Grandview Grange # 124 has made steady progress ever since we became an Action Grange. Prior to joining the Action Grange program we were failing. Our membership was dwindling, and the few remaining members had no interest in holding offices.

We knew that change was necessary, and we began by holding "open meetings," disbanding all of the secret work and changing the names of the officers to President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer Chaplain and two Trustees. Slowly things began to turn around for our Grange. We gained 20 new members in Sept. of 2002, and in 2004 we raised the number of Trustees from two to four.

Our next major obstacle was the time required to plan and organize events. No one wanted to take the position of Lecturer, as it required planning programs, providing refreshments and arranging activities for all twelve meetings throughout the year. We decided to eliminate the position of lecturer and divide up the task among the membership. A list was distributed and members signed up to take responsibility for planning activities and providing refreshments for just one meeting, rather than assigning one person the same duties for all twelve meetings. It has worked wonderfully, and now our programs are well planned, interesting, educational, entertaining and very "Community minded", plus the meetings involve more members. In order to further increase the participation in, and efficiency of, our meetings, we have a planned budget and we changed our meeting day, time, and location to better suit members.

We have received a great deal of news media coverage because of our community service projects and legislative work - which in turn has made Grandview Grange # 124 very popular. We publish a monthly newsletter, which includes a history of the Grange in installments, and we take other steps to ensure that members are made aware of our origin even though we do not use the secret work. We also use a slightly revised version of the Opening/Closing Ceremony recommended at our training in Massachusetts.

We remember the past and we are working hard with the present, but where will the future take us? What happens in 2004 after the three years are completed? Will there be degree work for our Action Grange Members - without secret work? Will there be revised installation of officers? Will our members remain in Community Grange limbo or will they be able to advance, without the secret work? We have found that our efforts have brought life back into the Grange. Without a hall or a Junior Grange getting people in the target age group (25-45) to join is quite a challenge, but we are not about to give up. We still work with our State programs. We are excited about the future of our Grange.

L. Claire Grissett, President