Grange Notes by Tim Swartz for December 17, 2017
Lots of people chipped in time as well as food and $$–planning and executing this doesn’t happen by magic. I hope I don’t leave out anybody when I list: Alison Forrest, Merry Shernock, Carla Kevorkian and the Afro-Caribbean dance class. Anonymous donors–you know who you are, and how much your contributions are valued.
4:00 to 6:30 PM
Or put another way, forget the last minute rushing around, the pressures of the holiday, come and relax with friends and community singing–Christmas favorites. Bring your guitar, your flute–your friends! If you are able, bring some cookies or treats to share. We have a piano!
You get the message–we really want you to come and sing with us!
We’ll have song leaders, Grange songbooks and some lyric sheets to share, and other people who love to sing.
Updating our offices
Alert readers will have noticed that with this edition, the Grange Notes are being sent from me as the President of the Grange. From now on, that is the name for the office. At our Dec. 2 meeting, all of us voted together to update the titles of our executive positions–from Master to President, and from Overseer to Vice President.
In the last set of Notes, I told about my reasons for making this change, in recognition of the connotations of the older names in relation to African-Americans. We are joining the practice of the National Grange and many other Community Granges, especially in Southern states.
As we improve the words we use to name our offices, we recognize the impact that words can have on people, and we look forward to continuing to improve our communications and relations with the diverse public which takes part in our community organization.
After passage by the State Grange, this resolution was sent on to the National Grange meeting in November, in Washington State. Unfortunately, the resolution was mis-identified as dealing with seasonal immigrants, legal status for which is already a policy of the National Grange. The committee there tabled the resolution and did not even bring it up for a vote.
Our intent was clear, to expand legal protection and a path to permanent residency for year-round immigrants–and we will revise and resubmit it next year!
Grange Friends and community members give a great start to fundraising for the next big project!
The last “Grange Notes” described the agreement between the Grange and the Friends of the CC Grange Hall to pursue the “Mess Hall to Dining Hall” project. The FCCGH has begun the next phase of fundraising, to collect the funds we will need to match the grant for which we are applying. Mailed appeals have been sent to people who have donated in the past, and the results have been impressive!
As of today, almost $4,000 has come in, by checks or by direct donation via Paypal on the Grange website. This gets us well on our way to the $20,000 or $25,000 we need to raise–can you help us get to the next milestone? Make your check payable to “FCCGH” and send it to:
FCCGH
PO Box 192
Northfield Falls VT 05664
Or you can give securely via the CCG website: https://capitalcitygrange.org/
And your donations to the FCCGH are tax-deductible for you (to the extent allowed by law) since the Friends are a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization. The Donate page lists the wonderful projects which have been completed with their help since 2012. Also on the website, the “Hall Projects” page has information on the scope and plans for the proejct.
We give great thanks to those who have already donated, and we’ll feel equally grateful for all the donations we will need to complete it.