Our community is rural/agricultural, with a population of 600 in winter and close to 1500 in the summer, as lake-front owners move in. Very few families actually make their entire living from agriculture. Unless properly subdivided, land is usually sold as 10 or 20 acre parcels to retired couples or to working couples with children. Our community takes in 39 square miles, borders part of a large lake and is located 6 miles south of a city of 34,000 people. No schools, stores or other services are located here. Our only public buildings are the local volunteer fire station, the local office of the county highway crew and our Grange hall, which is large, centrally located, very visible and just off the main north/south highway in Idaho. Our Grange was founded in October 1946. Our Grange Hall began as the one-room schoolhouse that had served the area from 1899 to 1945. We added a better kitchen in 1947, a large dance room with a stage in 1953 and added a well and indoor plumbing in 1978.

Our membership was over 200 for many years, with most members carrying Grange insurance. By 1993, however, the aging officers assumed that closing our Grange was imminent as no young people were willing to hold offices. An improved highway into town meant that our Grange no longer provided most of our social activity. New arrivals in the community didn't understand or care about the Grange. We began using some of our funds to add vinyl siding and a new roof, so that at least the building would be improved. However, our most important long-time activities were still visible and popular. Our monthly square dances during the winter, with live music, still drew between 60 and 120 dancers, and our 6-day hamburger and homemade pie concession booth at the North Idaho Fair, mostly staffed by non-Grange community members, remained a successful and effective fundraiser. The proceeds from our fair booth nicely paid all of our expenses each year.

A Vision of Change
With the Visioning program in 1998, we took our first long and objective look at ourselves. We compared our Grange with other Granges and asked other Grangers about our "image." When we listed our activities, we began to realize "who" we were and, more important, "what" we could be. With a new focus we made changes suited to our Grange's needs:

The Action Grange Experience
In the spring of 2001, we applied to become an Action Grange. That June, six of us sat through Dudley Davis' first training session. What a "brain crunch!" We seriously reflected on the purpose and function of the Grange and asked ourselves why the Grange should continue. What should be kept from the old regime and what should be improved? For me, the "paralysis of analysis" was exhausting. For the next several months, we checked our focus, examined our goals and kept realigning our actions. I kept asking myself, "what do I want an organization to provide for me?" As we served potluck meals for three large funeral dinners in late 2001 and 2002 and had conversations with many non-Grangers, it became clear that the community valued our hall for historical and sentimental reasons; that they appreciated a local center for elections and parties; and that, while they did not necessarily understand the Grange, they were pleased to assist us in keeping the hall as a community center. Thus, we began setting our goals:

Challenges Along the Way
The worst obstacle that we have faced has been the unreasonable and unforeseen fear of "action grange" terminology by our neighboring Granges. At our county Pomona meetings, any mention of "Action..." gets a knee-jerk response from some of the members. Even though they are aware of our recent growth, these "fearful" members are resistant to change and immediately shoot down our suggestions or contributions.

We have also met with difficulties within our own Grange, as some members wished to make radical changes to the organization. Three of our Grange members insisted that our new "Action" changes should include throwing out all ritual and tradition, going instead to a roundtable meeting. When we refused to change everything to suit these three, we lost two members and any committee participation from the third. We have changed very little of our opening and closing rituals and continue to keep all officer positions. We call our Master "President" if and when we wish, and our Gatekeeper is also a "Greeter".

We give out the password annually, keeping it private, so that members can use when traveling to other Community Granges or at Pomona and State Grange sessions. While we see the need for change if we wish to continue to grow and thrive, we nonetheless do not wish to forget or abandon our origins or purposes.

Hope for the Future
The more activities we plan, the busier we are. We need to improve at task analysis and then at delegating. We forget to ask new members to head up old and new projects. Yet, I think I can speak for all of us on the six-person action team and our regular members when I say that this works! We love being an Action Grange, taking our future firmly in our own hands, inviting new people to come observe and be on committees while they consider joining. We all have new enthusiasm, we enjoy our meetings and, as the phrase goes, we are on a roll.

As a state lecturer for Idaho, I keep hearing this complaint from small, traditional Granges: "We need more people at our meetings; if we could just get more people to attend our meetings." You need more people at your activities, not at your meetings. If you are not having worthwhile activities, there really is nothing to plan at your meetings, and there is nothing more boring than a meeting with no committee reports!

Our business meeting attendance is up from 8-10 in 1994 to 20-25. Our October harvest dinner attendance is up from 20 plus in 1994 to 95 plus in 2003, and 85 people attended our summer barbeque this past July.

To succeed, Granges must make the decision to become "active" rather than remaining "inactive." Learning how to set goals, how to view your Grange's "big picture" and how to become an asset to your community are critical steps to your organization's survival. The success of the Mica Flats Grange proves that there is still a place for the Grange in our communities and in our country, and with hard work and dedication, every Grange can still succeed.

Martha Cook