- Treats for the Grange Barn Quilt installers
The first quarter of 2013 was busier than usual at our Grange. In late January we worked on painting a barn quilt for our neighbor Chuck & Bev Ballard’s barn. The Ballard family donated the land our Grange is on and this was a nice way of thanking them. The first weekend in February was the date for our annual Scholarship Dinner and a great team of volunteers put together a lovely event that was a grand success. Then a creative group of Grange members designed and painted a quilt block for our hall, which was raised on March 13, followed by our 5th annual Chili Cook Off & Cowboy Concert on March 16. Planning is going on for the Army Band Concert scheduled for April 13 and for the Food Booth we will have at the Kittitas Valley Event Center’s Manastash Room for the weekend of the 1st Central WA Quilt Show and Barn Quilt Trail Dedication, April 27 and 28. Meantime, our Building & Grounds volunteers are working on a plan to sand and refinish our maple floors in early June and the installation of a donated furnace in the basement to quickly take the chill off that area when we have two groups using the hall. We also did a total re-design and update on our Grange website, check it out at: www.SwaukTeanawayGrange.com.
When you add up the hours it takes to accomplish all of this, you realize how important our members who volunteer their time are. People are attracted to our Grange because of all we do in our community; but that work won’t continue to get done unless we have increased participation by our members. We don’t want to burn out our active members, we don’t want our Grange to become a place where the phrase “Same Ten People” applies. For instance, we did not have a quorum at our March business meeting. Why is that? We have 135 members, but we didn’t have the necessary 8 people present to enable us to vote on important decisions such as paying our bills, accepting new members and deciding how we should get involved in providing information on the PacifiClean project targeted for Elk Heights.
Dear fellow Grange members, I ask you to please consider becoming a more active participant in the Swauk-Teanaway Grange. Please volunteer your time helping out at an event or fundraiser, or with a project like the floor refinishing. Just as important, set aside 1 – 2 hours the second Friday of the month, from 1-3:00 pm to meet and be part of the decision making that happens at our Grange. We want you to be an active part of this grass-roots community organization, WE NEED YOU!