Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) February 23, 2026

Erica Heilman on making “Rumblestrip Vermont”

We had a good turnout, on Feb. 7, to hear Erica Heilman, who produces her award-winning podcast from her home in East Calais.   She spoke about her individual approach to interviewing and podcasting from a chair, with her laptop on her knees so that she could play clips from her show.   The first was one from her friend and fellow podcaster Scott Carrier, reading selections from the Montpelier & Barre police logs; she played several others during her talk.   She also shared her good memories of when she rented our Grange Hall for her 50th birthday party…
She said she had no interest in listening to “experts” and famous people; she feels that everybody knows something, and is the expert in their own life.  She makes her shows for herself first, making audio stories about “unimportant parts” of everyday life.   Erica feels that she does her best work when she “falls in love” with the person she’s interviewing, and can get listeners to fall in love as well.  Together, Erica and her interviewees create a “new thing” between them, more than each of them separately.   Some of her favorite conversations are with kids–who are the authorities on childhood.   And she strongly believes that one can either judge other people or interview them.
Editing is not her favorite part of the work.  Listening to her recorded interviews, she finds, is “about 80% self-loathing and confusion”–but at the end “there’s a sweet, sweet place” that emerges.  To hear her own words, check out her Rumblestrip Vermont website, where you can hear over a decade of podcasts–all free (though she is happy to get donations).
We were pleased to get a good turnout–by our standards–for this presentation–about 20 people came in person or by Zoom.  Keep your eyes peeled for the next program in our series, on April 4!

February Grange meeting report:

• We agreed on a date for our Grange to perform the First Degree of Grange membership, on Sunday, May 3rd.   This ritual welcome to new members provides links to the past of the organization, with metaphors drawn from rural life.   The Executive Committee has been tasked with arranging the details; we have invited North Branch Grange (in Worcester) and Caledonia Grange (East Hardwick) to join us in putting this on.   The ceremony is open to everyone; all paid-up Grange members are urged to join us in particular!
• Grant Orenstein and Indivisible Calais asked for and received Grange support for another benefit contra dance, to be held on Saturday, May 9th.  Proceeds from this  one will benefit VPIRG, the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, and will feature calling by Don Stratton, and music by The Turning Stile.  Grange sponsorship means that we will not charge rent, so that more of the proceeds can go to VPIRG.

Join the Grange–and renew your membership!

If you’re already a Grange member, please send your annual dues (which now costs $36) to the Grange PO box in the header.  Please pay by check made out to Capital City Grange.
If you can help us manage the Grange Hall, and increase our community services, we’d love to have you join the Grange, and vote at our meetings.   You can fill in an online form, or download a fill-able Word doc at this webpage.
If you mostly want to support the Grange financially, please note that annual membership payments provide our Grange with only $6 per year; the balance goes to support the State and National Grange.  Tax deductible contributions to the Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall can be made online at the Donate page on our website, and will support major building renovation projects.

March 7 meeting plans

• We will be signing people up to fill all the officer roles which have speaking parts in the First Degree performance on May 3rd.  We’ll also be working out some of the details of how that will go.   Any Grange member can be part of the Degree Team; we have scripts and “stage directions” available, and we don’t expect everyone to have their part memorized.  We’re planning a partial rehearsal at the May 2 Grange meeting.   Get in touch with Tim to learn more.
• Time to schedule our annual Grange Cooking Contest which this year is Chili–with or without meat! Possibly at the June meeting?  Start testing recipes!   No canned chili or use of chili “kits”–we want your home-made best!
• We’ll be reporting on our experience with the Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) project–we now have the ERV functioning, and are able to schedule that and our two air purifiers remotely!
• We’ll have the legally required “Capital City Grange, Inc.” corporation meeting–we hope to do it in 5 minutes or less!
• We’ll have a report on new, padded folding chairs from the Chair replacement committee meeting–and hope to have at least 2 samples for all to test!
• Grant Orenstein and Indivisible Calais will be asking for sponsorship of another dance event, in August or September.  That one will be for the benefit of “Vermont Bridge to Care“, raising funds to train counselors so more care is available for those who need it, and to pay for mental health care for Vermonters.  Founder Kathleen Landry will be coming to tell us about it and answer questions.

