Friday Harbor Grange Wins Community Service Award

Congratulations FH Grange! Minnie Knych shares this note from Tom Gwin, Washington State Grange Master…

Reorganized in 2012 after a span of 91 years, Friday Harbor Grange #225 was selected as the overall first place winners in the 2015 Washington State Grange Community Service Contest. The small Grange of 15 members is located in the town of Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.

Each year, the members of Friday Harbor Grange take responsibility for organizing the Community Thanksgiving Dinner on San Juan Island. Turkeys are donated by a local business, and Grange members prepare the turkeys and send them home with community volunteers to cook on Thanksgiving morning along with traditional fixings. Grange members and volunteers spend the entire day working the dinner, cooking, cleaning, and serving almost 500 community members.

Friday Harbor Grange also had a variety of smaller projects that contributed to their winning entry. Grange members gave away 425 flowering currant shrubs to island residents for Arbor Day. In cooperation with the San Juan Island Historical Museum, they sponsored the second annual San Juan Island Pioneer Festival. Grange members built eight picnic tables for the San Juan Island Historical Museum picnic grounds. Numerous other service projects were reported as well.

For their efforts, Friday Harbor Grange will be official representative in the National Grange Community Service Contest. The other overall contest place winners were:

• Second Place – Deer Lagoon Grange of Island County
• Third Place – Sunnyside Grange of Cowlitz County
• Fourth Place – Humptulips Grange of Grays Harbor County.

Each of the four overall place winners received a cash award from the National Grange.

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