GREENVILLE — Stelvideo Junior Grange has been busy this past year. October 2022 at their Ohio State Convention, they had 11 of their 13 Stelvideo Junior Grangers attend the convention.

Joey Clopp gave up his reign of being Ohio State Junior Prince for 2021/2022. Stelvideo Juniors had three Juniors run for Little Miss and Mister and they had two Juniors run for Junior Prince. Each contestant had to write a resume and participate in an interview. Stelvideo Grange and Stelvideo Junior Grange are very proud to announce that Keria Emrick won Ohio State Little Miss Junior Princess and Alex Clopp won Ohio State Little Mister Junior Prince.

The clubs are very proud of all who participated in the Junior Grange Prince and Princess Pageant. They were Calen Clopp, Owen Davis and Brandon Davis. They all did an amazing job.

In January 2023, they started their annual New Book Drive to collect books for Dayton Childrens. They had a “Paper Pie Book Party with a Purpose” and were able to not only collect books from the party, but also Arcanum and Bradford libraries donated books, authors donated copies of their books and they had individuals who donated new books. The Grange was able to collect 409 new books that were donated to Dayton Children’s. The books targed chldren ages six months to 25 years old. Stelvideo Junior Grangers delivered all the books to Dayton Children’s in March. They talked with Kelly Rhodehamel, director of Volunteer Resources at Children’s, about how these books get in the hands of the children in the hospital, for them to keep. This was the group’s fourth year of doing this Community Service Project. They have been able to donate 1,437 new books in four years. The Juniors get excited and love giving to other children who are in the hospital. When we left Children’s, they all went to Marion’s Pizza to celebrate everyone’s hard and fun work.

On March 18, the Juniors along with their parents, and with the Stelvideo Grange members had their Darke County Grange Banquet and Junior Awards. They celebrated and recognized all the hard work the Juniors did in 2021/2022 along with all their awards. State Junior Prince Bryson Nusbaum from Richland County and State Junior Princess Abigail Cox from Hocking County were present. State Little Mister Junior Prince Alex Clopp and State Little Miss Junior Princess Keria Emrick, both from Darke County, were present. They all did great in giving their speeches.

They talked about their favorite part of Junior Grange and what they are doing in their Junior Grange.

The clubs recently celebrated Grange Month in April and recognized the 150th anniversary of the Ohio State Grange, which was formed on April 9, 1873.

On April 4, Stelvideo Junior Grange along with Stelvideo Grange met with the mayor of Greenville for the signing of a proclamation declaring April as Grange Month.

During their April meeting, Stelvideo Juniors hosted Courtney Heindl, from French Lick, Ind. Courtney did a private baking class with the Juniors. She shareed with tricks and tips on how to make cookies. Heindle is a pastry chef and has worked at Ghyslains Chocolatier; she had a six-month internship in Italy and was the head pastry chef at West Baden Springs Hotel in West Baden, Ind. She gave up her prestigious job of being for a more prestigious and even more rewarding job in being a stay home mom with her two littles. Heindle has also started her own business, “The Small Town Baker.” Find her on Facebook.

The Junior Grange has a lot of fun things coming up this spring and summer. In May they will be collecting food and filling the Blessings Boxes in Arcanum and around the area. They will be busy doing crafts and other contests, like Art & Photography and Sewing & Baking. They have a fun day at Pine Lake, Ind. in June and then the Great Darke County Fair.

Please make sure you come see us in the Grange Hall Building on the Fairgrounds. On Sunday of the fair they will be having Royalty Day with all the Ohio State Royalty planning on coming to spend the day with them. Stop by and talk to the State Junior Royalty.

Stelvideo Grange #295

The community Grange is not as active as the Junior Grange. They are all proud of the Juniors and their parents and leaders, Susan Gunckle and Holly Clopp. They all do an amazing job. The Juniors have 13 members with a potential of three new members, of which would make for a total of 16 Stelvideo Junior Grangers.

Stelvideo Grange’s two biggest projects are to support the Juniors and their community service projects. This year, they participated with the Juniors to Adopt-A-Family. Each year they choose a family to help. Stelvideo along with the Juniors, take funds out of their Community Service Treasury and members and Juniors’ parents donate. They purchase gift cards for gas, groceries, and food. The last several years they have given $600 to $800 of Gift Cards to the family they adopted. This is for their Thanksgiving and Christmas community service.

They do a couple fundraisers to help with the community service projects. Stelvideo Grange sells fair tickets; when it’s time, get with Stelvideo Grange to buy your fair tickets. This year they will be taking orders for Winners Meat as a new fundraiser. If you are interested in helping raise money for community service, contact a Stelvideo Grange or Junior Grange member.

For more information about the clubs, contact Master Harvey Hinshaw, 937-621-4901 (call / text).