Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) December 1, 2022

Pete Sutherland – 1951 to 2022

Our friend Pete passed away yesterday, Nov. 30.   I found this picture among many others, with tributes and music shared by some of his many friends, on Pete’s Facebook page.  Pete touched so many lives in Vermont (and elsewhere).   Among the many groups and people he helped, the Grange is one.   He and various of his bands played at many dances, including fundraising events.  He brought joy at every event.   I won’t attempt to list all the ways he will be missed.    Seek out the memories, the songs and tunes and students he mentored, and you will find so much that he left us.

Grange meeting & Grange Program Saturday, and a Community Potluck as well!

The year of 2022 has flown by as usual, and we’re getting ready for our December meeting on Saturday, Dec. 3rd.  Please join us (in person or via Zoom) for a brief meeting from 4:30 to 5:00 PM, followed by a presentation on the state of organized labor in Vermont from 5:00 to 6:00.  You can find links for remote attendance on the Grange website Calendar for both:  www.capitalcitygrange.org/events (it is 2 separate links, FYI).
On even-numbered months, we have a shortened and informal Grange meeting, getting reports on where we stand financially as we head into real winter, with its increased costs for heating fuel, plowing and sanding, and the spate of holiday rentals.  We’ll also hear how many signatures have been collected, as we work to get on the Berlin Town Meeting ballot for next March, to get our property tax exemption renewed–for 5 years, we hope.
For our program, we’ll hear from Liz Medina of the VT Labor Council about what organized labor is up to in Vermont.   She has invited labor union members and organizers to join the discussion, and we hope they will!   The give-and-take of discussions is usually the most interesting part of the Programs our Grange Lecturer, Carl Etnier puts on.  Liz has also invited union folks to join us for the Community Potluck that will take place from 6:00 to 7:00, and to also come to the Montpelier Contra Dance that starts with a Newcomer’s/Refresher instruction session at 7:40.   I’m reproducing her impressive poster below:

 Liz will be bringing a couple of union banners to the Hall, plus some literature and perhaps buttons–so if you want to learn more about labor organizing in Vermont, or how to join a union, this is the place to come!   Her description of the presentation is:

Petition drive continues

A few stalwart Grange members have gone to visit friends and neighborhoods around the town of Berlin to collect signatures from Berlin voters.  We’d like to get the 150 or so signatures we’d like to have before the weather gets any colder, in plenty of time before the Jan. 12th deadline.    If you can get even a few, the Grange will really appreciate the help.
The petition wording is above; a PDF copy of the petition, complete with 20 signature lines is also available on the Grange website at this link:  Grange Petition for 2023.  You can download a copy by clicking on the link, and print your own.   If that doesn’t work, get in touch and I’ll be happy to print some for you:  swartztim15@gmail.com, or 802-225-8921.

FCCGH End-of-Year Appeal is underway!

Every year, the Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall ask for an end-of-year donation from folks who have contributed before, to support the improvement projects which the FCCGH undertakes to make our beloved Grange Hall more accessible, comfortable, attractive and cheaper/easier to run.   These projects also reduce our carbon footprint too!
If you can help the FCCGH to help the Grange Hall, we’ll use the money wisely!  To see the Fall Appeal letter, click here.  To see a list of all the major projects the FCCGH has helped to plan, fundraise for and project manage to improve the Grange Hall, see the Donate page on the Grange website! There, you will also see a convenient “Donate” button to give a donation using Paypal.
At this Thanksgiving time of year, we are especially grateful for all the support which the Grange receives, from members, Hall users, friends and granting agencies.  We are always humbled by the generosity of the donors who make it possible for us to keep this place running–and continually improve it!

More food news:  Just Food Hub gift baskets
At the Grange on Saturday!

Sue Morris of the Just Food Hub non-profit fundraising organization will be at the Grange for the meeting, program, potluck and dance on Saturday, Dec. 3rd. She will have a selection of the many gift baskets which they sell to benefit non-profit groups, including Capital City Grange!   Whether  you buy directly from Sue on Saturday, or order from the special link on the Just Food Hub website, a substantial percentage of the cost will be donated to our Grange.  Sue and her partners do not take any profit from this venture, preferring to support causes they care about.   You can see more gift-basket examples on their website:  https://justfoodhub.us/baskets/.  And they will custom-make special ones for you to give to…yourself!  family members!  your dental hygienist!  the mail carrier!   Anyone who would like Fair-Trade, small-producer treats and food products will be glad to get one.  And the Grange will be glad too!

