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Let's Drape the Nation With Grange Spirit
 It’s happening all across the nation!
Granges and Grangers are active,
building character in individuals,
and conducting projects and activities
that build better communities
for today and tomorrow.
From Waldoboro, Maine where
Barbara Wyllie is leading a project
to have hundreds of caps, booties,
and tiny sweaters knitted for neonatal
units, to Riverside, California
where the local youth share a common
facility to raise their broilers
and turkeys in cooperative style.
From Pembine, Wisconsin’s
Annual Community Halloween
Party to Cibolo, Texas where the
Grange works with their Cub and
Boy Scout Troops, insuring a quality
of life experience for kids.
Off the coast of Washington
where Lummi Island Grange
makes sure every baby born on
the island gets books to read every
month until they start school.
And all across the county third
graders are getting dictionaries,
veterans are getting lap robes, and
nursing home residents are being
cheered by visits and gifts.
Grangers are at work, building
character in people, and in
turn, building communities. Small
Granges and large Granges too!
No project is too small or too big
when the desire to assist is there.
As the old saying goes, “Where
there is a will, there is a way.”
Malcom Gladwell in The Tipping
Point tells how a small act can
begin an epidemic, like how one
yawn in a group can get the entire
group yawning in a short time.
Let’s start a Grange community-
building epidemic this summer!
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News from the National Grange
Contributors: William Steel, Carrie Harris, Chil-Sook Hwang, and Shaletta Espie |
| Journal of Proceedings Now Available |
The 2005 National Grange Journal
of Proceedings is now available.
Subordinate and Pomona Granges,
as well as individuals, can
purchase their first copy for $5.00
shipping and handling and each
additional copy for $7.00.
Granges and individuals can
also purchase a CD including PDF
versions of the 2005 Journal of
Proceedings, the 2006 Digest of
Laws, and the 2006 Legislative
Policy Book for $3.00 shipping and
handling.
You must have Adobe Acrobat
Reader 5.0 or higher to view the
files. Free versions and updates
of Acrobat Reader are available at
www.adobe.com.
Please send your orders, including
your name, address, and
telephone number, to Shaletta
Espie, National Grange, 1616 H
Street, NW, Washington, D.C.
20006. Make sure to specify the
number of books and/or CDs you
wish to purchase. All checks should
be made payable to the National
Grange. Please print your information
so it is legible to prevent the
delay of orders.
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| Grange Member Burial Service Updated |
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The Delegates at the 139th Annual
National Grange Convention in
Columbus, Ohio approved a revision
of the Grange burial service.
The service is designed for use at
the interment ceremony and is optional
on the part of the deceased’s
family.
The burial service will be available
in future versions of the Manual
of the Subordinate Grange;
however, copies can currently be
obtained by sending a self addressed
and stamped envelope to
the National Grange, Attn: Burial
Service, 1616 H Street, NW, Washington,
D.C. 20006. |
| Two Board Members Re-elected to Their Positions |
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National Grange Board of Director’s
Chairman Kevin Klenklen and
Secretary Bruce Croucher were
re-elected to their positions at the
February 2006 Board of Directors
meeting in Orlando, Florida.
Klenklen was originally elected to
the Board in 2002. He is also a
member of Pleasant View Grange
#1459 and Jefferson County Pomona
Grange #10 in Kansas.
Croucher was elected to the Board
in 1999. He is also the Master of
the New York State Grange. |
| Great Plains Selected for 2011 National Grange Convention |
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The Board of Directors continues
to move forward and believes that
the National Grange should find
exciting cities to hold future conventions.
Due to the large space requirements
of the Annual Convention,
the National Grange starts looking
at different cities and states
five years before the convention.
The Board has approved the
Great Plains as the region in which
Convention 2011 will be held. The
National Grange will be looking at
various cities in these states: Kansas,
Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma,
and Texas. |
| Hotel Sected for 2010 National Grange Convention |
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During the February 2006 meeting,
the Board of Directors voted on the convention headquarters hotel for
the 2010 National Grange Convention
in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The convention headquarters
hotel will be the Hilton Charlotte
University Place. The Hilton Charlotte
University Place is conveniently
located in the growing northeast
section of the city, only 15 minutes
from the Charlotte Douglas International
Airport and easily accessible
via major Interstates 77 and
85.
