Successful
Actions of Shelburne Grange - MA
“People always think we live in a metropolitan area,” says Marion Taylor. “But we’re over 100 miles from Boston, and we’re really a very rural area. We used to be a strong farming area, but now farms have a difficult time competing in the global market. So now we’re more of a bedroom community.”
“Our town center is Shelburne Falls which is home to the famous Bridge of Flowers which is really very beautiful and attracts many visitors each year. We have a lot of people who are involved in maple sugaring. A treat we really enjoy is maple sugar on snow!”
“Shelburne Grange was organized in 1903, 104 years ago. We have 113 members which makes us one of the largest Granges in the state of Massachusetts. About 25 of our members are over age 50, and the rest are all over the map. This year we’re welcoming four new members,” says Marion.
“We looked at our attendance and figured out that about 80 or our 113 members participated in something that Grange did in the last year. They may not all come to meetings, but they show up to help and to work on events. We’d like to reach out to more people and recruit new members. We really need to do a better job at that.”
“Five years ago we had 150 members. Twenty-two took demits because they were no longer active, and some passed away. We need to do more to get people involved.”
“Shelburne Grange meets in the Fellowship Hall that is owned by the Congregational Church in our town,” says Roland Giguere Master of Shelburne Grange. “It’s the one community hall in our area. We share the cost of heat and expenses. We’ve paid for some of the furnishings and some renovations to the Hall. We count ourselves very lucky to have such a good arrangement with the church. The utilities and maintenance is the church’s responsibility. And then Grange donates generously to support the church. We bought tables and chairs, and we own a portion of the cooking supplies and equipment which we keep right there in the hall to be shared with other groups. We don’t have to deal with all the problems of owning our own building, but we do have use of the hall. We have to schedule it though.”
“We sponsor 4-H, cub scouts, brownies, and girl scouts and those groups can meet in the hall for free. Many of our members come to meetings, and we sponsor special meetings for groups that we sponsor. Last year we held a pizza party and had over 100 attending. We went through a lot of pizza!”
“This year we had a program about invertebrates,” says Roland. “And we served ice cream sundaes which everyone enjoyed. It was well-attended. We usually have 15-20 members at our monthly business meetings, and then once a month we hold open meetings that are of special interest to the public. Last year we had a program about moose. We’ve had more and more moose move into this part of Massachusetts, and people want to know more about them.”
“Mostly we find the moose delightful,” says Marion. “But they do tend to get in the way because they are not afraid of anybody. We had a moose down by the hall this last week.”
“The real problem with the moose is when they get on the highway,” adds Debbie Coutinho, one of Shelburne Grange’s Co-Lecturers. “If you hit a moose with a car, it’s a serious accident! They are so tall that you don’t get a reflection from their eyes like you do with deer. That makes them hard to see on the road. So if you don’t see them, you could hit one and have it land in your lap!”
“We thought learning about the moose was a good topic, so we had a state specialist come in for an open meeting. They showed how they put collars on them and keep track of where the moose travel.”
“We’ve been instrumental in starting an Agricultural Commission,” says Roland. “We sponsored a recent meeting to discuss some of the issues that people who are involved in agriculture are very interested in. They were trying to organize and we were able to help them do it.”
“We were one of the first Granges to be involved in the Action Grange initiative,” says Roland. “We revised our meeting format and ritual. We decided to try many different formats for opening our meetings and we seemed to fall quite comfortably into the opening that National Grange has now adopted. We do a Welcoming Ceremony with new members, and we encourage them to take degrees when they’re offered at area-wide degree days.”
“We hold a business meeting on the first Wednesday night of the month, and we usually have a shorter program on that night. Maybe we’ll have a speaker who talks about toys for foster children, medical transportation, that kind of thing. We often do our program first and then have our meeting afterwards. And then our second meeting is of a more general nature with no business meeting that night. We do our program first and then have our meeting afterwards. Sometimes instead of doing our general meeting on the third Wednesday, we move the meeting to that Friday so it’s not on a school night.”
