With all that is going on today in the world, politically, socially, and otherwise, it is easy to forget that there is some good around us. when I go to work in the morning, I exit I-84 on the Route 8 southbound ramp and get off on Sunnyside Ave./Riverside St. It is a difficult exit due to restricted sight lines as well as being on a hill. I frequently get people stopping to let me out from the exit that are going up as well as downhill on Sunnyside Ave.

Waterbury is not often thought of as a place with a lot of good and courteous drivers, but there are quite a few I would say which refreshes my faith in humankind. In like manner, dealing with Grangers does the same for me and I hope for each of you, whether that is locally, or at a meeting, conference or convention.

This month, the “Speak Like a CHAMP” phrase is “Grange Forward.”  I like to think of this as a verbal phrase which signifies progress, relevance, and momentum. These are three important ideas pertaining to our work. We can value the past, but must move ahead boldly. Being bold relates to the idea of relevance and once this is achieved, you gain the recognition for what is being done and hopefully this builds the momentum among your members to keep making progress.

Maggie and I just returned from the Northeast Leaders Conference in Colchester, Vermont.  We were blessed with mild weather for northern New England in winter. The conference was well attended with 14 from Connecticut. National Grange Vice President John Benedik of New Jersey joined us as did National Grange Young Adult Ambassador Jomni Tarbell of New York. Next year’s conference will be in Cortland, NY. On the Northeast Connection officer group, Jody Cameron will be stepping down

as Treasurer to avoid conflict of interest as he is also a Convention Coordinator for National Grange. The NE Connection members voted to reduce the convention assessment to the seven northeast state Granges from $5,000 to $3,000 due to the robust financial condition of the Northeast Connection accounts. The New England Grange Building Trustees officers will remain the same. We had a great year at the Big E raising about $25,000 in the store, and over $9,000 in the quilt raffle to benefit St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. The quilt raffle set a record which will be hard to beat! A new addition to the group of Grange Building Trustees voted into existence about a year ago provides for a Youth Member on the Board. There will be three of these eventually with one being voted in each year so they will rotate over a three year period. The very first one of these is to be Violet Donihee of Coventry Grange #75. Congratulations and welcome to the Board Violet! We want the input of young people.

During the conference, we had a workshop on the subject of working with committees which as a roll playing exercise was both fun and educational. I was also involved in a membership committee discussion which allowed us to share some thoughts with each other. One of the highlights was a State President’s panel involving six of us as Sherry Harriman of Maine was unable to attend. We each had to respond to six questions followed by questions from the audience and discussion. It was challenging and productive as we had to face both strengths and weaknesses. We each had to address questions about ritual, training of leaders, communications, what we call our officers, and other topics.

Presentations were made to us by

several speakers: Anson Tibbetts from the Agency of Agriculture Food and Markets; Mary Fay of 4H in Vermont; and Wanda Emerich of the William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute in Chazy, NY (north of Plattsburg, near the Canadian border). All were most interesting and informative.

Sunday morning closed with a church service by Vermont State Grange Chaplain Jenny Nelson followed by final reports and farewells.

Now it is time to get back to work. State officers will soon meet on Zoom to iron out the form of the Grange mentoring program. This program is to be open-ended as individual mentors and Granges will work to decide on what form the program will take according to the specific needs of each Grange. There is no set agenda and I want to make it clear that mentors are not looking to impose their or my will on Granges. They are there to be resources to help you all move forward by working on being relevant or improving the relevance you already have in your communities. I would like to see all Granges set goals in areas needing improvement according to the SMART goal paradigm. This goal setting exercise might give Granges ideas on which to work with their mentors. Our program will dovetail nicely with the National Grange Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) which will be rolled out by summer. Consider getting involved as a Grange in Action. All your Grange needs to do is three activities to qualify and file a report with Loretta Washington of National Grange to get a certificate for your efforts. If enough Granges participate, then our State Grange qualifies to be a State Grange in Action.

Another  National  Grange program is the Rural Life Initiative. Applying for this program could get your Grange a $1,000 or even $5,000 grant if your project is worthy of the latter level. Information on this program is printed in this issue and is also available at nationalgrange. org.