| MARCH 1, 2023 -- Hank Interviews Ruel Miller, President of Cheshire Grange
Best Change For The Grange? With the arrival of Covid-19 some three years ago, our Grange meetings and activities ground to a halt. We were able to come up with the ability to meet virtually with the ZOOM format for which several of our Granges got on board. It kept the membership in touch despite the country wide shut down. To- day, concerns still exist as to Covid-19 and some Granges are still meeting virtually and keeping involved. The reorganization of our Pomona Granges several years ago was a positive move as several Pomona Granges were struggling.
The Worst Changes For The Grange? To me in recent years, I have seen our ritualism declining in our meetings, being replaced by a welcoming ceremony of sorts rather than doing the first four degrees. It looks like this trend will continue. In light of this I would like to see the Granges under- taking a ritual program during the year maybe exemplifying the subordinate degrees. A lot of our newer members in recent years have not witnessed our degree work. We don’t want to see our ritualism fall to the wayside. Unfortunately, we have seen several Granges closing which hurts, although positive efforts to reorganize them are under- way with much success
Changes To Benefit Local Granges? Many of our Connecticut Granges still have their halls and have been holding events that get the public on their premises with fairs and other community events. This makes people aware that there are goings-on at these halls rather than just a few cars in the lot on meeting nights. Where possible, we need to make hour halls inviting and offer them to the community for a candidate forum and for any and all occasions. People are looking for a meeting place that might be available for their use. While still a bit difficult, rekindling visitations to our Granges has always been well received before Covid. Again, anything we can do to educate the public and get them into our halls is a big plus.
What Parts Of The Grange Should Never Change? As previously mentioned, we need to be aware of the founding of our fraternal organization and its accompanying ritualism. It can be a bit of a challenge with the changes in our current society, with people who join organizations want to become members without any formalities. In time, we may have to encounter additional changes in that area, but we should never forget the precepts of our order to keep the Grange moving forward.
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