A Southside Grange?
A Southside Grange?
I recently met with local and state officers from the Washington State Grange. These remarkably grass-rooted, family-oriented organizations can be formed with as few as 13 members. At least f
I recently met with local and state officers from the Washington State Grange. These remarkably grass-rooted, family-oriented organizations can be formed with as few as 13 members. At least four must be women. There's a bit of paperwork and $40 annual dues to pay, but then you can open a bank account, accept tax deductible contributions, get access to legal services, buy land, build grange halls and develop community programs. Granges have a long history of community involvement and even enjoy a statutory exemption from the prohibition on non-profit organizations' political lobbying.
Down at the Rose Garden in Fairhaven Park, the City is about to dispose of a beautiful old house, originally commissioned by the Larrabee family and designed by the renowned Olmstead Brothers of Central Park fame. The building is scheduled to be moved. Nobody yet knows where it will go, but bids are now being accepted. Not that the present location isn't a perfectly good place for a grange hall, but if it has to be moved, wouldn't it be nice to keep it in public service?
Meanwhile, over in Happy Valley, the 40 year old Bellingham Cooperative School is rallying against a plan by the Kulshan Land Trust to develop housing on their schoolyard. Kulshan is working with a little known non-profit, Taecan Inc., to strip the venerable "Country School in the City" of the 2 acre site they have occupied since the early eighties. Kulshan asserts they will try to accommodate the school, but the prospect of 14 to 18 affordable units on the site conjures a considerably less viable image of a "Country School in the Parking Lot". Even though the School bought and paid for the land with student tuitions and parent contributions, the property was somehow sheltered under Taecan's non-profit shell. Taecan now wants to sell. The School, after more than twenty years at this location must scramble to meet today's market price for the land. That means raising a lot of money and developing programs that will help pay for it.
What if the Rose Garden building could be moved to the School's land? Happy Valley has long used the School (at no charge) as a meeting place and outdoor event venue. A grange hall could become a de facto community center, helping preserve the land and sustaining the School. The school functions well for small meetings, but it is somewhat cramped and the chairs are very small! Wouldn't it be great to have a full scale kitchen and meeting hall capable of of hosting pancake breakfasts, theatrical productions, fund raisers and the like? Wouldn't it be great to finally secure the foundation of an enterprise that has provided valuable educational services to the community for over forty years?
If Kulshan Land Trust and the most curious Taecan Inc. cannot see the advantages and apply their resources to this type of common good, then perhaps the community could use the framework and national organization of a grange to do the job.
Of course it is a harebrained, last minute scheme. Time is short and money is scarce. But it would only take a few good contributions to make a realistic bid at keeping a historic, landmark structure and a forty year old school serving this community in perpetuity. In combination, the grange and the School could synergize a remarkable contribution to the neighborhood and the community at large. Sometimes wild ideas are the best ideas.
So if you, or someone you know wants to make a substantial philanthropic contribution to a doubly worthy effort, please let me know! Soon!
Down at the Rose Garden in Fairhaven Park, the City is about to dispose of a beautiful old house, originally commissioned by the Larrabee family and designed by the renowned Olmstead Brothers of Central Park fame. The building is scheduled to be moved. Nobody yet knows where it will go, but bids are now being accepted. Not that the present location isn't a perfectly good place for a grange hall, but if it has to be moved, wouldn't it be nice to keep it in public service?
Meanwhile, over in Happy Valley, the 40 year old Bellingham Cooperative School is rallying against a plan by the Kulshan Land Trust to develop housing on their schoolyard. Kulshan is working with a little known non-profit, Taecan Inc., to strip the venerable "Country School in the City" of the 2 acre site they have occupied since the early eighties. Kulshan asserts they will try to accommodate the school, but the prospect of 14 to 18 affordable units on the site conjures a considerably less viable image of a "Country School in the Parking Lot". Even though the School bought and paid for the land with student tuitions and parent contributions, the property was somehow sheltered under Taecan's non-profit shell. Taecan now wants to sell. The School, after more than twenty years at this location must scramble to meet today's market price for the land. That means raising a lot of money and developing programs that will help pay for it.
What if the Rose Garden building could be moved to the School's land? Happy Valley has long used the School (at no charge) as a meeting place and outdoor event venue. A grange hall could become a de facto community center, helping preserve the land and sustaining the School. The school functions well for small meetings, but it is somewhat cramped and the chairs are very small! Wouldn't it be great to have a full scale kitchen and meeting hall capable of of hosting pancake breakfasts, theatrical productions, fund raisers and the like? Wouldn't it be great to finally secure the foundation of an enterprise that has provided valuable educational services to the community for over forty years?
If Kulshan Land Trust and the most curious Taecan Inc. cannot see the advantages and apply their resources to this type of common good, then perhaps the community could use the framework and national organization of a grange to do the job.
Of course it is a harebrained, last minute scheme. Time is short and money is scarce. But it would only take a few good contributions to make a realistic bid at keeping a historic, landmark structure and a forty year old school serving this community in perpetuity. In combination, the grange and the School could synergize a remarkable contribution to the neighborhood and the community at large. Sometimes wild ideas are the best ideas.
So if you, or someone you know wants to make a substantial philanthropic contribution to a doubly worthy effort, please let me know! Soon!
