Successful
Actions of Ravena Grange - NY
Ravena Grange is located in the hamlet of Coeymans (pronounced Queemans) Hollow about twenty miles southwest of Albany, New York. “We have three major districts,” says Al Kirmss, President. “We serve Coeymans Hollow, the Town of Coeymans, and the village of Ravena. Our nearest stores are in Ravena, and we have to go about ten miles further to get to any of the larger chain stores. Our area is in transition from a rural farming community to more of a bedroom community with people commuting to Albany or even the two and a half hours to New York City. Our population used to be more multigenerational, but now we have a lot of state employees and white collar workers and new people moving to the area with fewer families who have lived here for generations.”
“We got involved with Action Grange at its very beginning,” says Vinni Kirmss, who serves as Lecturer of Ravena Grange. “The biggest change we made right away was to shift the focus of our two meetings each month. We meet on the 1 st and 3 rd Monday with our first meeting of the month being strictly business. I might do a very brief reading but the focus is business. And then the second meeting of the month is strictly a Lecturers or Program meeting. We might have a potluck dinner followed by a game night, or we’ve done the prescription drug program from National Grange, had our town historian come in to speak, and so forth. While all our program meetings are open, we make a special effort to invite guests once a year during Grange Week when we give out Citizen and Granger of the Year Awards which we’ve been doing since 1997.”
Ravena Grange was organized in October, 1919. “It’s interesting that there was already a core group of people here who were affiliated with the Patrons of Industry. We don’t know why, but they chose to cease their affiliation with that organization and became Patrons of Husbandry instead. In the early days they met mostly in homes. In 1930 the decision was made to move to the country, and in 1934 a suitable lot in Coeymans Hollow was purchased. Plans to build commenced at once, pledges were taken, 2500 board feet of local timber was donated, and in June of 1936 the present hall was dedicated,” says Steve Coye. “And the cost was $350!”
“Even before the hall was formally dedicated, it was pressed into service for the community. In 1934 the Coeymans Hollow Methodist Church was stuck by lightning, and services were moved to the Grange Hall. Talks began almost immediately concerning establishing a fire company in the Hollow. Late in 1936 fire hit the Grange Hall, and only minor damage was sustained thanks to quick work of the Ravena Fire Department and neighbors. Talks resumed about local fire protection, but it wasn't until October of 1945 that the Coeymans Hollow VFC was formally organized at the Grange Hall. In 1968 the Grange once again provided a meeting place for the Methodist Church after their building was destroyed by fire.”
“From its humble beginnings, Ravena Grange has always been involved in service to the community. In addition to the many dinners served by the Grange to fund special projects and regular maintenance, the facilities have been made available to the fire company and the Little Red School House Museum to assist them in raising funds for their programs and projects. Projects that the Grange has assisted in raising money for include the Ronald McDonald House, St. Peter's Hospice, Ravena Library, as well as for individuals who have met with personal disasters.” Steve points out that much of this information is on Ravena Grange’s website, www.ravenagrange.org, along with other useful information about what Ravena Grange does.
Ismay Payne tells about Ravena Grange’s dinners. “We’ve done dinners for over 50 years. We do nine dinners every year. Five of those pay for our operating expenses. The proceeds from the other four dinners are given to other organizations in the community. Alcove Preservation Society, Little Red School House Museum, CHV Fire Department, Albany Co. Pomona Grange,” says Ismay. “Dues that are paid go directly to State Grange. We make enough on dinners to not require local dues. We give several dinners away every time to shut-ins. Usually we make about $2000 on each of our dinners. We have between 180-200 people who attend and about twenty-five of our members who work at the dinner.”
Ismay adds, “We have covered dish dinners before meetings, hold dinners for any of our members who celebrate a 50 th Anniversary and invite their families. And we have an annual Christmas party at a restaurant. Grange pays for half of our member’s meal.”
