Successful
Actions of Westbrook Grange - NC
Carolyn Jernigan. President of Westbrook Grange says, “I have a wonderful mentor in the Grange named Mrs. Eunice Bass, former Master of Westbrook Grange for 27 years. I retired in 2000 to attend to my father-in-law. I had taught 5th grade, became an elementary Librarian, then a high school Librarian. I missed the camaraderie of my fellow teachers. Mrs. Bass and her daughter, a fellow co-worker, kept asking me to attend the Westbrook Grange. With my family, I felt as if I did not have the time to give to it. But retired, I sensed the need for the opportunity the Grange gave me to volunteer in my community. Westbrook Grange honored me in the fall of 2000 as their non-Grange citizen of that year. After this time, it became certain that I would join and contribute to this organization. I thought Grange would be where I would find the fellowship that I’d been missing. As you know, Grangers are some of the best people on earth!”
“We are located in northern Sampson County, near Newton Grove and Spivey's Corner on highway #13. We are forty miles east of Raleigh, and sixty miles west of Wilmington, NC. Our Grange is very active and has won numerous awards from the NC State Grange Convention. We enter the scrapbook contests for all areas and enter the contests for cooking, sewing, photography, quilting, and essays.”
“Each September, the executive committee will meet and plan a year's calendar of meetings. This committee has a vast knowledge of speakers and topics of interest from which our community will learn. Our business session is after a speaker has spoken. Our Program Director, Mrs. Snowdean Barefoot, has informative and timely devotions and programs. Our youth assist with devotions, talent, and programs being presented. We meet one time a month, have light refreshments at the beginning and socialize. At 7:30 pm, we begin the meeting with the alternative opening. Non-members are invited and we encourage them to join. You just never know when a program, or person, may influence a non-member to join. Last month we had information about stroke and what to do, so you just never know if that might save someone’s life in their families.”
During the month of May, we present two citizenship scholarships at two high schools in our area. The faculty chooses these two-a boy and a girl, to receive them. A Grange member will attend the awards service and do the presentation. We also present two citizenship awards to our two middle schools in our area. They’re just thrilled to get this award! The faculty will choose a boy and a girl to receive these plaques. These students are invited to our June meeting to share their educational plans and ambitions. We invite their parents to attend with them.”
Westbrook Grange enjoys a positive relationship with local government. “Our County Commissioners hold one of their monthly meetings at our Westbrook Community Building, and sixty to seventy community people attend. The Commissioners ask for community input before they begin their meeting.”
“Our membership is now one hundred,” says Carolyn. “Five years ago, it was eighty, with twenty active members. Many of our members today do not live in our area, but those who do contribute much when we have our fundraisers.”
Westbrook Grange meets in the Westbrook Community Building. “We are in the process of renovating our building for our community activities. The Community Building has a Board of Trustees, and we meet with them to decide what renovation projects need doing – and then our Grange takes on a lot of those projects. We are a voting site, a nutrition site and Grange meeting building.”
“We had a Draping of the Charter in January at our meeting. This is a simple ceremony in which we put a black cloth on the charter as we read the names of those who have died during the past year. The charter will be undraped at the next meeting.”
“Our grange members are active in local, state and national activities. Our members attend the NC State Grange Convention, Legislative Day, Family Conferences, and Youth Weekend. In 2005, we had eight members to go to the National Fly-In, in Washington, DC. Our local activities are Relay for Life, Alzheimer's workshops, U-Care, Inc. for domestic violence. We volunteer with the Senior citizens, help serve their meals, lead their music one time a week, and go with them on special trips.”
“Locally, we hold a tool exhibition at our elementary school and dress in colonial clothes. This is done in April, during our NC Heritage Day. This year we took quilting and freezing and canning implements for the children to see. On January 31, 2006, our NC State Grange presented our Sampson County History Museum a $25,000 check for the construction of a building that would house antique farming tools for students to visit. Our local Grange men initiated this endeavor.”
“In our community, the local Rotary Club presents dictionaries to the third-graders in our county schools, so we haven’t participated in the Dictionary Project. But we’re considering adopting another grade level. You know kids sometimes lose things, and if they had two dictionaries, well that’s alright, they could have one at home and one at school.”
“We have an annual community picnic and honor our selection in Educator, Firefighter, Medic, Woman, Couple, Non-Granger, Church of the Year. These people are presented a plaque and are asked to speak to the audience.”
To keep members informed, Carolyn composes a newsletter for each month's meeting. “It keeps events fresh in our members’ minds. Our Program Director, Mrs. Barefoot, works with our local paper to list the time and place of each meeting. Our members have learned the best way to share the good news of the Grange is one-on-one. They share constantly how much the Grange has meant to them, and what great people are involved in this organization.”
Carolyn says, “We do think our Grange is one of the best in the state. We were Grange of the Year in 2004 and our Couple of the Year was the winner also.” |