Freshly cleaned!

Thanks to planning by Patty Giavara, our Lower Level carpet, plus the carpeted stairs and foyer at the original entrance got professionally cleaned.  Delair’s Carpet brought in their steam-cleaning truck, after Patty & I piled the chairs on the fixed tables, and made the carpets look–at least for a little while–almost new!   We’ve been advised that leaving dirt in the carpets leads to earlier wearing-out; this is the second time we’ve had them cleaned since their installation in 2020.

New screen in our Lower Level!

A while ago, our Rental Agent/Treasurer, Merry Shernock, located a projection screen, same width as the one upstairs, being sold on locally for $25!   Recently, I installed some chains to make 2 locations for hanging the screen: in the “center aisle” for folks in the cafeteria section, and in the “coffee-house alcove”, for smaller meetings and gatherings.   We think they will be useful for various group sizes, and will make the downstairs even more attractive to renters.  Want to hold a movie night?  Show pictures from your hike on the  Appalachian Trail (as recently happened upstairs)?  Email Merry to make arrangements!

Available–for a little while:  FREE risers for your chorus!

The Barre-Tones, who have rehearsed in our Hall almost every Monday evening for at least 10 years have purchased a new set of risers for their singers.   They are giving away their old ones–shown set up in the Grange Hall, with the hope of helping other groups who need a little help getting up in the world!
If you’re interested, contact Jane Watson via email to make arrangements.  The ones they’re giving away are on our ADA porch, and need to be moved out as soon as possible–or go to the metal recyclers.

Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) February 1, 2026

Erica Heilman on making
“Rumblestrip Vermont”
Saturday, Feb. 7,  5:00 to 6:00PM

We’re looking forward to hearing this well-known Central Vermont podcaster talk about what it’s like to make her diverse and personal shows.  Working from her East Calais home, she’s gained a world-wide following.   The Wikipedia page about the show describes it as containing “true life portraits of “road-crew workers, defense attorneys, farmers, Vermont’s mental-health-care system, taxidermists, and numerous rural subjects”.   At the program on Saturday, we’ll be able to hear first hand from her about what it’s like.
When our Grange Lecturer, Patty Giavara asked Erica to describe what she’d like to talk about, she said “Rumble Strip Vermont:   Making stories in the closet. In this hour, we’ll talk about the art of interviewing, the horrors of editing, and what’s the point anyway? We can all figure that last part out together.”
On the RumbleStripVermont website, she describes her stories as:   Erica Heilman invites herself into people’s homes to find out what they know, hate, love, what they’re afraid of, and what makes them more like you than you’d realized. These are messy, obsessively crafted stories of the everyday.”

The program will start at 5:00 PM on Feb. 7 at the Grange; you can also attend virtually using the Zoom link in the Program listing on the Grange website Calendar:  https://capitalcitygrange.org/event/erica-heilman/.  And of course there will be a great potluck afterward!

February Grange meeting:

• Grant Orenstein and Indivisible Calais will be asking us if we will be willing to sponsor another benefit contra dance, on May 9, to benefit VPIRG.  His group raised about $3,000 for Migrant Justice through a November dance at our Hall.
• Scheduling a performance of the First Degree (see the Jan. meeting report below).
• Report on progress of the ERV and air purifier project.
• Report on progress to having a policy on art displays in the Hall.
• Report on folding chair replacement possibilities.
• Start discussion of a possible benefit music/dance event at the Grange, featuring the band “Gnomenclature” a “funk rock with horns and soulful vocals”, which rehearses at the Hall.  The band is eager to help the Grange this way.