The beautiful lakeside hotel
facilities will accommodate all the
needs of the convention. Also,
there are dozens of restaurants,
retail shops, and nightlife venues
within a short walking distance of
the hotel. |
| Granger Organized to Vote Campaign Launched |
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Information about the Grangers
Organized To Vote (GOTV)
Campaign is now on the National
Grange Web site at www.NationalGrange.org/legislation/GOTV.
htm. The Web page is designed to
provide Grange members with vital
voting information to help them
get registered and ready to vote in
2006 – when local, state, and federal elections will be held including
the entire U.S. House of Representatives,
33 U.S. Senate seats,
38 governors’ offices, and numerous
ballot initiatives.
For more information about
this campaign, please contact Chil-
Sook Hwang at 1-888-447-2643,
ext. 109. |
| National Grange Eminent Domain Grassroots Campaign |
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The National Grange is gearing up for a Web-based grassroots educational program about eminent
domain throughout the year.
It will be a comprehensive issue
package that brings together information
and action tools that the
Grange is generating on eminent
domain. The goal of the program
will be to promote awareness
among Grange members about
eminent domain abuse by providing
them with accurate and timely
information.
As the program is finalized,
additional information will be available
on www.NationalGrange.org,
in the New Grange, and in the View
From the Hill. Please see page 10
to read more about eminent domain. |
| Bush Administration Responds to the Grange's Blueprint for Rural America |
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Assistant Secretary for Economic
Policy in the Treasury Department
Mark J. Warshawsky sent a letter
to National Grange President Bill
Steel on behalf of Treasury Secretary
John Snow and President
Bush to respond to the Grange’s
five-point priority issue plan, Blueprint
for Rural America 2006.
The letter focused on how the
Administration is working on health
care. The letter says: “(The President’s
2007 budget) proposals
include full income and payroll tax
deductibility for Health Savings Accounts
(HSAs) and HSA-qualified
health plans regardless of whether
the employer or individual finances
them; a tax credit to help low-income
individuals purchase health
insurance in the nongroup market;
and expansions of Association
Health Plans.”
Warshawsky also said he believes
that the president’s goal of
providing every American an electronic
health record (EHR) in 10
years will particularly benefit rural
Americans, because EHRs will
greatly improve communication
capabilities between geographically
disparate health care providers. |
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| Build Better Communities |
Gold Hill Grange Shows It's Golden Hearts
The women of Gold Hill Grange in
Oregon made more than 30 quilts
that were given to Hurricane Katrina
victims and abused children’s organizations in the beaver state.
Jane Hamilton, executive director
of the Children’s Advocacy
Center in Roseburg, Oregon accepted 15 quilts and told the ladies
that when a child comes
into their facility, they leave
with a quilt or stuffed animal.
Two quilts were given to hurricane
victims in Linn County,
Oregon and the remaining were
donated to the All Because of
Children House, an abused children’s center, in Albany, Oregon.
“Giving these items away to
the children gets you right in the
heart,” said Maxine Smith, Oregon
State Grange Woman Activities Director.
Clogging the Night Away
On most nights, you can hear the
stomping and the tapping coming
from the Moosup Valley Grange in
Foster, Rhode Island. You can also
see at least 30 people between the
ages of 6-60 sweating and bopping
to the sounds of the fiddle. What’s
happening at the Grange? If you
guessed country-line dancing, you are on the right track. But, the answer is clogging.
The Moosup Valley Grange
opens its doors weekly as a place
community members can come
and learn to clog. Clogging is a
freestyle dance that originated in
the Blue Ridge Mountains and
is characterized by double time
stomping and tap steps resembling
a tap dance with the upper body
held straight and upright.
The Moosup Valley Grange
recognized a need in their community,
and they were able to provide
an activity that is great for exercise
and fellowship to their community
members.
Illinois Grangers Entertain Residents at Grange Nursing Home
Members of the Enterprise, Turkey Hill and Floraville Granges entertained residents at the Grange Nursing Home in Mascoutah, IL over the holidays.
The nursing home was started
by several Granges to provide a
safe, clean environment for seniors.
The facility has 55 beds, a
pharmacy, and a beauty salon
and offers therapy sessions, chapel
services, entertainment, and
home-cooked meals to its residents.
Washington Grange Receives Certificate for Distributing Dictionaries
The Kelso School Board in Washington
State recently presented a
certificate of appreciation to Pleasant
Hill Grange representatives
Ted and Zula Bryan for contributions
the Grange made to Kelso
students.
Cowlitz County’s oldest active
Grange began distributing dictionaries
with a five-year commitment
and 96 dictionaries – enough for
every third grader at three local
elementary schools. They challenged
other organizations to do
the same. Within months, every
third-grader in Cowlitz County received
a student dictionary.
For more information on the
Grange’s Words for Thirds program, Click Here or call 1-888-447-
2643, ext. 107.
