Leedy Grange welcomes new members

By Virginia Bruce

The Leedy Grange has been active in Cedar Mill since 1903. We wrote about its history in an article in the March 2004 Cedar Mill News. The present-day Grange can have an important role to play in the community, particularly if it gets a much-needed infusion of new members.

Membership in the Grange is open to everyone—you don’t have to be a farmer! Yearly dues are just $25 and there is a $5 initiation fee. The major benefit to being a member is the chance to be involved in decision-making for the future of our Grange.

Bruce Bartlett, CPO 1 Chair, and I recently were initiated into the Grange during a meaningful ceremony at the Forest Grove Grange Hall. We decided to join for several reasons: the current membership in Leedy Grange is aging and there’s not a lot of energy for organizing the community activities that a Grange can provide; the building can be a great asset to the community but would probably be lost if membership doesn’t get replenished; we were inspired by what we found out about Grange principles.

The initiation ceremony, in addition to teaching us some secret signs that are part of this fraternal organization’s traditions, instilled the founding principles of the Grange through allegory and symbolism. Because the Grange was founded by farmers for the farming community, the ceremony uses agricultural themes. But the principles readily apply to everyone.

A Grange member is expected to contribute to the community through works of charity and the provision of educational and social opportunities. We are expected to be honest and kind in our dealings with fellow men and treat our animals and land with care and wisdom. We are expected to improve ourselves through education and to constantly strive to discover better methods of “husbandry.”

The Grange motto is “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.” The Grange encourages members to be politically active, but not to bring partisanship into the Grange. It expects members to have religious beliefs, but doesn’t espouse a particular denomination.

The Leedy Grange meets on the second Saturday of each month for a potluck lunch at noon and a business meeting afterwards. Learn more about the Grange at grange.org, the portal website of the Oregon State Grange. Contact me if you’re interested in joining.

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