Successful
Actions of Junior Granges
Anne Kurburski, National Junior Grange Director says that this year’s theme for Junior Grange is “Reading Across America.”
Last year’s successes include 512 participants in the “Building a Healthier You” program. Anne says, “This theme was about physical exercise and enjoying a healthy body, so we had young people all across the country doing that, getting out and enjoying a variety of physical activities that were also good for them!”
“Other successes from last year include Creative Writing and Creative Arts Activities. We had over 300 entries in these contests last year. At Regional Conferences in 2007, Juniors participated in Regional Public Speaking Contests. Some of those young people were able to go on and have that Public Speaking experience at the National Grange Convention,” says Anne.
“This year’s theme is ‘Reading Across America.’ There will be a handbook that goes along with that theme which will be posted shortly on the National Junior Grange website.”
“Look for the Creative Writing and Creative Arts Contest again this year which will be focused on the theme, ‘Reading Across America.’ The focus state will be Connecticut so that Juniors all across the country will be reading and learning about Connecticut as that is where the 2008 National Grange Convention will be held this year,” says Anne.
“There will also be Regional Conferences in 2008 and I really encourage Juniors to attend them. You can look for some new things at the Regional Conferences this year including Junior Granges sharing a skill or talent that they have. Sign-a-Song and Public Speaking Contests will be part of the Regional Conference programs.”
You can learn more about Anne at the Junior Grange website. Click on “Meet the New Junior Grange Director.”
John Fine of Oregon speaks about the Junior Grange that he and his wife Peggy organized. “We organized our own Junior Grange. The By-Laws say that every Grange meets once a month so we meet once a month. We have activities all year long. We took the kids on a hike to some of our waterfalls as part of the Building a Healthier You program. We had healthy snacks at every meeting. We had a supper family meeting where the kids planned activities for the families that had to do with the Merit Badge programs. Outside of our regular meetings this fall, the kids decided that they’d trick-or-treat for UNICEF so they raised $315 in one evening. Instead of trick-or-treating for candy, they trick-or-treated for UNICEF.”
“The Junior Grange has their own meetings separate from the adult Grange. They have their own ritual. They have their own officers like the adult Grange. We have a lot of younger children in our Junior Grange. Our oldest is ten and the youngest is five so it’s been kind of a learning experience. And they conduct their own meetings. They make their own motions, they do all the stuff that the community Grange does, and they get really excited about doing their business. They plan their own activities. They set up their own committee for the Family Supper and they planned all that out. They voted to give up their trick-or-treating for UNICEF. They’re the ones that decided they wanted to go on a hike,” says John.
“We had a party for them after the Halloween trick-or-treating. After the hike, we went to a wildflower show that happens in our local area and the kids spent another hour or hour and a half just looking at all the wildflowers we have in our area.”
“They have a meeting every month. They have a craft activity every month or something special. Very few kids miss meetings. They seem to enjoy coming and doing their part. That’s what works for us,” says John. “We’re not really young people. We’re over 55 and it’s been a wonderful thing to be involved in the kids’ activities. And they go to the State Grange Session and since they have a meeting every month, they have a better handle about what’s going on.”
Patty Dyer, Ohio Junior Grange Director says, “We have some Junior Granges that meet at the same time as the Subordinate Grange – usually in the room where the Grange has their meals. We have others in the state of Ohio that meet on a separate night because the Grange doesn’t have the facilities to have at the same time. Or sometimes they might meet after school so the kids ride the school bus to wherever they are meeting. Or we even have a few who meet at the school as an after-school program. That depends on the school districts whether they allow that or not, but that’s kind of a neat way to get rid of the extra transportation issues and then the parents just pick them up after the meeting is over – so then of course the Junior Grange does not meet at the same time that their sponsoring Grange meets. We have all sorts of different arrangements. It depends on who the Junior Grange Leader is, what kinds of facilities the Grange has, and if you have a bunch of kids about the same age, what kinds of activities they’re involved in – and you work your schedule around when everything is available.”
John Fine agrees. “Our Junior Grange meets on Sunday afternoon. Ours is sponsored by a Pomona Grange. We have Junior members whose parents or grandparents belong to several different Granges within our Pomona and so there is no one home Grange. Because of all the activities the other kids have, we meet on a Sunday afternoon and that has seemed to work very well for us.”
In the same way that there are different models work in adult Granges, different models work in Junior Granges reflecting different needs in different communities.
Anne mentions that, “The personality of the folks leading the Junior Grange make a big difference in how a Junior Grange operates. It’s important to match your personality style to the kids’ needs and how it will work best for you. But certainly expect that the personality of the leaders will come through in the Junior Grange itself!”
