Virtual Meeting Attendance Can Assist In Generating Ideas & Boost Grange Participation

By Tom Gwin
State Grange
Master/President

Eight years ago, the National Grange encouraged State Granges to develop a policy allowing virtual and/or electronic participation in Grange meetings. The WA State Grange Executive Committee moved forward in developing guidelines allowing Grange members to use technology to assist in meeting attendance.

Our policy was put in place…..and then Covid hit in 2020. Granges had little to no option in holding meetings. We were not allowed to experience the fellowship that many of us received through our Grange participation. We had to resort to virtual Grange meetings and conference calls just to conduct the little business of our Granges in that time.

On the plus side, we did learn what worked and what didn’t work in the Covid era. We put those lessons to good use and have now updated our virtual/electronic meeting policy to reflect the realities of our busy lives and numerous activities.

Utilizing the lessons learned, we updated the WA State Grange Policy for Virtual/Electronic Participation in Subordinate/Community and Pomona Grange Meetings. While our desire is that all Granges meet face to face in full form, this policy allows Granges the consider the option of electronic meetings that will assist in building Grange activities and increasing participation in our programs. Our revised state policy is posted on our home page and available here.

These policies will allow us to maintain our basic Grange principles while allowing Grange members who may be physically unable to attend a meeting to be involved in the discussion of new program ideas for a Grange. It also allows for Grange participation for those who live away from their local Grange. A final positive of this policy will be for Granges to more easily meet in inclement weather.

We must, however, remain vigilant to not allow virtual/electronic meetings to take over our Granges. The fellowship created by a face-to-face meeting is much stronger than that of a virtual meeting. We wish to continue that fellowship.

Legislature To Convene For 69th Biennial Session January 13th

By Jesse Taylor
Legislative Lobbyist

Happy New Year! On Monday, January 13th, 2025, the Legislature will convene the 69th Biennial Session. This will be the first biennium with a new governor at the helm in a dozen years. Governor Jay Inslee will complete his third consecutive term as governor this month and with that means a lot of changes to ‘business as usual’ at the capital as Governor Elect- Ferguson moves into the corner office.

Legislators will introduce and debate many policy bills, covering a vast range of issues. But the major focus will be to pass three separate two-year budgets. A balanced Operating Budget within projected revenue is the only thing the Legislature is required to complete and must be done for the state to function. Crafting a state budget is always complex. State revenues continue to increase, however growth is beginning to slow. Inflationary metrics are beginning to cool as well, which will be a welcome indicator from citizens across the state. As of this writing, the state budget writers are facing down an estimated $12 billion budget shortfall which will be closed by a combination of cost cutting measures and new revenue sources from around the state.

Governor Inslee submitted a budget proposal to the Legislature in December that severely reduces funding requests from agencies such as Education and DNR. The governor’s budget (linked here) is just the first budget in the process and is typically used as a template to craft their various proposals. Governor-elect Ferguson will submit a budget summary document to the legislature before he delivers his State-Of-The-State on January 15th, which will outline his spending and cost cutting priorities. But at the end of the day it’s the 147 elected lawmakers that have to send a balanced budget to his desk.

Our legislative department will be keeping our eye out for challenging policy that we deem to be problematic for our goals. When these bill are introduced we tend to attempt to the “dull the edges” or participate in the process to be cooperative partners. Many of these bills will be delivered to you in the weekly legislative updates, bi-weekly calls throughout the session, as well as action items, budget updates and more.

As always legislators need to hear “your story” and understand what we need to advocate for rural citizens and causes. If you do not let them know and advocate for your cause, then who will? Find out who your hometown legislators are by searching in this link. Once you have your legislator identified you can contact them via email or phone call using this easy to use member roster tool.

The Washington State Grange will continue to support your efforts by providing resources and assistance when and where we can, this includes:

• Weekly updates through the Session Watch. Please subscribe here.

• 2025 Legislative Handbook

• Grange Legislative Day – Tuesday, February 4th

• Bi-Weekly Zoom Huddles during session.

Please use those legislative tools to reach out to your elected legislators and contact me anytime with questions or inquires. I wish you all a blessed 2025 and I look forward to seeing many of you at Grange Legislative Days.

