Successful
Actions of Maple Grove Grange - CO
“Maple Grove Grange was organized in February of 1907. At the second meeting, 65 people became members, and our membership is just about the same number almost one hundred years later,” says Marlys Halbeisen, Master. “At the time, our community of Wheat Ridge, Colorado, was a small community, but farms were sold, and schools, homes, and shopping centers were built. Some of our members have ancestors who were involved in agriculture and we have one couple who still has farm animals and does some farming.”
“Now most of our members are retired with an average age of 60-65. About 17-25 attend meetings regularly, but almost everyone participates in Grange activities in one way or another,” says Marlys. “We do a lot of what we think of as small community service activities, but when you add them all up, it’s really a lot.”
“Construction on our Grange Hall was completed in 1951 and that is a major asset for us. We rent the hall to many groups who pay to use the building which is the main way we make money. And we provide other groups free use as part of our community service outreach,” says LaVerne Jessop, Secretary.
“Scouts, square and round dance groups, the historical society, Kiwanis, and a federal employees group who are focused on Alzheimer’s disease as their community service – these are the kinds of groups that use the building rent-free,” says LaVerne. “The broad range of these groups shows that we mix pretty well with the community, I think.”
In addition to offering free use of their Grange Hall to many groups, Maple Grove Grange is into collecting for numerous good causes. “We have huge bins in our parking lot where we collect 6 tons of newspapers a month,” says Marlys. “Proceeds go to the El Jebel Shriners. As part of the Fill An Empty Plate project, we have food bins in the building and we collect enough to donate several hundred pounds a year to a local food pantry. And our members collect various things for nursing homes and schools. Paper roll tubes, and egg cartons, the kinds of things that we use and then might throw away but that nursing homes or the Scouts or someone might be able to use for their projects.”
“This year, we’re going to make bibs for the nursing home. And twice a year we take them flowers.”
Idella Lewis, Lecturer, adds, “We’re calling that project Flowers for Seniors. Members who have flowers growing in their yards bring them in to be arranged. The nursing home has lots of vases and either we or the residents themselves arrange them in the vases and then they have pretty fresh flowers to enjoy. They really enjoyed that a lot. We had conversations about the flowers and what they used to grow. It really brought back a lot of memories. In June we all had a lot of variety growing in our gardens, but it was a dry year so when we went in August, we got a lot of mountain flowers and had fun identifying them. They really made very pretty arrangements. You know, any Grange could do something like that, and it was much appreciated.”
Other community service projects include things that individual members can do as well as things that are done as a group. “We make baby blankets and take them to State Session. Then they’re given to people in the city where State Session is held – to families who might not have enough. One of our members made 17 single bed blankets and took them to our county Sheriff’ Department so they could give them out to people who might need them,” says Marlys.
“We have a shelter for homeless women where they can stay for several days at no cost. We take them shampoos and soaps and various things that we might bring home after staying at a hotel.”
“And then there’s the Beads for Premies project. We string these beads and give them to Children’s Hospital, a 5-state hospital that specializes in neo-natal care. These beads are really important because they hold the babies’ feeding and breathing tubes and such lifelines away from the babies so they aren’t able to reach them and pull them out.”
“Every May we give an Outstanding Community Service Recognition Award,” says Idella. “Sometimes we contact local agencies and ask for them to nominate someone that has done a lot of service and sometimes our own members think of someone we should recognize. Last year, we honored a man who had planted and raised a pumpkin patch for children to pick out their own pumpkin. This man was 92 years old! We made a collage of pictures of him and the children and gave him a sweatshirt with a flag on it because he is quite patriotic. It felt great to be able to recognize him.”
“Our Pomona has a dinner to honor foster families around Christmas time. We limited attendance to 20 people so it could be cozy. We did the dinner, Santa Clause came, we did some caroling, and everyone got a treat bag.”
“Many of our projects are on-going,” says Marlys. “The Cub Scouts help us with an Adopt-a-Highway project so we pick up trash with them along a busy highway at least twice a year.
Idella adds, “We sell Christmas cards for the Children’s Hospital at the Holiday Gift Mart which is a big arts and crafts show held at the Convention Center. They have food, crafts, all kinds of gift items. One of our members who is in an Extension group got us involved with that. She and her husband count out the cards and then we sign up for when we can go and provide manpower to sell the cards at the Children’s Hospital booth.”