“In Ohio, we charge $2 per kid just as a way for us to track our members. It doesn’t cost the kids much, but it gives us a commitment that we have actual members and not just names on a roster,” says Patty.
Anne says, “At the National level there are no national dues, but there is a report form that includes a roster of members. That’s important so that we know how many Junior Grangers we have out there for a variety of reasons – including making a larger impact.”
“In Ohio, we have a 3 – 3 and ½ day session that we have all ages of Junior Grangers who want to come to Grange Camp,” says Patty. We own our own camp at Friendly Hills which is not quite at the center of the state but pretty close. We try to keep the price low compared to other camps around – about $75. Our kids come in on Sunday afternoon and go home on Wednesday afternoon. We provide all the meals, all the snacks, a camp picture for that price. We do background checks for all our staff. We usually try to have two to four kids who are past Junior Grange Campers who are now in the youth program as kind of a transition – a counselor-in-training program.”
“We’ve really stepped up the number of adults versus kids to try and make sure we have at least two staff people with all the classes. In recent years we’ve tried to split the groups up so that each group has all ages in it for the morning classes, and then in the afternoon classes and when we go to swimming, we break it up by age groups so that the younger, older, and middle age kids are together. So that way we have things where everybody’s together and they form their own little group, and then we have other activities that are more tailored to the ages of the group and let those kids bond together as they grow up in Grange together,” says Patty.
“We have a State Junior Grange that any kid who is not a local Junior Grange member can become a Junior Granger by coming to camp and taking the degree or coming to State Convention and taking the degree. So they can be a State only Junior Grange member or can belong to their local Junior Grange and the State. They pay dues to their local Grange. They can run for State Junior Grange office. We have our officers put on Opening and Closing and the Junior Grange degree at camp and they also participate in a Ritualistic Degree Contest in the winter time and do the degree for State Convention in the fall. So they can do those extra things outside of camp.”
“We have craft classes, nature classes. We always try to have a camp theme. Last year it was ‘Down on the Farm with the Juniors.’ We brought in live animals, goats, rabbits, chickens and taught the kids a little about taking care of the animals. We tried to tie in the food and healthy activity. This coming year our theme will be ‘Christmas in July.’ We try to tie in our classes to the theme. We always try to have a food or cooking class so kids can learn some of the basics like measuring ingredients. We try to make it a fun recipe that kids can make and then eat either in class or at the following meal. We’ve done a variety of things,” says Patty.
“One of our past Junior Directors is a nurse so she is on our camp staff as Camp Nurse full time. We get medical release forms for all the kids who come. We try to do all the right health and safety things. We don’t permit any hazing or picking on the kids. We’re very committed that every kid there is welcome and on an equal basis, and we’ve just never had any kind of trouble with the Juniors as far as not accepting other kids who come.”
“We have a few special needs kids who have come to camp. We have some who have been coming for years. That adds a little bit of an extra challenge since most of us are not really trained to deal with their needs. But the kids get so much out of it. It’s kind of a learning process for everyone. We try to stay pretty flexible.”
“We’ve got a tremendous number of volunteer folks who come in to help. We do background checks and can give that assurance that we personally know the people we’re inviting to be on our staff, and they have no record that we need to be worried about. So for non-Grange members who send their kids, that’s what they’re concerned about – who’s on staff and watching out for their kids,” says Patty.
“At night time we split them up. The youngest kids, 5-8 year-olds, stay in our dining hall dorm. The older kids go down to the bigger dorm, where they get to stay up a little later and have a little more freedom.”
“We have a campfire one night, we have a camp dance one night, and we do the Junior Degree on our first night. If anybody wants to come and do the Degree so they can be a member but aren’t ready to stay for camp, they can just come on that first night.”
“We’ve had anywhere from 65-165 kids at camp. The numbers have trended down as the numbers in Subordinate Granges have gone down. We’ve had 65-75 kids the last few years. We’d like to see it go up. We haven’t done a lot of advertising outside the local Granges. We think there’s a tremendous opportunity if we’d advertise especially in the local community around Camp to attract more kids. We’re looking to get scholarships to offset the cost for lower income kids. We know the numbers would go up. It’s just a matter of having enough staff – especially since we try to have two adults in each class. If we want to keep costs down, you’ve got to get those volunteers so it adds more challenge to us.”
“We get a lot of input from the kids each year. We let them suggest themes or suggest changes for camp. We try to pick menus they like and always ask them for ideas about what they’d like to see on the menu,” says Patty.
