President Joan Smith called the meeting to order via telephone at approximately 12:15 P.M. EDT. Also on the line were Overseer Leroy Watson, Executive Committee member Cheri Watson, Secretary Richard Weiss and National Grange Program Director Loretta Washington. 

NEW BUSINESS

DC Experience Potomac

Grange provided $800.00 each for two Grange Youth to facilitate their participation in the National Grange DC Experience program. The funds helped cover air fare and incidentals. One participant was from Washington State, the other from Nevada. Each presented an essay on why they wanted to attend the event. Using her Ag in the Classroom materials, Joan did a cotton ginning project contest in which the participant getting the most seeds from a boll won an AMC movie ticket.

401K Program

At its 2019 convention the Nation Grange passed a resolution giving Granges authority to create 401K programs aimed at the ag community and associated small businesses. Leroy reviewed the program at the Masters’ Conference and is still gathering more input from the states. Masters’ Conference Both Leroy and Joan attended the Masters’ Conference near BWI airport in Maryland. They report that the staff workshops were very well done and appreciated by the participants. Joan pointed out that arranging the state breakout sessions by number of locals in a state resulted in topics and discussions that were very relevant.

Dictionary Project

Potomac Grange will again do the dictionary project. Joan and Jessie are looking at various dictionaries and identifying schools in each quadrant of the city.

YOUTH

Rachel Watson has finished her winter track program and is getting ready for the outdoor season. She runs hurdles and has recently taken up the pole vault.

There were no Grangers in need or distress and the meeting adjourned at 12:45.

Respectfully Submitted,

Richard Weiss, Secretary