January 14, 2021 Meeting Minutes

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President Joan Smith called the Zoom meeting to order at 12:05 EST. Also participating were Flora Stephanie Wilkins, Secretary Richard Weiss, and National Grange Legislative Affairs Director Burton Eller.

MID ATLANTIC GRAGE LEADERS’S CONFERENCE

  • The conference will be held via Zoom Friday, March 19 from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. and Saturday, March 20 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with the option to as late as 9:00 p.m.
  • Burton suggested that a possible speaker for Friday might be Nona Bear, a healthcare policy expert who has worked with the Grange. There was agreement that healthcare would be a topic of interest to the conference participants, which include Youth and Juniors.  Burton suggested a half-hour for Nona to speak followed by up to a half-hour for questions.  He will check out Nona’s availability.
  • The Saturday agenda will be as follows: 9:00 to 10:00 a.m.-Junior activities, 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.-Youth activities, 11:00 a.m. to Noon-Leadership/Membership, Lunch from Noon to 1:00 p.m., 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.- crafts (when registering, each participant will purchase a $5.00 to $10.00 packet containing craft materials as well as snacks. The packet will be sent to them ahead of time.), 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.-Advocacy, Lecturer, Community Service, Benefits and Grange Foundation, 4:00 p.m.-wrap-up.

Joan stressed the importance of getting the registration forms out ASAP. She will work with Jessie Cope on this and then Stephanie will target email it to members of the participating states which are Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, and Potomac Grange.

OTHER BUSINESS

  • It was agreed to pay at this time the $300.00 annual dues to National Agriculture in the Classroom and our 4th quarter 2020 dues to National Grange.
  • It was decided not to increase Potomac Grange dues in 2021 and Dick Weiss will go ahead and get the 2021 notices out.
  • Burton informed us that he will have four interns this coming semester. One assignment will be working with interns from RetireSafe on a joint grant project.

Next meeting is February 10 at 12 Noon.  There was no further business and the meeting adjourned at 12:55 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

Richard Weiss
Secretary, Potomac Grange #1