Indian Food in Vermont Co-ops–from the kitchen of the Grange’s Indian Cooking Workshops teacher!

Those of you who were fortunate enough to attend one of the Indian Cooking classes at the Grange, in 2018 and 2019, may recognize Delna Khambatta in the picture above.  Delna was inspired by taking part in a bread-baking workshop put on by Grange member Alison Forrest.   She offered to put on a couple of Indian cooking classes for us, and they were very popular!
Since then, Delna has been continuing to cook, of course, and her most recent accomplishment is producing frozen Indian dinners, with her personal blend of spices and ingredient choices.   They are now available in 3 different Vermont co-ops:  Middlebury Food Co-op, Hunger Mountain Co-op in Montpelier and City Market in Burlington.  All her meals are plant-based/vegan and gluten-free.   Look for “Delna’s Kitchen” items, and check out her Delna’s Kitchen website.  It’s exciting to see someone whom we saw cooking delicious food with workshop participants reaching out to a wider audience!

Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) November 21, 2022

Grange meeting discusses petition drive

As I described in the last Grange Notes, sent out just before our Nov. 5th meeting, we did get the abatement of property taxes, that the Selectboard had decided we should pay for the current year.   Because of COVID, the last couple of in-person March Town Meetings have been canceled, so we’ve only been able to ask for 1 year extensions for the 2021 and 2022 tax years.
So:  We have strong hopes that the Berlin Town Meeting on March 7, 2023 will be in person, so that the Selectboard will allow us to ask for a 5 year full tax exemption.   To get that to happen, we now need to gather at least 106 signatures from Berlin voters, to get us on the ballot for the meeting scheduled for March 7, 2023.   We need to get them in to the Town Clerk’s office by January 12th, but since we’d rather be out walking around the neighborhoods before it gets too cold, we want to get started NOW.
Some good news already:  I have conferred with the Berlin Town Administrator, the Town Clerk and the Town Treasurer, to make sure that the wording is crystal clear, that we need a full exemption from property taxes.  The text in the picture below shows exactly what the wording will be:

As you can see, we are spelling out that we are asking for exemption from both parts of the property tax bill, the “Town” and “School” taxes.
A PDF copy of the petition, complete with 20 signature lines is also available on the Grange website at this link:  Grange Petition for 2023.  You can download a copy by clicking on the link, so you can print your own.   If that doesn’t work, get in touch and I’ll be happy to print some for you:  swartztim15@gmail.com, or 802-225-8921.
I can also tell you where other canvassers have already gone to knock on doors, so we can be efficient, and not bother people twice!   This is also a chance to remind Berlin folks that we do offer free use of the Grange Hall for Berlin residents and non-profit organizations (as long as it is not already rented for the time slot)!  I have Grange brochures, and Grange Rental brochures you can take along, if you’d like.
We need your help!  Please pitch in for this important project!  If you’re reading these Grange Notes, we know you are interested and supportive–this is a great chance to be a part of keeping the Grange financially healthy.
Update as of Nov. 21:   a few dedicated members, including Patty Giavara, Fran Mallery and yours truly have made a good start on getting signatures–you can join us!

More Grange meeting news:  getting a lift, and getting “historic”!

• Our Hall, which was built largely by members of the Grange and the International Order of Odd Fellows in 1952, cost about $17,000 at the time, based on the fragmentary records she located in the attic.
• The Hall started out with a tax exemption from Berlin, in return for allowing Town Meetings to be held in the Hall.  We’re not sure when this agreement lapsed.
• The Hall’s design and construction look very consistent with “Grange Hall Suggestions”, a booklet published in 1928 by the National Grange.    Take a look at the picture on the cover (reproduced below), and see if it looks familiar…though maybe not the bricks.

Grange resolutions:  results from the October Annual Session

One topic we didn’t get to in our November meeting was the resolutions which various Vermont Granges proposed, and which were discussed and voted on at the State Session.  I’ve compiled notes about what happened to each of them, and the info is available HERE on our website.
Those that looked at the proposed resolutions will probably remember that there were 2 resolutions about Proposal 5.  That Proposal was to put protections for women’s reproductive autonomy into the VT State Constitution.  One Grange resolution expressed support, the other urged a vote against.   The VT State Master ruled both of these as “out of order”, because he judged that these would involve the Grange in religious/political disagreements that could be divisive for the Grange.   As a non-partisan, non-denominational organization, he decided it was better not to take the risk–as he said, we all have the opportunity to vote on this question in the Nov. 8th election–and as we know, Proposal 5 passed with a large margin.

Grange news–on Vermont Public!