By Grange News Staff

State Grange President Tom Gwin will attend a series of meetings around the state, partially in conjunction with Pomona Grange Meetings, for a question/answer session. Packets of information, including the Master/President Handbook, Secretary Handbook, Treasurer and Financial Guides, and 2025 Departmental Program materials will be distributed. All Grange members are invited to these locations for the upcoming sessions.

• January 4 – Grange Resource & Information Training at the Pierce County Pomona Meeting, 10 a.m. at the Elk Plain Grange Hall (Pierce County).

• January 7 – Grange Resource & Information Training at the Deer Lagoon Grange Meeting, 6 p.m. at the Deer Lagoon Grange Hall (Island County).

• January 8 - Grange Resource & Information Training at the Clark County Pomona Meeting, 7 a.m. at the Manor Grange Hall.

• January 11 – Grange Resource & Information Training at the Klickitat County Pomona Meeting, 10 a.m. at the Centerville Grange Hall.

• January 13 – Grange Resource & Information Training at the Yakima Valley Pomona Meeting, 3 p.m. at the Fruitvale Grange Hall.

• January 17 – Grange Resource & Information Training at the Fredonia Grange Hall (Skagit County), 6 p.m. potluck, 7 p.m. meeting.

• January 18 – Grange Resource & Information Training at the Snohomish County Pomona Meeting, 10 a.m. at the Tualco Grange Hall.

• January 24 – Grange Resource & Information Training at the Stevens County Pomona Meeting, 6 p.m. at the Kettle River Grange Hall

• January 25 – Grange Resource & Information Training at the Whelan Ewartsville Grange Hall (Whitman County), 11 a.m.

• January 25 – Grange Recourse & Information Training at the Central Grange Hall (Spokane County), 7 p.m.

• January 31 – Grange Resource & Information Training at the Sallal Grange Hall (King County), 7 p.m. – will include installation of Pomona Grange officers

• February 1 – Grange Resource & Information Training at the Dry Creek Grange Hall (Clallam County), 11 a.m.

• February 6 – Grange Resource & Information Training at the Thurston County Pomona Meeting, 7 p.m. at the Black Lake Grange Hall

• February 7 – Grange Resource & Information Training at the Moses Lake Grange Hall (Grant County), 7 p.m.

• February 8 – Grange Resource & Information Training at the Okanogan County Pomona Meeting, 10 a.m. at the Okanogan Grange Hall

• February 9 – Grange Resource & Information Training at the Bee Hive Grange Hall (Chelan County), 1 pm

By Grange News Staff

In the early morning hours of November 26th, as millions of Americans begin to prepare for their Thanksgiving dinner, there is one family who was very surprised by a shiny object.

It all started with a trip to the grocery store to buy the perfect 19-pound turkey in the small town of Sequim, Washington. Valerie Ellard, who was surrounded by her family in the kitchen, began to get the turkey ready for the oven. As Valerie reached into the cavity of the turkey and pulled out the giblet bag, she noticed a shiny object in the bag. She opened the bag and a gold earring fell onto the counter, yes, a gold earring.

The single earring with a post holding a charm with a symbol of a vase with a flame, a black banner with two letters P on the left side and an H on the right. Could this be the symbol of a Grange and P & H, could it stand for Patrons of Husbandry? Grange member and witness to the find, Robert Clark, who has been a Sequim Prairie Grange Member for over 75 years believes it belongs to a Granger.

Wouldn’t it be ironic if this was true, since a lifelong Grange member found it!

Better yet, who does it belong to and how in the heck did it get into the giblet bag stuffed in the cavity of Valerie's turkey!

After doing many hours of research looking for any images or articles related to this type of earring. I decided to reach out to the Washington State Grange President, Tom Gwin, to see if he could help solve this mystery. He forwarded the image to a few Grange memorabilia collectors and the results are in. It’s a seventh-degree pin/earring. “Similar pins were handed out to all the seventh-degree candidates this year at the National Grange Session.” Tom Gwin said in an email.

The “what” part of the mystery is now solved but now it’s the “how” part.

How did a seventh-degree earring get into the giblet bag of a 19-pound turkey? One theory is that the turkey ate it, but never digested it properly and it ended up staying in the gizzard. The other theory is that it fell off the worker while making the giblet bag in the processing plant.

Bottom line, is there a seventh-degree member out there missing an earring? The earring has been on one heck of a journey to Sequim, WA!