By Mike Donahue
Moapa Valley Progress
The public is invited to a meeting scheduled at the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension office, 1897 N. Moapa Valley Blvd., Thursday Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. to explore the possibility of starting a National Grange chapter in Moapa Valley.
The Grange is a grassroots agricultural service organization formed after the Civil War in an effort to improve the economic and social position of the nation’s farm population, according to Randy Lewis, a Grange organizer from California who will conduct the upcoming meeting.
“Our goal is to build six Granges (chapters) in Southern Nevada including one in Moapa Valley,” Lewis said. Six community Granges are the required in order to form a state chapter.
“The National Grange currently has more than 200,000 members from 2,700 communities in 38 states,” Lewis said. “All Grange activities are directed toward developing leadership, improve community life and expand opportunities for everyone.”
Lewis said the Grange differs from other service organizations because members often lobby for political policy issues.
“Each year the Grange makes a listing of some 1,400 ‘issues of concern’ based on input from the grassroots chapters that is published and distributed by the National Grange,” he said.
The National Grange website reports current issues the organization is concerned with include United Nations climate control, food safety protection, preservation of farmland, rural highways and infrastructure, rural schools partnerships and rural Medicare reform,
While the National Grange focuses issues of a national concern, local chapters are more concerned with local problems and solutions.
“Every community has some challenges,” Lewis said, “and the Grange is the best vehicle to meet those challenges.”
Although the Grange was originally strictly a rural organization, it has since evolved to include non-farm families and communities.
The National Grange was the first organization to admit women into its membership, Lewis said, and there are several programs which focus primarily on today’s youth and their problems.
