I really like to work on the October issue of
The Advocate.
The headline of the October 2005 issue was "A
Grange in Hamburg, PA?...Very Soon!" And the Hamburg Grange #2103 is
a reality and is now a thriving Grange with increasing membership
numbers after their first two years.
"PA Starts Second NEW Grange in Less Than A
Year! - Cumberland Valley Grange #2104 Opens in Shippensburg," was
the headline for the October 2006 issue. And the Cumberland Valley
Grange #2104 is growing in Cumberland County.
And now, here we are, exactly two years after
that October 2005 issue, talking about the distinct possibility of a
THIRD (and hopefully a fourth) NEW GRANGE in Pennsylvania.
Since Ron Shaffer took over as the President
of the PA Grange Service Corp. Board of Directors, he has been
tirelessly working to improve the Service Corp. and look for
additional benefits for Pennsylvania Grangers. And just yesterday,
he took a "Subordinate Grange Organization Application" along with
him when he left the State Grange Office.
In the 1980's, under State Master Charles
Wismer, Ron, who lives in Manheim, Lancaster County, was appointed
as Executive Assistant to the State Master and worked throughout the
state to increase membership and help to charter new Granges. During
those years, Ron was instrumental in opening 8 new Granges in the
state. In fact, the first Grange that he helped to charter,
Battlefield Grange #2063 in Gettysburg, Adams County is still open.
In Ron's research and reviews of the Service
Corp., he found that it was originally set up through its by-laws,
to be a Subordinate Grange, stating, "The primary purpose of this
corporation [Service Corp.] is as a subordinate unit of the PA State
Grange..." So he is now working to do just that...start a new Grange
through the Service Corp.
As with any Grange Charter Application, a new
Grange must have at least 13 Charter Members which must include at
least four women.
Once they have the 13 Charter Members, they
must vote on a name for the new Grange (the next number of a new
Grange in PA will be 2105), then elect at least a Master
(President), Lecturer (Program Director), and Secretary. It is also
recommended that they elect a Treasurer as soon as possible to be
able to set up an account for the Grange.
One advantage of having a Subordinate Grange
attached to the Service Corp. would be to take in new Associate
Members (those who join only to take advantage of the insurances
offered) and collect their annual dues, rather than having to assign
new Associate Members to various Granges throughout the state.
Ron hopes to have the required 13 charter
members within the next two months (He already has at least 6 people
interested). He is planning to sign on as a charter member as an
Affiliate member of the new Grange while he retains his Individual
membership in the Elizabethtown Area Grange #2076 in Lancaster
County.
Keep up the good work, Ron!
And now...we are already planning to set up a
meeting before the end of the year at Penn State to organize a NEW
College Grange on main campus. If anyone knows of any Grange members
presently attending Penn State main campus, please have them contact
the PA State Grange Master at
master@pagrange.org so that we can include them in our email
notifications.
So keep watching The Advocate for the more information on NEW
Granges in Pennsylvania.
The Grange is alive and growing in
Pennsylvania!