It all started when Pam Wilson, the Family Living/Youth Director of Stranger Creek Grange decided to start the “snowball” idea she had down the hill. Why don’t we make Christmas Stockings for the students — all 36 of them at Evergreen School — a K-6 rural school which for most of the fall provided in person schooling.

The local Ladies’ club agreed to provide goodie bags. The Lecturer of Quillisascut, Rori Draper and her cohort, Family Living Director Anita Fishler suggested to the sewing group we should make stockings.

We were off and running at sewing days first at Quillisascut until heating became an issue because of the time it takes the old wood furnace to heat the hall. Then we moved to Stranger Creek until after the second session, Pam ran into a problem with the water and the smoking wood stove. To the rescue came the local church with a dry warm basement and people who are members of both the church and the granges.

We met mid-December to stuff the socks with donations from lots of us. By this time, the sock “orders” had expanded. One of the Grange member’s son also teaches a class in a nearby town so we added him. Another member beginning her first year of teaching in Special Education was grateful to receive stockings for her students.

In the end we made over 70 stockings including some to nursing homes. A few members were stars in construction. Anita Fishler probably made the most, followed by Debbie and Stacee Potts and Rori Draper and certainly Pam Wilson. Lori McKinnon made some masterpieces and lots of others were group efforts.

Also, over 20 quilts (some using the 2019 national quilt block) were delivered to foster kids, people in need for Christmas, fire victims, and the newborns in the hospital. Others are waiting to go to nursing homes when it is safe for them to receive them. All of this while both Granges were limited to only one meeting each this quarter due to state regulations and a rising COVID-19 count.

We don’t look all that wonderful on the quarterly report but we do have another sewing session in the warm church basement arranged and we’ve all spent socially distant time with each other in a very rural setting at least 16 miles from the nearest town or store or restaurant.

Ron Ingraham, a longtime Goldendale resident, was recently selected as the 2020 Washington State Grange Volunteer of the Year. The recipient of this award cannot be a Grange member or directly affiliated with the Grange. Typically, this award would have been presented during the formal awards banquet at the State Grange Session. Following mandated COVID restrictions, the presentation had to be made locally. Presenting the award to Mr. Ingraham, on the left, are State Deputy Lucille Bevis and Goldendale Grange members Richard Lefever and Luann Whitmire. It was truly an honor for Goldendale Grange to submit Ron for this ward. Ron has been a board member of the Historical Museum since 2014 and a hands-on president for the last four years. Ron especially enjoys decorating and installing Christmas lighting during the holiday season. He personally decorated a dozen separate Christmas trees at the museum in 2019. Due mainly to his efforts, the museum received first place honors two years in a row in the community lighting contest.

Ron is an active member of the Friends of the Goldendale Community Library. He is also an active member of the local American Legion Post. On Memorial Day, he assists the Legionnaires in displaying over 400 Veteran flags at the local Mt. View Cemetery. He helps color and hide hundreds of eggs for the annual Legion Easter Egg hunt.

Ron recently made a personal donation to our local hospital in honor of his mother for the creation of a non-denominational chapel/meditation room. His latest endeavor is as an advocate for those who can no longer speak. He recently became a member of the IOOF Mt. View Cemetery board and is the property title holder for the local Woodland Cemetery. The Woodland Cemetery is very near the site of the former Woodbine Grange #243.

As you study Ron Ingraham’s accomplishments you get the feeling he must belong to every civic organization in Goldendale.

Now that we have closed the door on 2020, we open wide the door to 2021. In opening that door, we want to provide the tools to our Grange builders, whether they be officers, committee chairs, or regular members, your State Grange Leadership Team has put together a toolbox for our Grangers to use in building their Subordinate and Pomona Granges.

The first item in the toolbox is the series of upcoming zoom meeting for our Grangers. You will find that schedule elsewhere in this issue. While each of the meetings is focused on one or two officers, all Grange members are invited to join in on our discussions. Please note the youth department has already completed their zoom meetings and will be looking at additional zoom activities for all Grange members to get us through the end of this pandemic.

The State Grange program handbook is the second items in the toolbox. We will utilize the 2020 program handbook with the green cover for 2021 If there are changes in a department, that will be noted during the zoom meeting and included in the department packets. We will also post those items on the State Grange website: www.wa-grange.com

Your department packets will be their third item in your toolbox. The packets will be mailed out to the appropriate officer listed on your report. We will also post on the website.

I have spent much time on developing officer handbooks for the Master and Treasurer. These two items will be posted on our website after January 11. We will review these items during the zoom meetings specifically designated for these two offices. You may want to download a print a copy of these items before the zoom meetings.

Grange Secretaries will have a revised handbook and reporting process beginning this year. We are striving to eliminate the length of time before a new member joins your Grange and you report them on your quarterly report to the State Grange. We will review these revisions during the Secretary Conferences.

Or toolboxes can be our greatest asset in 2021. As we continue through the year, we will create additional tools that you can use to build your Grange. Each Grange must use the tools we are developing to assist in building their Grange and promoting our projects and activities.

Let’s put the pandemic of 2020 behind us, fully recovered and ready to build our Grange into the premier organization in each community in our state.

By Heather Hansen

Legislative Lobbyist

The 2021 legislative session will begin January 11, 2021. It will be a session like no other. Most of it will be virtual. If you wish, you can watch hearings and floor debate on TVW. There will be opportunities to testify virtually, but it is still unclear how that will work.

In late December, Governor Inslee released his proposed budget for July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2023. The legislature uses his budget as a guide, but they have the authority to change it as they see fit. The budget must be finalized before the legislature adjourns in the spring.

Governor Inslee’s proposal includes a 10.5% increase in spending over the current 2019-2021 budget. $1.7 billion of that is for new policies he hopes the legislature will enact. Current projections show the state should have about $2.5 billion in reserves when the current biennium ends on June 30, 2021. The Governor’s budget projects total reserves of under $1 billion at the end of the next budget cycle on June 30, 2023.

The Governor’s plan includes several new taxes. He would create a 9% tax on capital gains over $25,000. This tax would apply to sales of stocks, bonds, and other assets. It would not apply to sole proprietor businesses, retirement accounts, homes, farms, timber or earned income. A capital gains tax would likely be challenged in court as an income tax that violates the state constitution.

The Governor would also create a new tax on health insurers to fund public health services. This tax would charge health insurers a monthly fee for each policy they carry. The fee is likely to be passed along to consumers via increasing the cost of health insurance.

The Governor is also pushing for a low-carbon fuel standard. Legislators who support his idea believe it will create jobs in rural areas. Most legislators from rural areas believe it will increase the cost of transportation and thus, the cost of living, in rural areas. It has been called a gas tax that does not benefit transportation infrastructure.

Hundreds of millions of dollars would go to new programs for electric ferries, electric transit systems and to promote electric vehicles.

Despite the economic setbacks caused by COVID-19, there is no budget crisis in Washington. State tax collections are projected to grow by nearly 5% this fiscal year even without tax increases. Some legislative leaders say the state can help people who have suffered during the pandemic without creating new taxes. Others support the Governor’s proposal.

Stay tuned, it’s bound to be an interesting few months.