Our Wicwas Lake Grange is back on its feet and thriving

To the editor,

"Established in 1867, the National Grange, a non partisan, non profit fraternal organization is the oldest agricultural and rural community service organization. With more than 2,100 local chapters, the Grange has evolved into the leading rural advocacy organization and a major benefactor to local communities. There are more than 160,000 members across the United States." This quote was taken from the prolog.org web site. It is from an article regarding the National Grange joining with 40 other agricultural organizations in a rally over the 2012 Farm Bill.

I used this quote to give those who might think the Grange is not a proper place for political discussion, as a recent Democratic candidate espoused, a heads up as to what the Grange means to our local community.

Wicwas Lake Grange was a dying organization two years ago and then a strange thing happened. A small group of people from Meredith Center, Laconia and the surrounding area got together to revitalize this "rural community service organization." With the help of some out of town Grange leaders and a few local businesses we were able to bring back what was a less than thriving community asset to a revitalized, vibrant, and active organization.

This past Saturday night we held our third County Crossroads event and fund raiser, which included a barbecue cook out, social event, and four band extravaganza music festival. Among the guests were state representatives, a state senator, and a candidate for office of the governor.

We are a growing group and the past two years there have been an enormous effort on all the members to grow the membership, refurbish, repair and revitalize an old building and a small community. It has been an inspiring time for a lot of us and looking back over the past two years and seeing how far we have come is a credit testament to families of the Badger, Barker, Berry, Boulanger, Clark, Durand, Edney, Fabian, Fallon, Kiesel, Gouin, Greenleaf, Greemore, Huckins, James, Joslin, Kelly, Ladd, Lafond, LaGarde, Lowe, Lowry, Mouse, Paquin, Perkins, Phelps, Ramsay, Ruel, Russell, Schwarz, Tetreault, Weeks, Witcher, Worsman.

This is a community, this is what America has been and will continue to be all about. These are the kinds of people who will give of themselves when they see a need, these are the people who say what can I do to help. Our goal is no different than any other organization. We get together because it is our community and we strive to make things better for our friends, our neighbors, and our families. Our goal this year was to be the largest Grange in the state. What reason would we have except to say your all welcome, come and join our little Wicwas Lake Grange in Meredith Center the second Monday of every month at 7 p.m.!

Rep. Bob Greemore

Meredith