Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) December 16, 2024
Learn how to pound a dummy’s chest–in a good way!
Have you ever wondered what you would do if someone had a heart attack in front of you? Here’s a chance to respond in the right way–in fact 2 chances at the Grange!- Thursday, Dec. 19, noon to 1 PM: FREE training on how to do “Hands-Only CPR”, as well as training on how to use an Automated External Defibrillator (AED), like the one that the Grange has!
- Saturday, Feb. 1, 5:00 to 6:00 PM: we’ll have the same FREE training again! Come whichever time suits your schedule.
What is “Hands-Only” CPR? It’s a way to get both a heart-beat and a breathing going, without needing to breath into the mouth of the patient, if someone has a heart attack or other medical emergency. It’s the well-tested, proven way to keep someone alive until 911 responders can arrive. It’s also a necessary part of using an AED to help a heart resume a normal rhythm.
What is an AED? It’s a light-weight, portable device that can check the electrical signals from a person’s heart, and can detect when a shock is needed. It will use voice prompts to tell you how to do CPR, and when a shock is needed–and what to do after that. Anyone can use an AED, even without training–but getting instruction in CPR and AED use can greatly increase your level of confidence.
A person’s chance of surviving a heart attack drops by 7 to 10% every minute that a normal heartbeat is not restored, so knowing what to do, and getting started is vital. We hope you will be able to join us for either of these training sessions!
Note: there is no charge for these sessions, but contributions to the American Heart Association, which is providing them, are welcome, at the training or any other time!
Gleaning–then and now
Many of you may may recognize the picture to the left: “The Gleaners”, by Jean-Francoise Millet. This picture, completed in 1857, which shows 3 women picking up grains of wheat after a field has been harvested, certainly testifies to the fact that for centuries people have been needed to retrieve left-over food after a commercial harvest is completed. In our local area of Vermont–very locally, in fact–there is a wonderful gleaning organization: Community Harvest of Central VT. For our bi-monthly “Community Program” on Dec. 7, our Lecturer (Patty Giavara) asked the founder and Executive Director of CHCV, Allison Levin to tell us about it.
Allison, who lives just a bit south of the Grange Hall, is no stranger here–she’s been part of the contra dance community for years, met her husband at the dances, and now has an enthusiastic dancer in their younger son. Allison told us how she grew up on an organic vegetable farm, and routinely saw the produce that didn’t get sold at the Farmers Market get consumed by farm animals–certainly not going to waste. Back in 2013, volunteering at the Montpelier Food Shelf, she saw the need and desire of the “shoppers” there for fresh produce. At the same time, she could see un-harvested cabbages and other perfectly good vegetables still sitting in farmers’ fields. She arranged to pick up the cabbages–and found that there were so many of them–about 4,400 pounds–that the food shelf could not store or handle them all. This led to her researching how to effectively organize and distribute gleaned produce, and within a year, to her starting Community Harvest.
In the last 11 years, she and the corps of volunteers she has recruited have grown CHCV to be a much larger and more effective organization. Starting with just Allison’s station wagon, and a pallet’s worth of space in a farm building, her group now has a good-sized transit van, plus renting most of a building built for them on the Rogers Farmstead on Rowell Hill Rd. (just off Rt. 12, 1/2 mile from the Grange). The building has 3 walk-in coolers and heated space for processing and cleaning vegetables throughout the year. She has about 1,000 people signed up as potential gleaning volunteers, and used over 330 in 2023. They can gather and distribute close to 100,000 pounds of produce in a year, working with up to 41 partner organizations to distribute this bounty to people who really need it.
Reducing food waste and instead getting it to people who can use it are two of three major parts of the mission of CHCV. The third is edu
cation–teaching people about how much food is wasted (about 14.3 million pounds in Vermont per year), how it can be used for delicious meals–and teaching kids about all of these facts. School groups come and help glean, use the foods to make meals, and learn about not wasting food.
There are all sorts of opportunities for people who want to help out, from in-the-fields gleaning, to cleaning and storing food, to doing clerical work to keep track of it all. One volunteer ripens green tomatoes in her home, so they can be distributed well into the winter! To learn more about all of these matters, and to volunteer, as well as to see pictures of their work, including volunteers like those in the photo to the left, check out their website: communityharvestvt.org.
Singing in the season at the Grange Hall
We had about 20 people join us to sing holiday songs on Sunday afternoon, Dec.1. Many thanks are due to Matt and Katherine Nunnelly
: Katherine brought a great variety of crafts so that kids who didn’t want to sing all the time could have something to do. She staffed the table along with their son Jacob. The song leading was done by Matt, while he played piano accompaniment. Matt and Kat both wore their Santa hats; Jacob had reindeer antlers! We had lyrics for 39 different songs which we projected onto the big screen; the audience came up with a few more to sing as well–which we’ll be adding to our collection for next year. Watch for the notice for next year’s event!
Another chance to support the Friends and the Grange Hall!
Some of the readers of this edition of the Grange Notes have probably already received a letter (or an email) from the Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall, asking for financial support for the continuing improvement of our beloved Hall. The FCCGH sends out an end-of-the-year appeal for contributions every year–like many other charitable causes.
This year, the Friends are seeking more funding to get us closer to a big goal: installing ventilation systems for both floors of the Grange Hall to bring in filtered, outdoor air through a heat exchanger air handler to improve air quality inside–all year ’round. We will also be installing improved and quieter filtration systems for both floors. This is a large goal, which we plan to achieve in stages. And, as usual, the money you donate will be used to match grants, to double the impact of your donation.
To make a donation of any size online, please click to go to the Donate page on the Grange website, where you’ll find a button to donate via PayPal or credit card! Any donation, large or small will make a difference, and will be greatly appreciated. This is how we’ve made many major repairs and improvements in the Hall–you’ll find a list on the Donate page! Together, we can do it.