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August Schumacher Jr. |
Americans continue to fret over
health. Growing diabetes and
obesity epidemics are pushing national
expenditure on health care
to 16 percent of our gross national
product, well above international
norms. But farmers, as growers
of our food, have traditionally not
played an extensive role in health
care or in nutrition issues.
Farmers benefit indirectly from
the nearly $51 billion spent annually
on federal nutritional programs,
such as Food Stamps, School
Lunch, WIC, and the Farmers Market
Nutrition Programs, but few
farm families are directly linked to
hungry Americans or the nutritionally
vulnerable.
Realizing this disconnect that
exists between federal nutritional
monies spent and the role of the American farm in our diets, some
have begun to consider a rethinking
of the role of agriculture and nutritional programs.
States have been on the forefront
of this movement by asking
their local farmers to help improve
nutrition among their vulnerable
children, mothers, and seniors.
This effort comes thanks to the assistance
from two little known and
unassuming USDA programs, the
Senior Farmers Market Nutrition
Program and the WIC Farmers
Market Nutrition Program.
With only $35 million in federal
support and some $10 million in
additional state, local, and foundation
support, nearly 3 million
mothers, children, and seniors are
visiting farmers markets and farm
stands each year in 46 states to receive
free fresh fruits and vegetables,
home grown by nearly 21,000
farmers. Enthusiasm, especially by
seniors and farmers, is strong.
As the debate on the new 2007
Farm Bill evolves, discussions
over the role of billions of dollars
in nutritional monies will surely be
a focus. By reorienting these monies
toward more nutritious foods,
and by expanding support for the
Farmers Market Nutrition Programs,
millions more of America’s
neediest mothers, children, and
seniors would benefit from better
access to nutritional foods.
Accomplishing this is possible
through more funding from
the USDA’s Commodity Credit
Corporation and through Section
32 (monies from the tariffs on imported
food allocated to USDA’s
nutrition programs). An allocation
of $200 million to connect farmers
and our nutritionally needy in the
new Farm Bill would help 5 million
of our most vulnerable citizens improve
their health while providing
some 40,000 fruit and vegetable
farmers additional markets to help
foster better nutrition.
An example of such an initiative
is Maine’s targeted Farm
Share Program. Down East, Maine
has been innovative in using its
$890,000 portion of the USDA’s
$15 million annual appropriation
from the 2002 Farm Bill’s modest
Senior Farmers Market Nutrition
Program. Farm Share’s simplicity,
flexibility, and accountability guide
the Maine program and account for
much of its success, creativity, and
low cost.
In Maine, some 185 fruit and
vegetable farmers provided $100
of fresh fruits, vegetables, and
herbs in 2005 directly to each of
7,500 low-income seniors through
a variation on the traditional community
supported agriculture
(CSA) concept. The $100 per senior
benefit is allocated to farmers
through federal dollars via Maine’s
State Department of Agriculture in
advance of the growing season.
If a local farmer contracts with
the maximum of 200 low income
seniors in their town or county,
the state sends a check for up to
$20,000 in the spring prior to the
start of the growing season to prepay
the farmer for these local fruit
and vegetable senior contracts.
An additional 20,000 low income
seniors benefit from the bulk commodity
(apples, potatoes, sweet
corn) shares to food banks and
meals on wheels provided as part
of the Maine Farm Share Program.
As a result, over one-third of
the 80,000 Maine seniors eligible
for assistance under the age and
income guidelines of this senior
program benefit from this fruit and
vegetable program. Farm Share’s popularity continues to grow – many farmers have waiting lists
of seniors who want to participate,
but cannot because of a lack of
funding.
Several farms have gone as far
to raise additional monies to supplement
federal dollars to benefit
seniors from their waiting lists. The
Jordan Farm near Portland, Maine
has raised nearly $10,000 from the
local community to supplement the
$20,000 provided through Farm
Share. This local donated money
enabled the Jordan Farm to help
an additional 100 seniors in their
county access $100 worth of free
fruits and vegetables from their
popular roadside stand.
As discussion on the 2007
Farm Bill evolves, it’s time to reorient
a portion of America’s nutritional
dollars so that they improve the
health of America’s most vulnerable
populations. Part of this reorientation
would be an increase of $200
million in funding to the Farmers’ Market Nutrition programs.
The expansion of these programs
would help millions of
additional low income seniors,
mothers, and children receive increased
access to nutritious yet
often unaffordable fresh fruits and
vegetables. An expansion of these
programs would also create new
markets in 50 states that would
benefit thousands of American fruit
and vegetable growers who would
become partners in a cost effective
solution to lowering health care
costs.
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