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Actions of Statesville Grange - TN
Statesville Grange is located in Statesville, Tennessee, about 35 miles east of Nashville.
“It’s a very rural area,” says Sara Patton. “We’re one of only six Granges in the state of Tennessee, all the others are in the eastern part of the state.”
“Statesville Grange #1236 was organized 50 years ago this year,” says Sara. “They had 25 members then and originally the Grange met at the Home Demonstration Club building. Then when the school closed in Statesville, it became the Grange Hall. The county owns the hall, but Grange has lifetime use of the building. The county pays the insurance and Grange pays for all the repairs to the building.”
“Just a few years ago, we only had 4 or 5 very active members, with a declining membership. Today, we’ve more than doubled our membership in the last three years and most of our membership is active. We have enough people to really do some great things in the community now. We presently have about 25 members.”
“Ms. Mary Ann Baines and Ms. Iva Dell Stroud are Golden Sheaf members and we rely on them a lot for our historical perspective,” says Sara.
“We raise money by renting our building for showers, birthdays, reunions, weddings and that sort of thing. We don’t charge, but ask for a donation. Usually, this works better for us than asking for a set amount.”
“We do a bake sale and participate in Statesville’s annual ‘Mile-Long Yard Sale’. Watertown has two mile long yard sale’s a year and we usually participate in them. On July 15 th the Grange sponsored our traditional political rally/picnic. The whole community was invited. We auctioned off cakes and pies and brought in about $3500.”
“Our Grange does a lot of community service. We’ve held Halloween parties for the community, and we do a community Thanksgiving Dinner every year with one of our local churches. At that time we ask everyone to bring a coat to donate to the coat drive. Last year we donated 130 coats to the local men’s home and to the Community Help Center. We prepare holiday baskets for elderly people and shut-ins – from goods that our members bring in to donate.”
“Lebanon, a nearby town, has a Christmas parade, and we’ve been in that for the last two years. We came in third the first year, second last year and are hoping for first this year.”
“We replaced the sign at the intersection of Routes 267 and 266 in Statesville and included the Grange on it to help people find us. We repainted the old Sinclair gas sign in Grange colors, with the Grange emblem welcoming people to Statesville.
“We did a suitcase drive for foster children, because sometimes children are taken from their homes without a chance to gather any of their things because they don’t have anything to carry them in. So we collected suitcases for them to use.”
“We hold an Easter Egg Hunt every year and do a cancer drive donation. We did a float in Watertown’s 4 th of July parade, and we took first place in that. The theme was supporting our soldiers. We asked our Veterans from past and present to ride on our decorated float.”
“We collected eye glasses and also window/table fans for folks to help them deal with the heat Most of the things we collect we each bring our own to donate that way the Grange doesn’t pay for them.”
“We held birthday parties for two of our town’s oldest residents. Ms Ida Rollins was 100 and Ms Mary Bullard was 98. They were both once active Grange members.”
“We do the Dictionary Project for Watertown Elementary school. We take part in the Imagination Library. That’s a wonderful literacy program sponsored by the Dolly Parton Foundation. When a child is sponsored, they receive a hard-cover book every month from the time they are born to the time they enter kindergarten. We have 25 members in our Grange and we sponsor 25 children.”
“During Grange month this year, we honored two lifelong farming families in our community, one of them having a 4 th generation farmer. When they attended our ceremony, we found out that they never really knew that Grange had anything to do with agriculture!”
“Our dues are $15. We meet the second Friday of every month and invite everyone. We try to open our meetings with the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer. We’d like to move toward doing more ritual openings because our older members miss it. It’s probably not as important for our newer members because we don’t know it as well. The degrees are a lot to take in all at one time. Until you can read through it and really understand the message, it’s a bit overwhelming.”
“I’ve only been a member for three years, and I feel like I’m learning about Grange every day. I’m Ceres in Statesville Grange and Tennessee State Flora.. My husband is on the Executive Committee. I’d like us to open with the ritual more often so everyone could better understand what the Grange is and what it represents.”
“In our Grange, we’re all about helping our neighbors and community. We try to do a community service project every month. Sometimes that’s hard to do, but we try.” says Sara.
“We do have a charter for a Junior Grange, and we do have plans to hopefully start one at some point. One couple that has joined us has two children. We’d like to get more members with children and start up our Junior Grange again.”
“We changed our meetings from Tuesday evenings to Friday evenings to make it easier for people who are working or who have children. We had a little resistance to that, but it means that when people come, they can stay longer and do more with us.”
Judy Sherrod, Tennessee State Grange Master, says, “One great thing that Statesville Grange has going for them is that they get excellent publicity.”
“Oh yes,” agrees Sara. “Our newspapers are more than willing to put in announcements for us, and it really helps people come out for our meetings. We have three newspapers in our area. Two are daily and one is a community paper that is every other week. All three of them are so cooperative. We write an article about what we’ve done and take it by or email it to them. We have one lady who lives in Lebanon, the town where the newspaper is published and sometimes she’ll take an article and drop it by for them. The publicity does really help. Why sometimes people make donations to our projects just from reading about what we’re doing in the newspaper. You know, people like to give. I think Grange helps us find a common bond that we can all work together on.”
“We have a wonderful big sign in the front yard of our Grange we got a couple of years ago. We can put messages on it and people read it when they drive by. It’s been great to let people know that we’re here, what we’re doing and that they might want to be part of it.”
We’re right next door to a newly-formed Volunteer Fire Department. Seven members of the Fire Department are also Grangers, so we work together on things.”
“We’re looking forward to painting the inside of our hall and updating it. We want to preserve the history of the building, but we also want it to be a pleasant place to meet. We’re looking forward to the future and being a truly vibrant Grange.”
“We really have a very close-knit community. My husband and I joined Grange when two ladies, who are in the Grange came up to us after church one Sunday. They said, ‘Now, we have been trying to get you all to come to our Grange forever. We just know you’re what we need.’ Well, it’s hard not to respond to an appeal like that! We really had no idea what Grange was. When we joined, all the rest of the members were in their 70’s and 80’s. Now we have younger people in their 40’s and 50’s. We get excited about all that we can accomplish as a group – so much more than any of us could do alone.”
“I am just so proud of Statesville Grange and the people up there,” says Judy Sherrod. “It was almost over for that Grange. We could see the handwriting on the wall. But the new people who have joined have made it a new Grange – and vibrant again! It’s such a joy to watch all they’re doing.”
Sara agrees. “It is wonderful. We’re doing things together – and we enjoy getting together so much. We sit and eat together and visit – and with a purpose. When we get together, really, it’s like a big family supper. People really do like to be involved, but first they like to be asked.” |
