Grangers.

National Grange Executive Committee member Leroy Watson said the sale is not necessarily going to be a fast process.

“It’s not like we’re going to put a sign out front that says ‘building for sale,’” he said, noting that there is a “specific universe of potential buyers” who are looking for a building like the National Grange owns.

Watson noted that the resolution on which the Delegates voted requires the National Grange to work with a licensed real estate firm, in the same way Community Granges are required to do when they sell a Hall.

Then-National Grange Vice President Phil Prelli said that the Executive Committee is challenged to “best use the net proceeds from the sale to do the proper job in running our National Grange.”

Watson pointed out that the building has been an investment for the past 60 years, and the proceeds from the sale will be an investment for the next 60 and beyond.

“It’s about getting a return on the investment that [we] can use to help support the mission of the organization,” he said.

Investing in traditional stocks and bonds “will generate additional income for Grange operations to sustain and even to grow our programs,” Watson added.

These funds “can make a difference in the future of our organization,” Prelli said.

The decision to move forward with the sale of the National Grange Headquarters certainly has an emotional effect on Grangers.

The National Grange Executive Committee is now tasked with the responsibility of making the best decisions and solid investment choices to positively affect programming and the future of the Grange.

Photo by Amanda Brozana Rios

Delegates to the 155th Annual National Grange Convention made the emotional decision to sell the organization’s headquarters located at 1616 H. St. NW, Washington, D.C.

By Ann Bercher

National Lecturer

I did not grow up in the Grange. I grew up in Iowa the descendant of dairy farmers, a milk processing plant engineer and a retail specialty cheese shop owner.

While I grew up in a moderate sized metropolitan area, I clearly remember hearing the farm report every morning on the radio while we ate breakfast. Love those gilts and barrows!

My mother was an avid gardener, and I learned to love growing plants for food from her. We spent hours together in the garden and then canning or freezing our bounty for later use.

I attended Iowa State University graduating with a BA in Landscape Architecture with an English minor. I moved to Minnesota with my husband, and we raised 2 sons and a daughter.

One day, I answered an ad in the Minneapolis Star Tribune for a part time historic farm site tour guide. I applied for the job, got hired and began working at the Oliver Kelley Farm where I first learned about the Grange. While the job was only a six-month seasonal job, with no prior experience on a farm, or much knowledge of history, I am an eager learner and I figured I could do anything for six months. I worked at the Oliver Kelley Farm for 25 years.

The state Grange of Minnesota held their annual meetings at the farm, and while I was working on the farm site, I would occasionally get a glimpse of what was going on in the Grange Hall that was concealed behind the curtains in the Visitor Center. During their breaks, many Granger would visit the historic farm site where I was usually puttering around in the garden. I met so many wonderful people in that garden! It wasn’t until I became the Assistant Site Manager that I joined the Grange. To be honest, I did it for work. I enjoyed my local Grange meetings and the partnership they created with the Friends of the Kelley Farm. I attended numerous National Conventions as a vendor “selling” the Kelley Farm and our activities to you. I met so many wonderful people as they passed by the Kelley Farm table. And I was always thrilled when a familiar face showed up at the Kelley Farm following the convention. I made so many friends from across the country as a Grange member!

While I was working at the Kelley Farm, economic struggles began to threaten job security, so I went back to school in Culinary Arts. I became a classically trained chef but soon discovered that the restaurant life was not for me. I would prefer to teach. Luckily, the Kelley Farm received funding to expand and create a new campus to explore modern agriculture which also included a state-of-the-art kitchen classroom. There I was able to create and present hands-on farm to table cooking programs for all ages.

After some restructuring of the Historical society (who runs the Kelley Farm) I chose to expand my life work journey and took a job at the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum as the Education Culinary specialist. There I develop cooking classes (for the first 18 months they were all virtual), invite other chefs to present classes and dinners, and invite wine experts to offer wine tasting and appreciation classes. The Arboretum currently has two kitchens that I work out of. Next year there will be a third. Thew one is located on a historic portion of the Arboretum that was the site of a farm family, contemporaries of Oliver Kelley, who was living 35 miles to the north. I have continued to share the stories of agriculture from the past 19th century to today and love every moment! I can never get very far away from agriculture.

Four years ago, I was honored to become a Communications Fellow at the National Convention at Stowe, Vermont. I learned so much and met so many more Grange members from across the country. I was elected to be the state president of Minnesota, but I had already committed to the Fellows program so when the National Convention was in Minnesota, I stayed behind the scenes to continue my education as a Communications Fellow.

The next year, as we all know, was a virtual National Session. I participated in the Health and Education Committee work and attended the full session.

This year in Wichita, KS, I attended a full, in-person session of the National Grange. Then I got elected as National Lecturer. Well, that was a surprise! A very humbling and welcomed surprise.

