Alaska Trip

I had three great meetings in Alaska last week. Gaye Hunt, State Master, did a great job of setting things up and contributed to each meeting.

The first meeting on Monday evening was in Palmer with Northland Pioneer and Greater Anchorage Granges. We had a good turn out and the discussion focused on what could be done to revitalize their Granges as well as where new Granges could be started.

A lot of good questions were asked and the group decided that they wanted a Grange Growth Summit to be held next March. They suggested three locations for possible new Granges and talked about what needed to be done to get ready for next March.

On Tuesday I got some work done and that afternoon Rusty and I headed down to Kenai. On Wednesday morning, we had the opportunity to go out salmon fishing on the Kenai river with guide David Wilson (208.659.3483 or letsfish05@yahoo.com). This four-hour fishing trip was arranged by a member of Slikok Creek Grange. First time fishing in Alaska and caught my first Silver.

The next meeting was in Kenai on Wednesday evening with Slikok Creek Grange. Don and Alice McKee from Fairbanks came down for the two meetings on Wednesday and Thursday. This meeting was spent discussing how to get things moving in the Grange. The group, once again, asked a lot of questions. The results were positive with the members deciding to have a pancake breakfast in November as their next project.

Thursday evening's meeting was in Homer. In addition to the McKees, Steve (Master) and Linda Albers from Slikok Creek were present. We started the meeting with the presentation of the Charter. Then a presentation on several Grange issues were made by Rusty and myself. Two possible large projects were presented and the members discussed both. Both projects were adopted by the new Grange and the meeting ended with a group photo.

This trip was one of the best I've had to Alaska in positive attitude, action being started, and so many members that I hadn't met before. Picture is of the Homer members, their new charter, Rusty and I.