Grange Master talks of past
PLAINS- The Master of the Plains Grange 101, Fred Cavill, spoke last week about the historic Grange that meets the first Tuesday of every month at its location on Lynch Street between Pierce and South Walnut Street.
The National Grange, founded in 1867, describes itself as; “…a nonprofit, nonpartisan, fraternal organization that advocates for rural America and agriculture. With a strong history in grassroots activism, family values and community service, the Grange is part of more than 2,100 hometowns across the United States.”
Cavill, who has been with the Grange for 48 years, described that the Grange in deeper detail said, “It was the first agricultural organization in the United States to be a kind of a like a farmers union they organized to gain monetary value as an organization for the people rather than the individuals and the and it was really strong up through World War 2.” He then explained that on the east and west coats the organization is really strong, but smaller in the interior states and that there is only 14 local Granges in Montana.
The Plains Grange 101 itself has special significance Cavill said as he walked through the hall of the grange’s meeting place.
“We were the first one chartered in the second go around back before statehood. Corvalis had a grange and there’s not any history of how that happened and it kind of died out, but we were the first one in Sanders County and the second grange to be chartered in Montana and we still have the original charter,” Cavill said.
Though the grange is still considered an organization focused on agriculture, Cavill says that the focus of the Plains Grange 101 has had to shift its attention to remain viable in the area due to changing times.
He said, “We used to be just an agriculture organization, and we still are, but we are strong in the community service, all of our members are associated with things like the Rebeccas or the Masons… We have made significant donations to the churches, and to the sports complex at the airport, CASA, which is a court appointed advocacy for children, and also to the Cancer Network of Sanders County.” Cavill then explained how the Plains Grange 101 works in partnership with the schools in the area to donate dictionaries to every third grade class and that they help donate to a school supplies general store for students.
According to the National Grange’s official website about page, http://www.nationalgrange.org/about-us/, children from ages four to fourteen can be in the Junior Grange. While in the Junior Grange, the National Grange states that, “Children involved with the Junior Grange program become more aware of their community and the world, agriculture, service and citizenship.” Cavill said that the Plains Grange 101 did not have any junior members.
“We do not have a Junior Grange here. We do in the state and we support those. They have a junior camp in the summertime and it seems like after World War 2 started losing young people. They thought milking cows and slopping pigs was too much work,” Cavill said jokingly, but at the same time with a sense of melancholy. He then said, “We have about 32 members right now. The sad thing is most of them have been grangers a long time and we need some youth, and we have sponsored some youth through scholarships at school and state, but for some reason not only the grange, other service organizations like the Masons and the Rebeccas, they’re having trouble getting young new membership too.”
Cavill feels a bit worried about the future of the Grange. He says the group is strong in membership right now, but wishes a younger generation would come in. On the wall in the Plains Grange 101 Hall there is a plaque with all of the Grange Masters. Cavill pointed out that through the decades of the Grange’s existence the same last names constantly reappear.