I follow the footsteps of an amazing past Lecturer and now Vice President Chris Hamp. Chris has left a terrific legacy of programs, many which will continue under my watch, such as Quilts of Valor, the Quilt Block contest and the Photography Contest. I also hope to offer more educational opportunities regarding food waste, climate change as it affects agriculture, and the challenges farmers and all agricultural workers face to feed a growing population despite a global pandemic.

So, while I did not grow up in the Grange, I have certainly grown into the Grange. I like the way it fits!

Photo by Lindsay Schroeder

Ann Bercher, President of the Minnesota State Grange, was elected National Lecturer at the session.

Youth, Young Adults, and Juniors are invited to join us in Washington, DC on March 12-15, 2022 for the second Washington DC Experience.

The purpose of the Washington DC Experience is for Junior and Youth/Young Adult aged Grangers from across the country to come together and learn about how the Grange functions on the legislative side.

“This was one of the best opportunities offered by the Grange that I have ever been a part of,” said Pennsylvania State Grange President Wayne Campbell, who attended, with his grandson, the inaugural event in 2019. “It was spectacular and I would encourage every member to consider sending a Youth, taking a Youth, sponsoring a Youth or a Junior to be part of this program.”

Youth and Juniors will be educated on the many ways in which Grangers and citizens alike can advocate on the issues they feel important to shape public policy and communities in which they live.

During the Washington DC Experience, Grangers are invited to get an up-close and behind-the-scenes look at what government is and how it operates in Washington, DC.

“We are ensuring our future, the future of our hometowns, of agriculture, of rural America, by empowering these kids early to know how to advocate and be engaged citizens,” National Junior Grange Director Samantha Wilkins said.

Grangers will attend briefings with important information pertaining to the Grange Legislative Department. Plans will also include meeting with governmental entities such as the USDA and with members of Congress from the districts in which the Juniors and Youth reside, as well as a tour of Washington, D.C.

“Just as our Grange Declaration of Purposes suggests, we will ensure that our Grange Youth, Young Adults, and Juniors ‘take a proper interest in the politics of one’s country’ so they might become the informed and involved citizens required to move America forward and to guarantee a better society for future generations,” Wilkins said.

Travel and lodging costs are the responsibility of the attendees, Wilkins said. The event has a $150 registration fee to cover some meal costs and tours.

Potomac Grange #1 of Washington DC is offering a scholarship called the “Grange Grassroots Activism Scholarship,” to enable at least one Junior or Youth to attend the event. Information about the scholarship is available in the National Youth and Junior Grange Program books.

PLAN TO ATTEND

Register online by February 12 at bit.ly/DCE22 (case sensitive). Registration is $150 to include most meals and tours.

Call 703-344-8020 to make your reservations with the event hotel, the Quality Inn Tysons Corner for just $79/ night plus tax by February 12 using hotel block code National Grange.

By Corey Spence

Vice President, Massachusetts State Grange

So many of us treasure the value and beauty of the rituals that sustain us and our Granges. Yet that language can become a barrier to others. Just as no one now condones black-face and its inherent racism, we have to work to root out other forms of discrimination including some Grange ritual. In American society, there is simply no way to remove the stain of the slavery movement from the words Master and Overseer. At the 2020 session of the Massachusetts State Grange the delegates voted to change our officer titles to President and Vice President.

Racism and xenophobia are built into the very core of our national identity. We gave the idea that God gave North America to Europeans the title Manifest Destiny. We used this idea to steal land from the Native Americans. In fact the first seal of the Massachusetts Bay Colony had a Native American in a loin cloth begging Europeans to come and help them, thus implying their societies weren’t worth anything and they had no claim to the land they didn’t use the way Europeans thought they should.

Government buildings and even the economy of the United States were built by the slave labor of people considered property and in the words of the U.S. Constitution merely 3/5 of a human being. We have yet to atone as a nation for the centuries of slavery, Jim Crow laws, and discrimination against people because of the way they look.

Like Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I dream of a day when my nephews, and their father who hails from Mali, will truly be judged on the content of their character and not by the standards society has set for them. I no longer want to worry that if my nephews aren’t twice as good as white people the consequences could be grave.

I would also argue that sexism should no longer have a place in the Grange or its ritual. When I perform the traditional installation ceremony I change some of the charges to emphasize that women are more than just lovely people that sit there so we can look at them and thus remember to act like refined human beings. I say that the teachings of our Order, “form part of the farming life. They do not call farmers to put their minds on any other subject…” I also say in the charge to Pomona, “Let all engage in that work whenever practical and proper.” Women don’t need to be urged to take part in agriculture, have their sphere of life enlarged, or reminded that there is work outside the kitchen or the house, they have always been working in all parts of society.