In late September, Patty Giavara and I were contacted by a UVM Ph.D. student, Krizzia Soto-Villanueva, who asked if she could interview us about how the Montpelier Contra Dance community has been helping to support the Grange.   Krizzia had come to do contra dancing, was there for the “Challenge Fundraiser” culmination on Sept. 3rd, and was curious.   She is part of the student-powered Community News Service, as well as studying food systems at UVM, and thought “there’s a good story”!   We agreed, of course, and she came to the Oct. 1 Grange meeting, program and potluck and spoke with Grange members.  At the dance that evening, she interviewed a number of contra dancers, then interviewed Patty and me the following day via Zoom.
Finally, the story played during Morning Edition on Vermont Public (what some of us still think of as VPR) on Nov. 14th, and a few days later the audio+photo+written story got posted on the Vermont Public website.  You can check it out by clicking HERE.  We think she did a pretty good job bringing out the mutuality of the dance and Grange communities, including our shared commitment to making the Hall and the dance accessible to all types of people.  Part of that is the lift we are planning to install (story above); part of that is the welcoming attitude of the contra dance to all kinds of dancers, of all ages, genders, backgrounds and abilities.   All of that is about people getting together to do fun things!    We’re glad to have our story out there, and appreciate Krizzia making that happen–and the people who spoke with her of course.   By the way, if you search “Capital City Grange” on the Vermont Public website, you’ll find a few other stories which are about or mention our Grange–and other VT Granges!

December 3rd Program: The state of Vermont unions

Our Grange Lecturer, Carl Etnier has arranged for the Executive Director of the VT Labor Council, Liz Medina, to present a program on the current organizing work of the AFL-CIO affiliated Council.   This includes the VT PRO Act, and the Worker Circle organizing project.  She is inviting union members to join us for the discussion, to stay for the Community Potluck, and to come to the Montpelier Contra Dance afterward (they will be paying admission for that, of course).
The Grange has always been a voice for the working class–which was mostly farmers when the Grange was founded in 1867.   The Grange helped farmers join together to counter the power of the large businesses (especially the railroads that controlled access to markets for agricultural products).  Labor unions can be considered a similar counterbalance to the power of large organizations.   Come and join us to learn more, from 5:00 to 6:00 PM on Saturday, Dec. 3rd!

Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) November 5, 2022

Saturday:  Grange meeting agenda

• Tax Abatement received!  Merry and I attended a meeting of the Town of Berlin Board of Abatement on Oct. 19th, and were very pleased to get a unanimous vote by the board, in favor of granting us a full abatement of the Education Property Tax which the Selectboard had decided to bill us for.  Come and hear the details!
• Time for the next petition drive!  We and the Town of Berlin are hoping for and expecting an in-person Town Meeting next March, and the Grange needs to get an article asking for a 5-year extension of full tax exemption (from Municipal and Education property taxes) from the voters of the Town.  To do that, we will need to gather around 150 signatures on petitions with the full text on them.   Can you help us out?   Do you know Berlin residents who could help us?   Come and discuss–or reply to Tim:  swartztim15@gmail.com if you can’t make it, but want to help out.
• Pellet furnace update:  after a few new-system glitches, and a visit from the tech who installed the system, and a delivery of 3-1/2 tons of pellets, the system seems to be working well.  Given the current costs of the heating oil we used to use, we’re happy to be buying wood pellets.
• Finances:  while we breathe a sigh of relief to not be liable for $5,710 in property taxes, or be paying for heating oil, we still face rising costs for everything else.   We’ll look at our current condition and the projections for the winter costs and other bills we face.
• Rental report:  one reason for hope for our finances is that our website Calendar has been filling up–we’ll hear more from Merry Shernock, our (volunteer) Rental Agent as well as Treasurer.
• Project UpLift:  We’ve started detailed planning for the installation of the wheelchair/platform lift and have gotten a construction loan from the VT State Grange.  Come hear the latest info!
• Grange History comes to light:  Patty Giavara has dug into the archives of Grange records kept in the attic, and has unearthed a few tidbits about the Grange Hall, as well as some info about tax exemptions of the past!  She’ll report on what she’s found, and how it could help us get access to historical preservation grant opportunities.
• State Grange report:  Patty Giavara and I attended the Oct. 14-15 “Annual Session” of the VT State Grange; we’ll report on Resolution voting and other take-aways.

