Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Open officer positions have led Garfield's Ladow Grange to consider how to remedy the situation.
The lack of leaders and participants may affect the future of the 1931 organization.
“Like most organizations, members have become inactive,” said James Woomack, secretary/treasurer. “Come September, all of the offices are to be open, and right now I've got no one to take them.”
The grange meets on the third Thursday of each month at 6 p.m. at the Garfield American Legion hall.
A total of 48 people count as Ladow Grange members – residents of Garfield; Farmington; Tekoa; Oakesdale; Palouse; Pullman; Spangle; Tensed, Idaho, and even Lewiston. Grange members are not required to attend their local grange.
“I don't have members showing up at meetings,” Woomack said, noting an average attendance of three to four people.
At present, four people serve in Ladow's six needed office positions. In September, Master Penny Martinez will not be running for re-election. Also, Woomack will need to drop either his secretary position or treasurer, as Grange rules require the jobs to not be held by members of the same family.
“They're supposed to be a check and balance on each other,” Woomack said.
The original purpose of the grange is to represent the interests of farmers and ranchers.
Other officers include Kaye Woomack – James' wife – as overseer and Chaplain Nancy Hathaway.
Unfilled positions are lecturer and assistant steward.
“They should be going out to the schools to explain what we're doing,” Woomack said of the lecturer post.
The Grange sponsors the Garfield food pantry, which distributes food once per month from the Legion hall. Woomack picks up the food from Second Harvest of Spokane and Whitman County Council on Aging, based in Colfax.
On distribution days, various Grange members help set up the food, including students from WSU's Center for Civic Engagement.
“Come summer we're not going to have them,” said Woomack.
The Grange is supported by members' annual dues of $41 per year. A month-long annual flower sale stopped two years ago.
“Financially, we're in the black,” Woomack said.
The minimum officers required by the Washington State Grange office in Olympia is to have a president or master, an overseer or vice president, a secretary and a treasurer.
The Ladow Grange may decide how to proceed or whether to seek help from the state office, in the event of an extended lack of officers.
“We try to let the granges make it on their own,” said Tom Gwin, master for the Washington State Grange. “If they continue to not have enough. ... we have to look at what options we have, whether that's revitalizing, reorganizing or closure.”
Last year, a struggling grange in Centralia, the Fords' Prairie Grange, called for help and the state Grange sent down its membership director who helped put together a membership drive, add activities and advertised. In a year's time, membership had increased 40 percent and meetings were consistently reaching quorum.
In Garfield, on April 12, Woomack and Martinez spoke at the Garfield Town Council meeting April 12 to spread the word of their situation.
“If we don't have officers, we can't continue,” Woomack said. “If nobody's going to show up, there isn't gonna be a grange.”
Many of the 250 granges in Washington today branch out for added causes.
“It's more of a community service, family activities type of organization around the state,” Gwin said.
Since Ladow Grange was founded, several chapters have consolidated into it over time.
Its next meeting is May 18.
“I think most people are not aware it exists or what it is,” Woomack said.
Interested people are asked to call Woomack at 509-287-2001.
“Membership is not the problem,” he said. “Getting involved is the problem.”
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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