President’s Newsletter

I’M BACK!!

Hello fellow Grangers. The holidays are once again behind us. I hope you all thoroughly enjoyed them and had great times with friends & family. Now it’s time to get back to work and start writing again. Sure would be nice if 2010 is better economically for all of us than 2009.

Greetings Fellow Grangers!

This month has gone by very quickly and with a lot of activity. February 12th thru the 14th we attended the National Masters Conference in Orlando, Florida. This was a very good conference, and I came back with some fresh ideas which I look forward to passing on to all of you.

On Tuesday, Feb. 16th, I attended the C-Far conference in Springfield and that was very interesting. The Illinois State Grange was well represented with five of us there. Check out Dave Donley’s report for more information.

On Feb. 25th, I attended a meeting in Sycamore to try to keep our U of I extension offices. Because of our Illinois government's bad handling of our tax dollars, they are in jeopardy. The state of Illinois owes the University of Illinois in excess of $450 million dollars.

Today, Feb. 28th, we participated in our 1st Annual Chili Dinner fundraiser for the Boone County Pomona Grange and I have to say it was very successful. Thanks to all the Granges that helped. It was really great seeing our Grangers work together and the best part was we have some potential new members.

I am looking for Grangers to develop two teams: one in the northern part and one in the southern part of the state. I want the Grangers for these two teams to have good positive ideas and attitudes to form new Granges and to help struggling Granges. If interested, please call me as soon as possible because we want these people to go to a Grange Growth Summit in Reedsburg, Wi. Rusty Hunt from the National Membership Committee is putting this on and if anyone can spark your enthusiasm, Rusty can. I look forward to your responses.

Also would like to get some ritual teams put together. If interested, please call me at 815-988-0249 or e-mail me at Leeauctionman@aol.com

Well I will start off with hoping everyone had a good Thanksgiving. Always nice to get together with family.

Patti and I went to National Session in Grand Rapids, Mi. What a delightful experience! We met a lot of new people from across the United States and made some new friends. I was very proud of how well Illinois was represented. I would like to thank everyone who helped or took part in any way. I’ve brought back a few new ideas.

From the November Granger 2009

Hello Fellow Grangers,

This is your action news reporter, behind the desk. It’s been a pretty fast first month and I’m happy to report that we’ve had the opportunity to join other Granges in their community service fundraising activities. We helped our home Grange, Prairie, to label dictionaries to be distributed to all 3rd graders in Boone Co. We hope to have some news media to cover some of that so we can get the Grange name out. We went to the Guilford Hope Grange Barn Dance at Midway Village where Patti and I square danced for the first time in 50 years. (Give or take a few). Their proceeds went to support the educational programs of Midway Village Museum. We had an absolutely terrific time!

We continued to dance on Saturday night at Beaver Valley Grange’s 50’s/60’s Sock Hop.

That was held at Paulson’s Museum. Their proceeds went to purchase school supplies for needy children in Boone County. Another great time was had. We will be looking forward to helping other Granges and supporting their Community Service projects. We will attend as many as our schedules will allow. It’s not important how big or small your Community Service Project is- it’s just that you have one! It keeps your members active and involved and the above shows that it can be fun.

It’s been a great time getting ready to attend National Session. I’ve been in contact with several people across the United States in preparation for Session. I will be serving on the Taxation & Transportation committee and Patti on the Health, Education & Welfare. We look forward to representing Illinois. I will be participating in the 6th degree.

The GRIT conferences are coming up December 5th and 6th. December 5th will be held at the Community Grange Hall at the Boone Co. Fairgrounds with a potluck starting at Noon. At 1:00 the Four Degrees will be presented with informational training to follow.

Sunday, Dec. 6th will be held at Emerald Mound Grange, with a potluck being served at 12:30 with the degree work starting at 1:30 followed by the training session. Sure hope to see a lot of you attending these sessions.

On November 4th at 3:00 I’m scheduled to be on a conference call with the Illinois Wind Working Group with the topic being: Environmental Policy Driving Growth in Renewable Energy.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to all our farm families. This weather has really presented a challenge. Wishing for dry weather for you so you can get your crops out.

Hope all of you have a Great Thanksgiving!

And from behind the desk in Boone County,

Signing off, Lyle

We’re off to a good running start with several Grangers saying " I would be delighted" when asked (or volunteered) to fill a position. I want to thank John & Carol Mullholland and Charles Treser for taking on the membership committee. A BIG THANK-YOU  to Jack & Laurel Ratcliffe for their dedication and service on the membership committee the past few years. Thanks to all the State Deputies that said they would continue their service.

Thanks also go out to Gary and Elaine Hecathorn for continuing with Community Service. We continue to thank Arline Magee for her work on Publicity and Robin Kindberg and Justin Schaeffer for their devotion to Jrs. & Youth.

Our newest member on the Family Activities Committee will be Kim Barnett and on the Ag Committee will be Wayne Lyford. David Donley will be the Legislative Chair.

We look forward to working with all the Granges to help make them grow. We want the Grange to be a good and fun Community Service Organization that people will want to belong to. Each Grange should look for a project in their community to be part of as a regular project. This will help strengthen your Grange. People need to feel like they’re needed and be a part of something useful. So Thanks in advance for your projects.

Patti and I are now making plans to attend National Session in Grand Rapids, Mi. We look forward to it and will do our best to represent Illinois State Grange.                                   Thanks & God Bless
                                                        Lyle