Meetings and beyond–special programs and special dances at the Grange

Greetings of the New Year!

I’ll get right to the point: It is time to join or renew your membership in CCG#469. All memberships run Jan-December. Membership costs$30/year; check or money order made payable to CCG#469. Send to CCG# 469, PO BOX 208, Northfield Falls, VT 05664. There are several reasons why you should do this:

FIRST GOOD REASON

Capital City Grange #469 was chartered by the National Patrons of Husbandry in 1914 in Montpelier. In 1952-53 the members built the Hall in Berlin and this is where so many of you find activities you enjoy. (You can check us out on the web:  capitalcitygrange.org)

As long as CCG#469 remains an “active” Grange, the members hold the deed and the Hall remains a community center open to and serving all kinds of folks.  But if CCG#469 should fold for lack of members, the Hall will be sold by the State Grange. It could become a funeral parlor or a restaurant and any one of an infinity of things that benefit from “Location! Location! Location!”

SECOND GOOD REASON

The Grange comes to us with a legacy of 19^th Century Rural Populism. Really! Between the Civil War and WWI, Grangers advocated for Women’s Suffrage, rural cooperatives and supported a host of progressive practices in farming and domestic arts and government regulation. Granges supported and assisted individual self-improvement and social responsibility. Ideal Grange virtues articulated even back then include frugal personal practices enabling each of us to do more for others. Eleanor Roosevelt was a member. So was Norman Rockwell.

THIRD GOOD REASON

The members of Capital City Grange #469 are striving at both the local and state levels to make these quaint verities relevant in the 21^st century. The ritual we use at meetings poetically articulates these values, but we regularly update it to remove sexist or racist or theist language. New songs are learned and sung. New issues are discussed.  Another example: the CCG proposed, and the State Grange adopted a resolution to support S1034, a bill in the US Congress that would provide a legal status for long-term agricultural workers, plus a path to citizenship for immigrant farm workers–check it out in more detail at:  https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/1034.

If you don’t see described here the good reason(s) you come to the CCGHALL, maybe you can let us know. Come tell us at the next meeting:4:30 pm, on next Saturday, Jan. 6th!  You can bring your dues check to the meeting!  Most meetings are on the first Saturday of the month at that time, and are followed by an excellent potluck dinner.

Check the Calendar on the website for details and, while you’re there, scroll to the bottom of the Home Page and sign up for GRANGE NOTESif you aren’t already on the list!

“Like” us on Facebook, too!  “Capital City Grange Hall”
This message brought to you by our Grange Treasurer, Merry Shernock