October Grange Program:  Feel Good Action

Our Grange meeting program last month featured Andy Forrest, CEO of “Feel Good Action” (and also brother of Alison Forrest, Grange member and Chaplain), describing the organization’s work.   On their FGA website, it’s described as “We use motivational media to inspire positive social change”.   Andy gave us some glimpses inside how this works.
He started off with some history and discussion of FGA’s mission:

• The mission:  support improvements in social justice and environmental health.
• The target audience:  young women, young people of color, young LGBTQIA folks–75% of these support the issues which are FGA’s mission.  And 75% of them don’t follow “traditional media”.
• On the other hand, 95% of them are on social media.  So–FGA reaches out to them where they are, to turn them from “Viewers into Voters”.
• They do this by working with “micro-influencers”–people who have an established following on social media, in many different niches.  Working with them, FGA helps craft authentic messages about how voting supports the issues which the target audiences care about.  Every message is accompanied by a link to FGA’s “Voter tools”, so that users can easily and immediately register to vote, get a mail-in ballot or find their polling place.
• Every message has an attached “data tag” that allows FGA to track and optimize the performance of their messages.  For example, for the 2020 election, they hired a research firm to find out what happened when people were exposed to their messages:  median age was 22 years old, 72% were women, 31% were BIPOC, 39% were newly registered, and 80% of them voted.  Pretty impressive, IMO!
• Also, in just the week before Andy spoke with us, 10,000 people took action about voting–registering, checking voting options, finding out about polling places and early ballots, all following links from their influencers.
• Andy emphasized that they are only interested in measurable actions.
• Andy also showed us photos and video of a “typical” micro-influencer, and described how they built up a relationship with her, how they developed a link with a code to allow viewers to click it to both register to vote (via the Arizona Secretary of State’s office, in this case) and report that to FGA.
• How much does it cost?  FGA says that it is less than $4 per voter–relatively cheap to motivate people who actually vote.
• As you might imagine, FGA makes it easy to donate to support them–go to the FeelGoodAction.org website.  They are raising $1.5 million this year.
• They are a 501(c)(3) non-partisan charity organization, so contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law.

Just Food Hub:  Raising money for the Grange!

This organization, run by Grange members and supporters, sells good food, fairly traded, from small farms around the globe!  And orders placed through the special URL below create donations to the Grange, as well as giving you access to tasty choices from around the world.  Most of their offerings come from Equal Exchange, and all are from farms like the one featured in this report:

Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) September 29, 2022

Saturday:  our first Program of the fall–Feel Good Action

We will have a brief and informal Grange meeting from 4:30 to 5:00 (see below), followed by a Zoom visit and discussion with Andy Forrest of “Feel Good Action”, about their work encouraging younger folks to take part in voting, elections and issues.
Andy will describe how the organization works with micro-influencers on social media to “Turn Viewers into Voters”.  In 2020, they worked to encourage young voters in particular, and they are continuing that work now.  It’s work people in any state can be part of, because social media crosses state lines.  Here’s a link to the Feel Good Action website, and to their Facebook page.
Andy Forrest, who is based in Seattle will appear via Zoom on the big screen in the Grange Hall, and also in your home if you can’t make it to the program in person.   Here is the info:

Passcode: 989050

If Andy’s surname sounds familiar, it’s because he’s the brother of our Grange’s Chaplain, Alison Forrest!  We know he is a community-minded person who fits in with the Grange, because he helped to dig the trench to bring electrical power to the Grange sign, when that was new in 2014!

Short Grange meeting

• Resolutions for the State Grange annual session on Oct. 14-16.  Copies are available on the  Grange website:  2022 Resolutions.    I have gotten feedback from a few people already after the Sept. 17 meeting.   I’m eager to hear from others, please check them out and either discuss with us at the meeting, or send opinions to:  swartztim15@gmail.com.
• Our bank accounts are currently with the VT State Employees Credit Union (VSECU), which is proposing a merger with the New England Federal Credit Union (NEFCU).  Treasurer Merry Shernock will be seeking opinions on how we should vote on the merger.
• Heating season has started!   This will be our first full season with the pellet furnace which we installed last spring, with major help from a low-interest loan from the VT State Grange, and a very generous large donation from an anonymous member of the Grange community.  As usual, we only make progress with involvement by a large group of supporters and fellow workers.

Community Potluck dinner follows the meeting!

As always, a Grange meeting in our Hall is always followed by a potluck dinner at 6:00 PM, where we welcome anyone who shows up, and share whatever we’ve all brought.  Dishes vary widely, ranging from chips ‘n’ dip to casseroles to roasted meats to South Asian dals to potato salad, to breads, to brownies and pies, cookies, rolls, cider, or whatever else shows up!    If you’re coming to the contra dance that starts at 8:00, you might find other familiar faces!
We hold the potlucks in the lower level, with windows open and the Room Air Filter Boxes running to keep the air circulating and filtered–we know that masks won’t be worn while eating–though we support anyone who wants to wear one at the Grange Hall.  Hope you will join us!

