A plaque installed in the sidewalk reads:
WESTMINSTER GRANGE
What do farmers, housewives, statesmen and nurses have in common? They've all belonged to the Westminster Grange. Founded in 1910 as an agricultural organization, the Westminster Grange soon became the center of social and civic life in Westminster. The hall was constructed in 1913 for $1,200 and became home to meetings, dances, potluck dinners and talent contests - as well as the City's polling place for elections.
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"Located in a city of 100,000 people between Denver and Boulder, Colorado, Westminster Grange thinks of itself as an urban Grange who partners with many other organizations. “They help us and we help them,” says Sharon Arnold, Program Chair. “Our whole focus is community service. We like to say that our work can bring the ‘community’ back to the city of Westminster.”
The list of community service projects is long. “We collect and distribute all kinds of donated items needed by various groups. We recycle items- cancelled stamps, eye glasses, nylon stockings, cell phones, ink cartridges, box tops for education, Campbell soup labels and Pepperidge Farm products proof of purchases,” says Sharon. “We tell people, ‘Don't throw out items without checking with the Westminster Grange!’ which usually means the stuff comes to me – which my husband just loves!”
”We collected 111 small stuffed animals that we sent to a young Granger who is serving in Iraq. He’s given them to Iraqi children. We made a thousand book bags and then collected books to fill them and distributed them to area children as part of the Right to Read Program. We continually collect non-perishable foods for our area’s food pantries, work with the Interfaith Hospitality Network Homeless Shelter, and make gift sacks for children and furnishing food when it’s needed. We support the Just Say No Drug Awareness Program.”
“We sponsored a Hometown Christmas Celebration in conjunction with the Westminster Historical Society, and the Boy Scout Troop we sponsor decorated our hall which is really nice for our Old Time Community Dances that are held each month. And the list goes on! We hosted a 55 Alive Drivers Education Class, serve as a Have a Heart Distribution Center, give to a Zimbabwe Mission Project, participate in a Get Out and Vote effort. And all these things we do with other organizations. We help them and they help us.”
“We take part in the Souper Bowl of Caring Project which was started by a small church. We do that by sponsoring a Bunco party. If you’ve never played Bunco, you really need to learn it. It’s a game that children of 3 can play and people who are 90 enjoy it too. It’s just wonderful. You need to play Bunco!” says Sharon.
“So you can see that everything we do is community service. We like to say that we’re bringing the focus back to service and bringing the community back to Westminster.”
“Another strong point in our Grange is our participation in State and National Grange programs and projects. We’ve had great attendance and representation at State and National Conventions, Pomona meetings, conferences, and programs hosted by neighboring Granges. We also participate in State Grange Legislative workshops and a Legislative Coffee, and write grassroots resolutions.”
“Westminster Grange was organized in 1910, actually one year before the city of Westminster was incorporated,” says Bob Arnold. It’s always been a place for the community to meet. One of the members of the Old Time Dance Band – we have live music at all our dances – is an Assistant City Attorney. She’s worked with us to get grants from the State Historical Society. We got a grant for $101,000 to restore the outside of the hall to what it would have looked like originally. The city has worked with us to make the street outside the hall look beautiful. They’ve also purchased an Arts and Culture Center building. We’re going to put up a building between that and our Grange Hall to serve as our dining room area so we don’t have so many tables and chairs on our wood floor. There’s a bronze plaque on the front of our Hall that says our motto, ‘People, Pride, Progress – Serving the Community Since 1910, Westminster Grange.’”
The historical marker in front of the Westminster Grange reads, “What do farmers, housewives, statesmen and nurses have in common? They've all belonged to the Westminster Grange. Founded in 1910 as an agricultural organization, the Westminster Grange soon became the center of social and civic life in Westminster. The hall was constructed in 1913 for $1,200 and became home to meetings, dances, potluck dinners and talent contests - as well as the city's polling place for elections." This is the first of 24 historical markers to honor significant people, places, and things in Westminster’s history.
“We’re working on a second historical grant for the inside of the hall. We want everything to look clean and brand new, but with a vintage and historical feel to it. The city has already donated $50,000 to help restore the building. They really have been very supportive,” says Bob.
“One activity we’ve done that got a lot of young people involved is to have pet shows and parades out in front of our Grange Hall. We get a lot of kids and families involved – all potential members. Everyone likes to show off their pets! We get cooperation from groomers to do the judging,” says Bob.
“And we tend to go for the ‘empty-nesters’ to bring in as members. They’re young enough to be active and they often bring their families and grandkids into Grange along with themselves.”
“Certainly Westminster Grange has a lot of visibility. People – and especially people in the legislature – know about us,” says Ben Metzler, Master. “We offer scholarships through the Grange Insurance Group. Several of our Grangers have received scholarships.”
“One thing I wonder about sometimes is that because we partner so much with other organizations, people can get the benefit of Grange without becoming members. Seems like we ought to work that so more people would actually join,” adds Ben.
“The neatest thing is that we have such good people who have such good ideas,” says Sue Metzler, Women’s Activity Chair. “We make baby quilts that are given to an organization wherever our State Grange session is held in a particular year, and then they are given to needy families. We get such wonderful thank you notes from these families. Everybody likes a homemade quilt. We make bibs for a nursing home using a bath towel. We make donations to Ag in the Classroom and participate in the Dictionary Project.”
Sharon agrees and is quick to point out that Ben and Sue Metzler were honored as Outstanding Grangers at the 2005 Colorado State Grange Session. “We do a lot of volunteer work for nursing homes. Remember, never throw anything away. Bring it to Westminster Grange!”
“We’re very active in Deaf Activities programs,” adds Sue. “Oh yes,” agrees Sharon. We hold fundraisers and participate in the Mandy Project which makes donations to families who have children with hearing impairments. National Grange supported the Mandy Project and we still do in Colorado. It’s a wonderful program and helps people so much – and we get wonderful publicity from it. We currently work with SHHH (Self Help for Hard of Hearing), International Hearing Dogs, and the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind.”
“We also have a wonderful program here in Colorado called PICK which stands for People Improving Community and Kids. It was started under Roger Phelps when he was our State Master, and I just think it describes exactly what Grange is about. It was set up as a 501C-3 organization so it can obtain grants to support our state programs. We’ve been able to contribute to the emergency relief funds, donated for hurricane relief, the One Good Cow Program, and a lot more.”
Sharon admits that Westminster Grange has not done a specific membership drive. “That’s something Ben keeps after us about. We did pay dues for some people for a year and got some members in through that. All our meetings are open, but we need to entice some of the people we partner with to become members. I’ve told Ben that we’ll work to do better at that this year.”
In the meantime, Sharon reminds us that “You’ve just got to learn Bunco!” You can get more information about Westminster Grange and Bunco from Sharon at sarnold41@juno.com or by calling 303-428-1835."