Successful
Actions of Marvel Grange - CO
Marvel Grange is located in southwestern Colorado, 25 miles southeast of Durango and just eight miles north of New Mexico state line. “It’s a rural area,” says Cindy Greer. “Very small. We have a school and several churches. And we’re lucky that we have a Post Office.”
“Our membership has not actually changed all that much in the last few years,” says Cindy. “We’ve lost some, and we’ve gained some. But attendance has increased a lot. We have a much more active membership now than we used to have.”
“I think the thing that has helped our Grange the most is that we set yearly goals. We meet twice a month – one business meeting and a second social meeting. The second meeting is not set in stone.”
“A couple of years ago, we asked the school principal, the fire department and the library to come to a meeting so we could ask them what they need help with. And then we tried to do what they needed. We helped distribute materials for the fire department. We helped create an historical time-line display for the school.
“We have a 4-H Club that meets in our hall regularly, and the hall is available for funeral dinners, wedding receptions, anniversaries, and that kind of thing.’
“Our main focus is community service. We do some legislative policy writing and we have educational programs. We’ve placed in the top three in the Community Service contest at the state level and National level several times.”
“We have helped families in need with their electric and gas bills, and periodically hold senior citizen dinners. We raise money by catering two major dinners each year.”
“We have approximately 45 members. We meet on Fridays now. We actually changed our meeting days when our kids were teens because Fridays are hard for teens. But now that we don’t have teen members, we’ve changed back to Fridays. My boys are in their 20’s now – and they’re still involved,” says Cindy. “We’ve always been a family-oriented grange. Kids come along with parents to the meetings, and we’ve got our Grange Hall stocked with a toy box and coloring books and crayons so the kids will feel welcome and have something to do.”
“One thing we’ve started to do is that in any month that has five Saturdays, we offer a free breakfast to the community. We set out a can for donations, and usually get enough to cover the food, but no one has to pay to eat. We get someone new every time we do that. We have information about Grange at the tables so people can read while they eat. And then if we find out someone is interested, we send them our newsletter so they can find out more about what we do.”
“We do an Ice Cream Social that we typically get 80 people out for. We hold a New Year’s Eve party where we charge just a minimum amount to cover the cost of food. We offer door prizes and games. It’s a fun evening. We just got through putting on a one-act play with both members and non-members in the cast.”
“We support Ag in the Classroom. We do the Mandy Project that used to be sponsored by National Grange. We got approval to pilot that here in Colorado, and we’ve continued with it. Through the Mandy Project, we help families of children with hearing impairments get equipment they need. We’ve actually had a couple children in our own community, and that has been quite rewarding. The Colorado State Grange has developed a 501C-3 organization, called PICK, for that kind of purpose.”
“One of our other civic groups was already doing Words for Thirds in our community,” Cindy laughs. “So we gave dictionaries to the 4 th graders anyway!”
“We’ve had programs on Medicare, a referendum that was on our ballot, the League of Women Voters came and talked with us about voting centers.”
“For a social event, we do a ‘White Elephant Christmas Party’ with a good soup, and we’re getting ready for our 50 th Anniversary Celebration.”
“We don’t take up the password and have adopted the streamlined version of the opening and closing ceremonies that National Grange approved a few years ago. We’ve always kind of been rebels. If somebody came and they weren’t a member, we’d let them stay. We don’t wait around either. If we find someone who’s interested in joining, we have them come and vote them in at the same meeting. Some would call that being rebellious. Others might call that visionary.”
“We put a strong emphasis on publicity. We’ve had excellent signs at our Grange Hall. We do a newsletter – to members and potential members – once a month. We think it’s important to share what we’re doing with others. One thing that’s been very successful is that we’ve printed up business cards for our members to use for the Free Breakfasts. So when someone gets in a conversation, our Grangers can give folks a card that invites them to our Saturday Breakfasts.”
Sharon Arnold, Public Information Director for Colorado State Grange, says, “Marvel Grange has wonderful leadership. They’ve initiated projects that we’ve all been able to participate in. They don’t keep good ideas to themselves, but share. Their Pomona is very active too. They don’t always give themselves enough credit!” Sharon goes on to say, “Marvel Grange has gotten first place in Publicity several times. They have a wonderful newsletter! They’re great about giving recognition too – to their members and other people in the community.” |
