| April 1, 2023 -- I have been doing some traveling to visit Granges. In part, this is to dispense award certificates for community service and Grange in Action. There are also Granges I have not been to and others not visited in a while. Thank you to those who have so warmly welcomed me to their halls (and Maggie when she is able to travel with me). I have been fed, entertained, and enjoyed great fraternal fellowship. Thank you!
With spring coming, Nutmeg Pomona #16 will have conferred the fifth degree on March 26, and Eastern CT Pomona #14 and Mountain Laurel Pomona #15 will be conferring it on May 6. The hope with the several reorganized Granges is that we will have a respectable class of candidates that might then go on to take the sixth degree in October at State Session and the seventh at National Convention in Niagara Falls in November. I would like to see the four subordinate degrees conferred but with the difficulties of gathering a degree team to do so, the best bet seems to be putting them on at the Pomona level where more Granges can contribute officers to put on a nice degree.
The Grange Presidents’ Conference on February 18 was particularly valuable. National President Betsy Huber gave a seminar on Grange Hall and asset ownership. She reiterated the point that you the members of your Grange don’t own your hall or financial assets. You are stewards at the current time of these assets that are owned by the past, present and future members of your Grange. Therefore, I will again stress that the current members of any Grange are not free to squander the contents of your Grange’s treasury or give away the hall for a song and a dance. What you do in the name of your Grange MUST be in the best interests of the organization and its continuance.
Another seminar was titled “Can’t We Get Along?” which was about conflict resolution, including mediation if necessary. This covered defining causes of conflict, coming to a mutual understanding of both sides by talking to both parties on neutral ground with active listening to both sides. Independent investigations must be done to establish facts from hearsay. Determinations must then be made to meet common goals and avoid repeating the conflict by settling on ways to meet those goals. Finding common ground between parties is needed to move forward. Follow ups and keeping open channels of communication are important to keep people working together on those goals. This is a necessity to keep strength in any organization, including ours. Severe enough conflicts can lead to Grange trials which are messy and often ugly, divisive events to be avoided at all costs. Therefore, when I see divisions among brothers and sisters, I ask the question: Can’t we get along? After all, we pledged to do so in our obligations.
Amanda Brozana-Rios, Director of Leadership and Membership, spoke about the Five Graces of Leadership, based on the book of the same name by Gregory Burnison. They are Aspiration, Gratitude, Courage, Resilience, and Empathy. To further this theme, your State Grange is offering a Leadership Academy based on the same book and to run from May to September with two Sunday night Zoom meetings per month (the first two are May 7 and 21 at 7:00PM). There is no charge for the course and the Burnison book will be provided to the enrollees. I say, the more the merrier, so please sign up for the program as I feel you will get a lot out of it. Jody Cameron has been hard at work putting this together, and I would like to see a respectable enrollment as it is being done for you, my Brothers and Sisters.
Remember, from the First Degree Master’s introductory charge: The chief objective of the Grange is to build a better and higher manhood and womanhood, and to develop a mutual respect and concern through Brotherhood (and I add parenthetically, Sisterhood).
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