“We also provide Ag in the Classroom materials to a fifth grade class. They tell all about the agricultural products grown in the state of Colorado. And then some of us took wheat into the classroom, and showed them how flour is made. And then we baked small loaves of bread with them so they could see the process start to finish. Kids do like to eat and they really enjoyed that. And it helps educate them about where food comes from because so many of them really have no idea. One of the kids said that he always thought flour came from sugar. Now he knows differently!”
Maple Grove Grange meets eleven times a year with an annual picnic in August. “We start our meetings with a pot luck dinner. Sometimes we set up the hall and hold a traditional meeting. Sometimes we’re less formal. Meetings are almost always short and we always have a brief program. Sometimes our program might include packing up gift baskets or trays for us to take to our firefighters or police departments. We try to do that around a holiday like Valentine’s Day or Easter just to remind them that we appreciate the work they do,” says LaVerne.
“We do some things just for fun and invite other Granges as well as people from the community,” says Idella. “We get a good turnout at our picnic at Marlys and Don’s house every August. And we do a Christmas Party and gift exchange that is fun. About a week before St. Patrick’s Day we had the Bennett School of Irish Dance come to perform. That was a fun evening.”
Money raised from Hall rental provides all the finances that Maple Grove Grange needs. “The Hall is rented about 15-20 times a month with folk dancers, square and round dancers. The Colorado Wood Carvers organization meets there and so does a Jeep club, along with individuals having weddings and receptions. Of course we do have a long list of people who use the building rent free as part of what we offer to the community. It’s a really nice building with a beautiful wood floor, a full basement, large kitchen, and a stage area. We keep it up well. People like coming there. When we hold a clean-up day, people from groups that use the hall usually come and help out.” says LaVerne.
“Because we have so many people coming in and out of our building, we use two really nice bulletin boards to post information on what is coming up. And we put up flyers on a bulletin board at the bank. We try to get newspaper coverage, but they don’t print a lot of what we send them.” says Idella.
Marlys adds, “We know that people who use the hall do contribute to the food box. And we collect used eye-glasses and cancelled stamps. We used to collect Christmas cards for St. Jude’s hospital when they still did that.”
The hall - in combination with LaVerne’s husband, Dean, who acts as the Grange Hall caretaker - serves as an important membership recruitment tool for Maple Grove Grange. “Dean is so good about going over to make sure that everything is working properly and that no one who uses the hall is inconvenienced in any way,” says Marlys. “And then he always tells them what we’re doing and that they should join and support us. He’s brought in quite a few new members!”
LaVerne adds, “He’s always talking to people about Grange when groups use the Hall and answering questions. He makes sure he has membership applications to give people!”
Participating in a State Grange event has also helped Maple Grove Grange recruit at least one new member. “We’ve had a Women’s Retreat for the last four years,” says Idella. “It’s open to everyone, and held in nice mountain area. We’ve had several people join Grange because they enjoyed the retreat so much. I invited a friend of mine to go along and now she’s joined Maple Grove Grange. The retreat this year will be in January with a focus on fun. The theme is ‘It’s All About Me – Or Is It?’ I’ve been to all of the Women’s Retreats. We really enjoy ourselves.”
Although they do full ritual at their meetings, conferring degrees hasn’t happened regularly for the past few years. “We haven’t had candidates. But the symbolism of the degrees is still represented,” says Idella.
Marlys adds, “Fourteen years ago, they weren’t getting many members attending a meeting. The Master at the time came and talked with our square dance club and told us we should join. At the following meeting 22 of us came and joined. About half of us are still there. You know, at first, I didn’t feel like I understood Grange. So I did a program on the history of the Grange. I told about the Old English plantations and where all our station names come from. I talked about all the hard work that went into forming the Grange and how it fought the railroad monopolies. Now I do the same presentation once a year or so. I find that once people understand the heritage of Grange, the ritual makes more sense to them.”
When asked if she ever does that same program for visitors to the Grange, Marlys concedes. “I hadn’t thought about doing that, but it might be a very good way to help people in the community know what Grange is about too. It’s a proud history and we’d feel proud for more people to know about it.” |