A few more pictures from the successful fundraiser!

As I said above, the Grange only succeeds with the help of lots of people taking part.   Below are some more pictures from the Sept. 3rd finale of the Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall and Montpelier Contra Dance annual “Challenge Fundraiser”.  These were taken by long-time dancer and Grange supporter Jonathan Blake!  That’s him on the ladder in the bottom photo.
Many thanks to all the people who donated to the cause, including those who purchased the beautiful houseplants grown by Rob Nichols for the fundraiser!

Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) September 13, 2022

Meeting the Challenge!   The dance community comes through again

As it  has every year since it started, the Montpelier Contra Dance Challenge Fundraiser succeeded in gathering contributions from the dance community, a total of $2,000 to match the “challenge” amount pre-pledged by about 10 other generous dancers.   This means that the Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall have a total of $4,000 more,to help pay for major improvements to the Hall!
Many thanks to all the donors, in amounts large and small, to the Montpelier Contra Dance committee for organizing the events and finding the “challengers”, to the people who made cupcakes, cookies and other goodies for the outdoor “dessert potluck” at the break, and to FCCGH Chair Patty Giavara, who bought ice cream sandwiches and popsicles for the potluck!  All of these items were enjoyed.
We also say a special thank-you to Rob Nichols, who grew beautiful house-plants to sell at Farmhouse Flowers and at the celebration dance.   He raised several hundred dollars for the fundraiser!
We also thank Pete’s Posse, and Nils Fredland, for speaking out to urge dancers to contribute, donating some of their pay for the night’s music and calling to the cause, and for being long-time supporters of the Grange and the Friends.
As you can see, this fundraising success was a real team effort.   The Grange and the Hall are important part of the lives of so many people, and they are clearly appreciated by a large number of people, who were willing to reach into their wallets and give to help out.
For more information on the Friends, the projects they have planned, fundraised for and project-managed along with the Grange, go to the “Support the Hall” tab on the Grange website, and check out any of the pages on that tab.  And–if you weren’t able to donate before, you can still do so there!   The FCCGH is a 501(c)(3) charity non-profit, so you might get a tax deduction too!

Kicking off the fall, with the Grange September meeting this Saturday!

• Discussing the Berlin Selectboard’s decision to keep charging us the Education property tax this year, and how we can survive that stress.
• Looking over the Resolutions proposed for the October State Grange session, and deciding who will go there to represent us.  To get a PDF of the Resolutions, click on over to:  https://capitalcitygrange.org/2022-vt-state-grange-resolutions/
• Going over finances as we head into winter with our still-new wood-pellet furnace–including repaying the loan from the VT State Grange which helped us purchase it.
• Looking over plans for the platform/wheelchair lift project, and how they will fit in our schedule for the winter.

Community Potluck dinner follows the meeting!

Gardening at the Grange:  another way to help!

Our Talented Grange Community

Are you interested in history, and learning about what has actually gone on in Central Vermont in years past?    We are happy to recommend a talk by local genealogist, historian and author Maudean Neill.   Maudean is also a member of the Montpelier Church of Christ, which has met every Sunday at the Grange Hall for decades.  Maudean wrote the book whose cover is pictured below after finding a photo of Klansmen gathering in Montpelier in 1927.  She will be speaking about her research, her book and the history she uncovered at the Montpelier Senior Activities Center, at 58 Barre St., on Wednesday , Sept. 28, at 1:30 PM, sponsored by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

And from the same hard-working family, thanks are due again to Lewis Neill!

A week or so ago, Merry Shernock (Treasurer and Rental Agent) came to the Grange Hall, and found Lewis Neill, who is Maudean’s husband, using a pickax to make a water-bar and trench across the driveway on the Rt. 12 side of the Grange Hall.   This will help reduce the water that flows onto the top of the driveway.   Lewis is, I’m pretty sure, 91 years old.
Lewis has been doing maintenance work inside and outside the Grange Hall for decades.   In 2007, he single-handedly dug out the rusted out culvert under the top end of the driveway and replaced it with a new one, plus a silt-catcher.   Of course, he was only about 76 then.
Kudos to Lewis for his dedication.   And if we needed any other illustration of how much we need younger folks to pitch in, I couldn’t make up a better example!   As a mere 71-year-old, I know I don’t match up with him in this area.