“In Montana, we have a family oriented camp,” says Avalon Billquist, Montana State Junior Grange Director. “About 75 people show up – adults, kids, and youth also. We use the youth as camp counselors. We do our own cooking at the camp. Two guys come in and do all the cooking. Kids clean up and set the tables. They’re all assigned to chores around the camp. While one bunch is cleaning up the restrooms, another group is picking up the grounds, and another group is cleaning up the dining area – every day. This year we’ll have a hiking trip. Our theme is ‘The Great Outdoors.’ I’m going to have them make some birdhouses out of fabric that are really cute. We’ve got a lady who’s going to come and teach them to make and fly a kite. It will be in July for three days. We rent the facility that we use,” says Avalon.
Kathy Gibson, of Massachusetts is the leader for Apple Valley Junior Grange. “We’re doing really well!,” says Kathy. “Our Junior Grange was started in 2000 with another couple running it. They ran it for a couple years and it wasn’t doing too well. I took it over two years ago, but I’ve had a lot of help from the parents! When I think of it, though, all the kids who are members, all the parents are Grangers. They all come from Grange families, and they all help. Everyone has ideas and everyone gets along.”
“We try to the ritual which the kids are familiar with now. We try to make it fun too. We do a craft or a badge after the meeting, and the kids really, really look forward to that part of the meeting.”
“We have 15 or 16 kids. This year we gained three and last year we gained three. We lost our first one this year. She was one of our originals, and she graduated and joined Subordinate Grange. She’ll probably still keep coming and since she has three siblings who are members. We’ll ask her to help out when she’s there – kind of being a Junior Leader. My daughter and son are also some of the originals. They started when they were really young. My daughter is due to graduate next year, but she says she doesn’t want to leave Junior Grange. She says Subordinate Grange is boring,” laughs Kathy.
“I live in Worcester and our Junior Grange is in Dunstable. It’s about an hour drive for us and some of the other families who go there have the same kind of a drive as well. We only have about three really active Junior Granges in our state. But we don’t mind traveling because the kids love going!”
“I kind of fell into the leader role,” says Kathy. “I was helping someone else and then before I knew it I was leader, but like I said, I’ve had a lot of help. It’s wonderful and a great experience for the kids. Actually our Subordinate is talking about merging with another Subordinate and a lady from the other Grange asked my daughter why she didn’t want to join Subordinate. When my daughter said it was boring this lady said, ‘Well why don’t you help with the program? We could do crafts. Adults like doing that stuff too!’ So we’ll be trying to make Subordinate Grange more fun too!”
“Next meeting we’re going to decorate gingerbread houses. All the kids are going to bring their favorite candy. We’ll make the houses out of graham crackers and frosting, and the kids will get to make their own houses. And then they’ll get to eat them! So that will be fun!”
“We meet once a month. A lot of the parents are involved in State Grange so meeting more often would be difficult. What’s great too is when they go to State Session, they all know each other and chum around together. It’s really nice.”
“All of the families involved in Junior Grange are involved in different Subordinate Granges. All of us were involved in the youth program together. We all know each other, we all got married and had kids about the same time. So when the Junior Grange was created back in 2000, some of us joined it then – and then it just kind of evolved from there,” says Kathy. “It’s the closest one for us to go to. We grew up together and now our kids are growing up together so it’s really nice. Even though we live a distance apart, it’s a Grange family that brings us together. It’s nice. It would be nice if we all belonged to the same Subordinate Grange and didn’t live so far apart – but this is working well for us even so.”
Anne makes note that in some states they only have a State level Junior Grange. “There are lots of different arrangements,” says Anne. “A Subordinate Grange might sponsor a Junior Grange or a Pomona might have a Junior Grange on a county level. Or like Kathy described, you might create a kind of regional Junior Grange where the kids come from families who belong to different Subordinates. Or there might just be a State Junior Grange where kids are gathered together from across the state. It all depends – on the size of the state, the circumstances at the local or Pomona level. One individual Grange may or may not have enough kids to have a Junior Grange of their own, but there are ways you can gather together – by county, region, or even state – and provide great opportunities for kids.”
“Montana only has a State Grange,” says Avalon Billquist. “But we do a day camp at the Subordinate level. We have a camp or a play date where we get kids from a Boys and Girls Club or wherever we can find them. And then we have a day when we sponsor activities and we have a lot of fun with the kids. We’ve had up to 30 kids at our Day Camp here in Lake County. Last spring we were going to do it at the Boys and Girls Club, and then he asked if we were sure because they had 150 kids there. So we opted to wait just a little while till I had myself better organized.”