“We believe that our programs do a lot to bring people in for Grange,” says Debbie. “We do all kinds of programs. We enjoy traveling programs a lot. We go on these ‘Mystery Rides.’ The last time, we wandered all through the countryside until we ended up at Diamond Turkey Farms. And then we took a tour and saw how they get turkeys ready for the holidays. They have chickens too and sell pot pies. It turned out to be an interesting adventure – and we stopped for ice cream on the way back!”
“We’ve also sampled our way around town. We travel from one member’s home to another. We have chowder at one house, munchies at another, and we ended up with doughnuts at still another member’s home.”
“We’ve toured neighborhood businesses and held town forums. We have invited our Selectmen and the new Police Chief. Over the years, we’ve awarded community service awards. This March, we’ll be awarding a non-Granger for many years of service to the community.”
“We hold a lot of potlucks which our members love. And we prepare dinners for other community groups, as fundraisers. We’ve hosted the Historical Society and several agricultural organizations,” says Debbie.
“We participate in the Words for Thirds Dictionary Project,” says Barb Guiguere. “I’m able to be one of the people to take the dictionaries to the school. And they are so grateful that they let me give them out in an all-school assembly.”
“We raised money for the dictionaries by holding a “Pound Auction,” says Barb. “Members bring in a pound of something – disguised in a bag. And then people have to guess what it’s a pound of – and bid on it. You might get a pound of fudge, coffee, macaroni, or even a pound cake.”
“We hold a Grange Fair that is a really big deal, and we’ve been doing it for a really long time,” says Barb. “I have a picture of my great-grandmother at the Grange Fair, along with pictures of all the generations since. We provide Bill Smith’s Famous Chicken Barbeque which is one of the very biggest fundraisers of the day. We have animal displays, music, pony rides, and games for the children.”
“Getting the corn husked for the Barbeque is a big deal too,” adds Marion.
“Oh yes,” agrees Barb. “Rather than us husking all that corn, we have a Husking Contest. We hide tickets for prizes inside the husks, and we manage to get the kids to do all the husking work – and they think they’re having fun!”
“It’s a one day affair where we also auction off what people have brought in to display. We have a pie sale to raise money. The state used to reimburse us for premiums, but they don’t do that anymore. So now the Massachusetts State Grange pays for part and we have a memorial fund that helps support the Grange Fair.”
“Our Youth Committee built a playground 25 years ago,” says Barb, “and this year we’re doing a major overhaul of that playground. We’re putting rubberized pellets under all the equipment to help provide a cushion if kids fall, and we’re painting all the picnic tables.”
“The second biggest event of our year is our Halloween Party. When I was little, it was already well underway,” says Barb. “We get between 100-150 people every year. Most of those who come are not Grange members. We do a haunted house. This year to raise funds for prizes, we hosted a Haunted Halloween Dinner in late October with witches stew and ghost cupcakes for dessert.”
“We sell May baskets now as a fundraiser. We started out doing May baskets as just a fun thing to do, but it got to be so popular that it’s turned into a fundraiser for us. We take pre-sale orders a few weeks ahead, and then we have folks who put together a nice little basket and deliver it on May 1 st. It’s really a big hit to have a May basket delivered to you because people just don’t do that much anymore. People really like it!”
“We have members of our Grange who are in the Massachusetts State Junior Grange, and we support them, even though we don’t have enough young people to run our own Junior Grange,” says Barb. “State Grange does a Youth Leadership Training School – a four day camp kind of program, and our kids find out that when you can get together with other kids from across the state, it’s a lot more fun. I know that kept me going when I was a teen. It’s great to find out that there are other teens who are interested in the same kinds of things you are, and it’s great fun to meet people from all over.”
“We’ve been fortunate to have wonderful Lecturers who put together good programs,” says Marion. “We try to be very current. We’ve had programs on bears and eagles in addition to the moose. A specialist comes in from the state and does very informative programs for us.”
“When the bears come out of hibernating in the spring when the snow goes away, they visit people’s feeders or compost heaps, and they get very brave. They’ll come right up onto people’s decks and patios. Sometimes they’ve even walked right into people’s houses!”
“It’s important to educate people,” says Barb. “The bears aren’t the problem. It’s the uneducated people who don’t know to bring their feeders in and not try to feed the birds in spring and summer. Our programs help educate them.”
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