Let us begin to see changes in language not as something to be feared or despised but as something opening us up to seeing the world through the eyes of different segments of our society. These changes may challenge our privilege, but they in no way demean us and in many ways empower those whose voices are historically ignored.

We trumpet the fact that our Order helped women get a voice and a vote. Can we begin to trumpet that we are looking at ourselves and rooting out the places where language and privilege create hardships for others? Let us become even more open to learning from and welcoming the perspectives of the people around us whether they are Grange members or not.

Words can wound and words can heal. When society evolves and words need to change, it is our duty to change them.

Let’s create a more welcoming world that we can all enjoy together. Our Order and its ritual have evolved and will continue to evolve as a living organization grows into the 21st century.

Headquarters sale decision allows us to focus on true ‘home’ of Grange

By Gene Edelen

Past President, Iowa State Grange

“There’s no place like home, There’s no place like home, There’s no place like home.”

How fitting of a line from “The Wizard of Oz” considering the 155th National Grange Convention just was held in Kansas.

The Delegate Body of the National Grange had a difficult decision to make, which could be ranked as one of the most difficult decisions that a Delegate Body has had to make in our history: to give their okay to authorize the sale of the National Grange headquarters building at 1616 H Street NW in Washington, DC.

I agree with the decision made to go forth with the sale. The headquarters has been an icon for our organization for over 60 years, but to not authorize this sale would have been fiscally irresponsible and place a huge burden on future generations of Grange members. If we had the membership base and were using a majority of the building, my answer would be different.

So where is the home of the National Grange? Is it at 744 Jackson Place – the first building the Grange purchased? Or at the Kelley Farm in Elk River, Minnesota? Or is it at 1616 H Street NW? Or is the real home in the foundation of our Community Granges and Grangers? I choose the latter. Sure, the National Grange needs a home office with space for just our organization, but it doesn’t have to be in the current location, which doesn’t fit our needs anymore. We need a functional headquarters that makes sense for this organization.

Just like Dorothy made her way back home to her loved ones at the end of the movie, the National Grange will make their way to a new headquarters and still be in the home of her loved ones “ the Community Granges and Grangers throughout the U.S.”

By Walter Boomsma

Maine State Grange Communications Director

As many know, the Valley Grange “Words for Thirds” Dictionary Program has become a “rite of passage” in our area–and a bit of a ritual. Last year, we had to make significant changes in our approach when COVID meant third graders couldn’t visit the Grange Hall and Grangers couldn’t visit them at school.

One of the things I’ve always enjoyed is showing the kids the staves, explaining what farmer’s tool each represents, and how we apply that to “the Grange Way of Life.” I’m also always pleased when the thank you notes we receive include hand-drawn staves. The kids remember them!

So, I can’t resist asking you to list the four staves. Bonus points if you know which officer carries which stave! (This is reminiscent of the game “Are you smarter than a third grader?”

While the recently released National Grange Brochure doesn’t cover the staves, it does an excellent job of summarizing the Four Degrees: their emblems, seasons, and lessons. One thing that recommends this brochure is that it removes any mysticism, simplifies the degrees and symbols, and shows how they can apply to our daily lives. That’s what we try to explain to the kids during dictionary presentations. The kids are pretty good at the application when we discuss the staves. I offer a brief explanation, then invite them to consider if they had one in their classroom; what might it remind them of? One of my alltime favorites came from a young fellow who said, “The pruning hook would

Photo submitted by Walter Boomsma

remind me to pick up papers and trash on the floor of our classroom.” I was less pleased when a student asked if we couldn’t use it to “cut out the math lessons.” But she gets points for thinking. And we get to think about the fact that we don’t always like what’s good for us.

I wonder–do we “modern-day” Grangers consider the Degrees and Symbols as part of our daily lives to the same degree our forebears did? On Dictionary Day, the kids end up thinking about what agriculture and farming tools can teach us. Some think it would be pretty awesome to have a set of staves in their classrooms. (They especially like the owl.) We make the point that their dictionaries are tools and try to teach the concept of stewardship in a simple form.

Are we smarter than third-graders? (That’s a game we play at school by asking older kids or adults questions about the things third-graders are learning.)

Memorizing the degrees and symbols can be fun, but let’s not miss the meaning. If a Grange is struggling, could we not look at the emblems as a way of thinking through change? What do we need to prune out? Can the hoe help us “destroy error… while promoting the growth of knowledge and wisdom?”

An obvious Grange Program based on this brochure is to develop a “trivia” contest based on the degrees and symbols. But if we stop there, we fail our purpose as educators.

When was the last time someone other than the master and steward looked at the items in the implement case? The knowing is good, but let’s not omit the doing. What tools do we have to grow ourselves and our Granges, and how are we going to best use them? Are we being good stewards? Who is ready to grab the shepherd’s hook and lead the way?