Patty highlighted several successful Junior Granges in Ohio. “We have one that’s very small. It started out with about three kids doing activities with their Subordinate Grange. Each of those kids brought in classmates, friends, relatives. I think they have eight or nine kids now. They do a lot of community service. That’s their focus. They take pets into a nursing home about once every two or three months. And they do Christmas things with the nursing home folks and take crafts into them. They adopt a family at Christmas. At their December meeting they’ll be wrapping gifts for their adopted family. They’ve just done a lot of neat community service projects. They get funding from Walmart and then as a reward they get sponsorship to attend Grange Camp,” says Patty.
“One of our other Junior Granges is real active. They meet at the same time as their Subordinate Grange – a very active Grange. I think they have about 12 – 14 kids who are all pretty close in age. Two or three of them were really interested and they talked it up. They got active in the Talent Contest. We sponsor a District and State Talent Contest and the winners go to the State Fair. They do ‘make-it, take-it crafts’ at the State Fair. The more they got interested and involved, the more of their friends have joined and participated. So they just built it up over three-four years time until they’ve been participating in everything.”
“In my home Junior Grange, when I graduated from college, they wanted me to be Master. I gave them a year to get a Junior Grange started or I wasn’t going to be Master. They’ve kept it going now for twenty-some years,” says Patty. “The Junior Leader’s kids have grown up and now her grandkids are members of our Junior Grange. It’s been really interesting to watch those kids grow up. We’ll have anywhere from two to three kids the right age with four or five a little too young to having 15 or 16 kids who come and go and stay active because the history and the trend is there. When we built our new Grange Hall, we put in a concrete floor so they could roller-blade. On fun nights, they build puzzles and play games. They have Halloween parties. We try to do a fun night every month and a regular meeting every month so they can get their crafts done, they can have their meetings, and have a good time at Junior Grange.”
Patty’s email address is osjgleader@netzero.net. She welcomes questions. Ohio State Grange has developed a Junior Grange Handbook that is updated each year and that has all their crafts and contests. “Most of it is digital, though not all, and I’ll be happy to send you hard copies,” says Patty.
“This is just our first year as Junior Directors,” says Liz Dehne who shares the role with her husband Jeff. “We took over without knowing really what to expect. But we love kids. At State Session, we open and close the Grange and introduce our guest speaker and do the Degree work. So we do it all at our 5 day State Session. The first two mornings of State Sessions, we practice the parts of the officers, the floor work, and the introducing of guests. And then in the afternoon we do a little bit of crafts. Last year we adopted the National Grange ‘Building a Healthier You’ theme so I provided them with healthy snacks. Snacktime is kind of like quiet time. We have a gentleman who sets the snacks up for us while we’re practicing or playing outside. I make sure that each of the kids has placemats, napkins, and proper silverware, and then they have their drink, and then their small plate for snack. And then when they come in, they sit where the want to. And it is really a pleasure to see them and their eyes light up because someone took the time to present them with a really nice table-setting and snack.”
“On Wednesday the Juniors do their Degree work in front of the whole State Session. I was a little disappointed at National Grange Convention because when the kids did their Degree work, no one was there except for the parents and grandparents of the Juniors. I like to see the kids showing what they can do to all the Grangers at the session,” says Liz.
“We take the kids swimming, we make sure of that. Last year we went to Enchanted Forest together with the Youth. We do craft activities with them too. On Sunday at State Session, we did masks because we had a Mardi Gras theme at our Opening Banquet. This year we will do ‘Reading Across America’ and we really like that theme.”
“We only have three active Junior Granges in Oregon and the rest are state affiliated. I am originally from the Phillipines where we had Boy and Girl Scouts,” says Liz. “What I’m realizing is that Junior Grange is a lot like Scouts or Campfire – except one thing that sets Junior Grange apart is that it is so family-oriented. If you don’t have enough kids to have a Junior Grange, then you can still have individual kids involved. We encourage the Subordinate Granges to include Juniors in their Grange. In our Grange when an officer is not able to be present, then the Juniors fill in for them. You wouldn’t believe how they behave – even my grandson. He cannot sit or stand still, but when he is an officer, he listens and sits up straight - and still.
Because kids love to earn badges, Anne says that National Junior Grange will be developing a new badge each year that goes along with the annual theme.
“Junior Grange is the foundation of a healthy Grange at all levels – local, Pomona, and National. When kids grow up in Grange, they want to stay in Grange. So we really want to express our great appreciation to all the Junior Leaders, the volunteers at camp, and everyone who is involved in helping to lead and promote Junior Grange,” says Anne Kurburski, National Junior Grange Director.
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