There’s lots of activity at Ravena Grange. “I’m the Family Activity Chairman,” says Joanne Newell “That used to be CWA. We hold crafts and baking contests and encourage all our members – male and female – to participate. We try to hold the baking contests at meetings – especially public meetings – so we can use the results as refreshments and help people in the community see a little bit of what we do. We made up what we called an ‘ugly quilt’ done out of denim and trimmed in red. We really didn’t think it was ugly at all! We gave it to an organization in Albany who then gave it to a needy family. We hold dances too. Unfortunately last year, our dances were all scheduled on nights that were very snowy and we didn’t get a big attendance. We hold a family picnic every year with a covered dish dinner. This year we’re going to make it a Community Picnic at a town park. I know that the Methodist Church is really excited and looking forward to participating, and I think the other organizations will be too.”
Pearl Collins of the Community Service Committee reports, “We hosted a reading program with the library for 2-10 year-olds. It was held in our hall in the early evening, and it was quite popular. We make preemie and cancer hats, wheelchair and walker bags. We also make Foster Care bags and fill them, stuffed bears for the foster children and for children in the ambulance, and lap quilts for nursing homes. Our Junior Grange holds bake sales at our dinners and where they collect aluminum can tabs, which are then given to Hiawatha Grange who gives them to the Shiners’ Hospital. The hospital sells the aluminum to make money for braces for children.”
“Our Grange Hall is available for community members to use for birthdays and anniversaries and such. We only ask for a donation. Grange members use the hall for free. Our local government has used the hall as a gathering place to inform the community about a variety of issues,” says Pearl.
“I guess I’m the newest member,” says Jeff Russo, “and the Scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 72 which is sponsored by Ravena Grange. We were aware that there were a number of boys in the community who wanted to be part of something, and so the Boy Scouts seemed like a good fit for us. Our program is designed so that the number one thing is fun so that kids will stay interested. We meet every week in the Grange Hall and we have a monthly outing. We’ve done weekend campouts. In fact, we’re doing one this coming weekend. January in upstate New York. I’m not looking forward to it! We’ve taken the boys camping to Fort Ticonderoga which was important in the American Revolutionary War. We took them to Gettysburg last July. They’re having fun. They’re learning, and they’re challenged.”
“The other big thing for the Boy Scout Troop is community service. We’ve cleaned up some local trails and the outside of the Grange Hall. We held a food drive that blew the doors off the Methodist Church food pantry. We painted the floor in the Grange Hall. Recently we’ve added some musically inclined boys who are going to do some concerts. These are fun activities that are also meant to be community service and keep the boys interested.”
Ravena Grange also has a Junior Grange. “Our Junior Grange #663 was organized in April, 1954. We currently have ten members who meet twice a month. When we first organized we had 25 members. But there are so many school activities now and we don’t have as many families who have children,” says Ismay Payne. “ The Juniors do bake sales and coat checks to raise money at all our Grange dinners. They support the Good Samaritan Purse Project, a National project of the Baptist Church and adopted by the State Junior Grange Program, by filling shoe boxes with personal items, school supplied and toys for needy children. This year the boxes went to children in the hurricane (248 were collected state wide.) They also have an Agribasics trip to an agricultural based business – a sheep or dairy farm and have a picnic every year. And for fun, we’ve taken them bowling and ice skating.”
Steve Coye reminds us about Ravena Grange’s website. “We try to provide information for Grangers as well as for anyone else who might happen on to the site. We’ve got links to seven other community websites, nine county fairs, other Grange sites, and our local media outlets. You get what you pay for in a website – a lot is about getting onto the right search engines.”
“Of our 88 members, most are probably in the senior age group,” says Al Kirmss. “We have maybe ten members who under thirty. But some of our older members are the most active.”
Vinni adds, “We do have a very active Junior Grange, and we usually keep the Juniors involved until they go off to college. Then we have a hard time keeping them connected and getting them back involved.”
“I think our dinners really help to keep Grange in front of the public,” says Al. Jeff pipes in, “And we do a real community service by keeping our young people – the Junior Grangers and the Scouts – active and busy with positive experiences. That helps them stay away from all the other risks that are out there.”
For more information about Ravena Grange, go to www.ravenagrange.org or email Al and Vinni at avkirmss@aol.com. |
