At the Young Adults/Young Marrieds Weekend in March the participants brought cleaning supplies, toiletries, paper products and linens for their community service project. These items were donated to the Huntingdon House in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.

 

Young Adults/Young Marrieds Wekend attendees pose with items collected for the Huntingdon House

 

The Huntingdon House is a non-profit organization which recognizes the need for confidential, comprehensive services for domestic violence victims and their children, sexual assault victims, as well as victims and witnesses of other crimes. The Huntingdon House program offers a variety of different services to meet the needs of the people it serves. These services include: 24-hour crisis hotline; adult and child support groups; options counseling; personal advocacy and accompaniment; legal advocacy; temporary emergency shelter; systems advocacy; community outreach and education; and information and referral.

The Huntingdon House sent a thank you letter to the PA State Grange Young Adults/Young Marrieds thanking us for our generous donations. They appreciated our support and interest in their project. They are very grateful to have friends like us. I would like to thank everyone who attended the weekend and donated to the community service project. I would encourage you to look for some local organizations in your own community who could use some help as a community service project!

Amy Foster
PA State Youth Committee

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Mercer County Couple Accepts Second Term as PA State Grange Young Couple

 

State College - Christie and Joel Straub of Mercer County will serve a second term as the PA State Grange’s Young Couple for 2008-2009.

Joel and Christie were first awarded the honor of Young Couple in April, 2007 during the Young Adults/Young Marrieds Weekend held in State College. Last weekend during this year’s Young Adult/Young Marrieds Weekend, again held in State College, they accepted a second term from PA State Youth Director Martha Ebersole.

Joel and Christie live in Greenville, Mercer County. They met through the Grange and were married on May 8th, 2004. Joel, 34, is a graduate of Commodore Perry High School and Grove City College. Christie, 33, graduated from Oley Valley High School and Orlando College. They are both members of Stony Point Grange #1694 in Mercer County.

Joel said, “I joined the Grange at the age of five and have been a lifelong member. I was a past State Junior Prince and Youth Ambassador. I am the current Lecturer/Program Director for Stony Point Grange.”

Christie joined Virginville Grange #1832 in Berks County in 1997. She was the Public Relations Director for Berks County Pomona Grange #43. She says, “I am the current Ceres for Stony Point Grange #1694. I served as the PA State Grange Youth Director from 2003-2005 and I currently hold the title of Flora for the PA State Grange.”

Joel and Christie live in a 200 year-old farmhouse with their two Jack Russell Terriers, Augie and Taffy. They like to help out on the straub Family Farm and enjoy gardening and reading. Joel is also very active as a football referee and umpire for baseball and softball in the Greenville area.

The Straubs are the second Young Couple in a row to accept the title for a second year, following Matt and Charlene Espenshade’s two-year reign from 2005-2007.

Couples compete for the title of PA State Grange Young Couple at the annual Young Adults/Young Marrieds Weekend. Couples must have been Grange members for a minimum of two years. They are judged on an interview, Ambassadorship Qualities, and a written test of Grange knowledge.

The PA State Grange Young Couple helps to promote and generate enthusiasm for the Youth Department programs and contests throughout the Commonwealth.

Joel and Christie hope to be able to attend Community Grange meetings and county fairs throughout Pennsylvania promoting the Grange and its Youth in the coming year.

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Youth Camp

 

If you are planning to attend Youth Camp this year please complete the Family Festival Registration form (click HERE) and check the block "Youth participating in Youth Camp." Camp will be held in conjunction with the Family Festival but will begin on Friday afternoon with registration from 4-6pm. We will be following most of the same schedule for the weekend. This year we will have our own building that will be Bldg B2. Also, there will be judging of the best decorated area\tent so get your mind working...it's not too early to plan. The theme is "The Civil War."

We will also have the Rock/Scissors/Paper Tournament on Saturday. Again this year the Youth will have a Longaberger picnic basket filled full of picnic items, to raffle off.
The youth will be participating in the meals with the Family Festival so be sure to check your meals and include payment ($23.50 for all five meals). You will need to mark if you are staying in a tent but the Youth Dept. will take care of the cost of the tent. The Youth will be staying in a special tent area designated for Youth Camp.

All the Youth activities at Family Festival will begin on Friday July 18th with registration from 4-6 pm.

PLEASE DON’T FORGET TO COMPLETE THE FAMILY FESTIVAL REGISTRATION FROM AND CHECK THE SPACE FOR PARTICIPATING IN YOUTH CAMP.

All the Youth are asked to invite a FFA friend to camp this year. Here is a little incentive for you if you bring a new camper to camp...I will give you a FREE t-shirt. Let’s all work together to make this a GREAT Civil War weekend.

Martha

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Accomplished Dreams

The Youth Committee would like to start something new this year... Accomplished Dreams.

Instead of filling out a report form we would like you to write an article about the event or project that you accomplished with some pictures.

Example: you have an event at your Grange...take an 8 1/2" by 11" piece of construction paper, put a couple of event pictures on it and then write a short article about the event. We want to be able to hang these up at State Session for all to see. The more events you accomplish the better the award.

Awards:

• If you bring 3 to 5 accomplishments - T-shirt

• If you bring 6 to 7 accomplishments - Sweatshirt

• If you bring 8 to 10 accomplishments - Sweatshirt and $10.00 off a Youth event.