| June 5, 2019 -- By this time, all Granges should have received their Blue Book/ Directory packets for the next two years. Rather than spend a tremendous amount of money printing the information in a bound book, we have decided to provide packets of information from the various committees. Please keep in mind that this material covers TWO YEARS. Please make copies of the packet material as needed. We do not have a lot of extra copies in the office, so please keep this in mind. We are trying to print less and reduce the waste involved in over-producing materials.
The move of the Central Office from Glastonbury to Winchester Center is moving along-- maybe not as fast as I would like but we are making progress. The biggest problems we are facing now involve what to do with the surplus of furniture in the hall. The State Master as put one more plea in his report this month for Granges and members to let us know if you would like anything from Good Will Grange Hall. This offer is also made to individuals as well. We are not asking for money, we just want to clean the hall out. If you would like to make a donation to the State Grange Foundation, we would certainly accept those gratefully. Please give me a call (860-307-1522) if you are interested. If you would like to come to the hall to see what might be available, we will try to accommodate those requests as well. It is extremely important we get the hall cleaned out as soon as possible.
The other major problem is whittling down the 135 years of items collected by the State Grange. We can’t possibly keep everything we have. There are dozens and dozens of staves, boxes of gavels, song books, totes and totes full of sashes, and much, much more. Difficult decisions will have to be made to get our “collection down to a reasonable and manageable level.
The new office in Winchester Center is shaping up nicely. The cable company arrived last week to install internet and telephone (our new telephone number is listed below). Once the cabinetry in Glastonbury is cleaned out, we will hire a moving company to move the office furniture across the state.
While the new office is well off the “beaten track” for a good number of our members, it will make my life tremendously easier, reducing my commute to the office by nearly two hours each trip.
The Executive Committee will continue to meet centrally each month. We have an arrangement with Hillstown Grange to meet at their hall on the last Wednesday of each month. This will make travel equal for most of our Board members. If there are items needed from the office that can’t be sent by mail, I can always arrange to meet with members on those evenings, if necessary.
The Scholarship applications are ready to go out to students in need of them. If you know of a Grange member who would benefit from a Grange Scholarship or Student Loan, please have them get in touch with me. We have a generous Student Loan and Scholarship that should be better utilized by the membership.
In the last couple of issues I have explained the difficulty with the IRS in filing our 990N ePostcards. Fortunately the website is now up and running again and I am in the process of filing for all Granges. Receipts from those filings will be sent in a separate mailing to each Grange once filings are complete. When they arrive, please put them in a safe place. I have had calls and emails from Granges throughout the year asking for copies of this paperwork. While I don’t mind providing the information, I am concerned about what is happening to sensitive tax documents that are disappearing. Please treat them as you would your own tax return documents.
In closing, I would like to apologize if things are not being done as quickly as they ordinarily would. It’s extremely crazy right now with parts of the Central Office in Glastonbury, Winchester Center and at my house in Sharon. Hopefully, once the move is complete, things will settle down into a new routine.
Until next time, get out and enjoy the beautiful weather.
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