| MARCH 21, 2010 -- The National Grange President Ed Luttrell and State Master Jim Foster made a visit to the Silverton Grange Hall #506 on Thursday, March 11 to speak to West Virginia Grange members at a dinner held in their honor.
Members from the Ohio Valley #543, Wilding #525, Rainbow (Ritchie County) #527 and Oxford (Doddridge County) #526 Granges as well as Ravenswood High School FFA students attended the event.
Lutrell's grange career started in 1978. He was elected to his second term as president of the national organization in November 2009.
During his presidential career Lutrell has made it a mission to concentrate on forming new granges as well as strengthening the ties between already established granges and the state and National offices. In doing this the grange leader stated that community granges will be able receive the needed assistance to accomplish goals.
Said Luttrell, "We have the local grange, the county grange, the state grange and the National grange. My message is that we are all one organization even if we have different levels. My focus is to reaffirm that the fact that the local grange is the grassroots of our organization. National is partnering with the state level to make sure that the local granges have what they need to be successful."
Jim Foster hails from Doddridge County and has been a part of the grange for 18 years as a big supporter of youth activities. Foster stated that he believes that the grange has much to offer new members.
Foster said, "We are the oldest agricultural organization in the United States. We've been around since 1873."
He continued, "We would like to increase membership. We think that we have a membership package that is second to none. Our members can receive accidental death and dismemberment insurance at no cost to them, credit union membership at the West Virginia Central Credit Union in Parkersburg. There are so many things they can benefit from grange membership."
Silverton Grange President Jr. Abels stated that it was an honor to have the distinguished guests, as did many of those in attendance.
Abels remarked, "This is great. It's a bit of history of for our grange. I don't know that we have ever had the national president at our grange."
|
