153rd State Grange Session

From October 16th-19th members Hannah Burke, Beth Southworth, and Amy Burke attended the 153rd PA State Session. Hannah Burke and Beth Southworth had the additional honor of being delegates which gave them the opportunity to vote on resolutions to strengthen agriculture across Pennsylvania and the PA Grange. Hannah was nominated by Beth for the Executive Committee and gave a speech on the drop of a dime. Unfortunately she didn't end up on the committee but we have our fingers crossed for next time.

Amy and Hannah had the chance to receive their 5th degree alongside the Penn State Dean of the College of Agriculture Troy Ott. The session was visited by special guest Neeli Bendapudi, the president of Penn State, and the National Grange president, Christine Hemp. Before the conference Hannah wrote a resolution for Nutriscore, which is a front-of-the-package 5-letter color/number label to convey the nutritional value of a food product in a very easy-to-understand and quick way. We are pleased to say that it passed at state session but unfortunately it didn't pass a few weeks later at the national session. She's already working on ways to improve the resolution for next year though.

Hannah won first place for her working farm photo and short story. She placed second for the poem and written piece of Why the Grange is Needed. She earned fourth place for her egg carton craft, water photo, and bird photo. Beth placed first for her quilt and some of her photos. Torie placed first for her artwork.

It was a great weekend spent talking about the need to support, advocate, and raise awareness for agriculture issues across Pennsylvania. There was a lot of conversation about how to overcome and address the struggles and challenges that agriculture faces. We are excited for the future of agriculture and to see it grow with the new partnership between Penn State and the PA Grange. Stay tuned for all of the new ideas that we have for Jefferson Grange #1384.