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PA State Grange Concludes Annual Session |
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For information contact: Carl Meiss, Public Relations Director Ph: (717)-234-5001 or (800)-552-3865 Email: publicrelations@pagrange.org |
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October 26, 2005 |
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West Middlesex, PA: The PA State Grange concluded
their annual State Session, held in West Middlesex, Mercer County
after 2 1/2 days of extensive work.
The Session opened at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday and
officially closed at about 4:30 p.m. on Monday. The final action of
the Grange before the closing, was to install newly elected Executive
Committee Member Barbara Gross from Venango County, who was elected to
a four year term.
The session was attended by a
total of 255 delegates and 136 guests representing 107 Local Community
Granges and 35 Pomona (County) Granges from throughout the
Commonwealth.
More than 80 resolutions were
acted upon by the delegates dealing with topics ranging from
Legislative Pay Raises, to High-Speed Internet Access, to Eminent
Domain and everything in between. Resolutions are written on concerns
at the local community level in the Grange and passed at the local,
county and then state level. Those resolutions which deal with
national topics and also forwarded to the National Grange office in
Washington, D.C. for action. The annual resolutions set the
legislative policies for the PA State Grange for the upcoming year.
During the long-weekend
conference, an annual Talent Show, Public Speaking and Sign-A-Song
(deaf signing) contests are held as well as various breakfasts and
luncheons for the PA State Grange Departments: Juniors; Youth/Young
Adults; Deaf and Community Service, and Family Activities. Sunday
evening saw the "All Granger Banquet" held at which time the "Granger
of the Year," Susan Tau from Crawford County, was named.
Also presented at the banquet
were: Membership Recruiter of the Year - Ruth Wright from Bucks
County, and; "Friend of the Grange," George Wolff from Lebanon
County.
This year's representatives from
National Grange were Henrietta Keller and her husband Norm. The
Kellers are from Illinois and Henrietta is the National Grange
Secretary.
Next year's PA State Grange
Annual Session will be held in Reading, Berks County, October 21-23,
2006.
The Grange is a family fraternal
organization dedicated to the betterment of the American quality of
life through community service, education, legislation and
fellowship. The Grange includes members of all ages from their Junior
Grangers (ages 5-14), Youth Members (ages 14-24), Young Adults (ages
21-35) and Regular Community (Local) members (age 14 and up). The
Grange represents approximately 20,000 Pennsylvanians across the
Commonwealth. It is the oldest agricultural and rural organization of
its kind in the United States.
The National Grange (Patrons of Husbandry), representing about 300,000 members, began in 1867 and the PA State Grange was chartered in 1873.
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