We want to get multiple viewpoints on all the decisions we make about the Grange and the Grange Hall–if you care about either or both, please join us for productive conversations and shared decision-making!

Join the Grange–and renew your membership!

If you’re already a Grange member, please send your annual dues (which now costs $36) to the Grange PO box in the header.  Please pay by check made out to Capital City Grange.
If you can help us manage the Grange Hall, and increase our community services, we’d love to have you join the Grange, and vote at our meetings.   You can fill in an online form, or download fill-able Word doc at this webpage.
If you mostly want to support the Grange financially, please note that annual membership payments provide our Grange with only $6 per year; the balance goes to support the State and National Grange.  Tax deductible contributions to the Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall can be made online at the Donate page on our website.

January Grange meeting followup:
Blood drive results, plans for First Degree

• The small increases in rental prices we announced is continuing to yield good cooperation from existing renters, and is not discouraging new renters–we remain an affordable option, and hear compliments on our good communication with renters, and the comfort of our facility.
• We have gotten positive reaction to our plan to combine forces with North Branch Grange (in Worcester) and Caledonia Grange (in E. Hardwick) to put on the First Degree Ritual of Grange membership.  At the February 7 meeting, we’ll decide between May 3 and May 17 (Sunday afternoons) for timing, combining the degree with a Chili Cook-off, for our annual Grange cooking contest, and a potluck dinner to follow.
• By the time of the February meeting, we expect to have  the scheduling and control hardware working on the Energy Recovery Ventilator; the Iso-Aire ceiling mounted air purifier is being scheduled through a smart outlet, and is popular.
•  Our Red Cross Blood Drive was a disappointment, resulting in only about a dozen donors.  We were told that there was another drive scheduled on the same day nearby.  Following this low turnout, Red Cross has told us that they are cancelling the previously scheduled drive on May 15 of this year.   We’re disappointed that they did not seem willing to spread out scheduling of competing drives.

Our fascinating tenants

I’ll occasionally include a picture of one of the activities of one of the groups that rent space at the Grange Hall.  This winter, that includes “Historical Fencing” practice.   These folks are not wielding sharp blades, and the are wearing modern protective clothing.   And they have provided proof of insurance!   All of those are important.  Having watched part of their practice recently, I can vouch for them working hard–they have asked to not have the heat raised above 50 during their times, as they sweat a lot.   If you’re interested in learning more, contact Logan Whittington via email.    He says they would welcome more participants to share the rent and the fun!

Would you like to rise up in the world?

Another of our tenants is upgrading their risers–the Barre-Tones, the award-winning women’s barbershop chorus which rehearses on Monday evenings, has been able to get newer, lighter risers on which the singers stand for their rehearsals and performances.    They would be happy to pass these on to another chorus, at no cost, except hauling them away.  They are pretty heavy.  The Barre-Tones are expecting the new ones to arrive sometime this week, and after that the new risers will be stored in the space to the left of the stage that the B-Ts rent.   We will need to old risers moved very soon thereafter!  If you’re interested, contact Jane Watson via email to make arrangements.

Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) January 14, 2026

It’s almost time:  Friday
Jan. 16 Blood Drive
Walk-in, or make an appointment

The Red Cross is reporting a critical need for blood donors–as is often the case, the holidays plus winter weather tend to reduce the number of donors this time of year.    You can make a difference, by coming to the Red Cross Blood Drive on Friday, Jan. 16, from 10:30 AM to 3:00 PM, at the Grange Hall.   We’ve got a good number of appointments still open–and as our sign says, we welcome walk-ins!
If you want to sign up:  just click this link, and you’ll see our currently scheduled blood drives.  Click “See Times” and you can choose when you want to donate whole blood, or do a “Power Red” donation *.
We’ve got a few U-32 students who have volunteered to help out at the beginning of the drive, plus Liz Benjamin has also volunteered to help wipe down beds and serve snacks and beverages to donors.  If you want to help out in the afternoon, please contact me via email:   swartztim15@gmail.com.   I will be staffing the welcome desk for the drive;  Red Cross folks will train you (and me–it’s my first time as a volunteer, not a donor).  Come join the fun!
    * If you’re not familiar with Power Red donations, it’s a way to donate two unit’s worth of red blood cells.  It takes a little longer than donating blood, but you can only donate every 16 weeks.  If you want to hear more, email me, Tim–I’ve been making Power Red donations for about a decade!  Or, you can learn about all types of blood donations at this Red Cross page.
All donors before Jan. 25 also can win a chance for a Super Bowl trip, with airfare to San Francisco, hotel and a $1,000 gift card.

January, 2026 Grange Meeting report

• We discussed the increase in dues required by the National and State Granges to $30, and voted to increase our annual dues to $36.   This continues to provide us $6 per year, per member from dues payments.   The maintenance of the Grange Hall depends entirely on rental income, not on dues.  To renew your existing membership for 2026, please send checks (made out to Capital City Grange) to PO Box 234, Northfield Falls VT  05664.   If you want to join as a new member, click this link to go to the Grange website page where you can open a fillable-PDF application form, which has all the instructions to send your check and form to our Secretary.
• We discussed the need for increased rental income, to meet the increased costs due to inflation.  Merry Shernock, our (volunteer) Rental Agent has been contacting our regular renters, many of whom have been tenants for decades, and has gotten a positive response to our request for them to let us know how much they can reasonably afford to increase their payments.  We appreciate all they do, along with the Grange, to provide a rich menu of cultural opportunities to the residents of Central VT!   Merry has also increased the rents charged to new renters.  We will continue to monitor our cash-flow and bills to see how things develop.   We have been taking these actions prudently, well before we reach any crisis or panic!
• We discussed the requirement that the State Grange now has, that Community Granges like ours perform one of the “4 Degrees” rituals every year, starting with the First Degree this year.  We came up with a preliminary plan to have it on a Sunday afternoon in May, to be followed by a potluck–and to combine it with our annual Grange cooking contest–which this year will be a Chili Cook-off.   We also hope to combine forces with North Branch Grange (in Worcester) and Caledonia Grange (in E. Hardwick) to put on the Degree Ritual.   We think it will take somewhere around an hour.   I will be sending out PDF copies of the ritual to paid-up Grange members soon.
• We’ve gotten a great start on the Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall’s “Indoor Air Quality Improvement” project, with the ERV and the 14″ supply duct installed just before Christmas.  Peak Mechanical will install and set up the controls for the system next week, we expect, so that we can start using it.
• The new Iso-Aire ceiling mounted air purifier is installed, and a “smart outlet” allows us to schedule it to run when the Grange Hall is rented.  So far, all the feedback is good–it’s considerably quieter than the 4–home-made “Room Air Filtration Boxes” we built in 2021, which have now been taken down.
•  We also talked about the Red Cross Blood Drive–see above–which we hope you will take part in.  We think it is a great way to use our Hall to serve a truly “life or death” need.

February 7:  another excellent program, featuring Erica Heilman!

Many of you are familiar with the audio pieces produced by Erica Heilman, of East Calais; her “Rumble Strip Vermont” podcasts are heard on Vermont Public every Sunday morning.   Back episodes can also be heard on your favorite podcast app, going back to 2013 when she started it.
When our Grange Lecturer, Patty Giavara asked Erica to describe what she’d like to talk about, she said “Rumble Strip Vermont:   Making stories in the closet. In this hour, we’ll talk about the art of interviewing, the horrors of editing, and what’s the point anyway? We can all figure that last part out together.”
On the RumbleStripVermont website, she describes her stories as:   Erica Heilman invites herself into people’s homes to find out what they know, hate, love, what they’re afraid of, and what makes them more like you than you’d realized. These are messy, obsessively crafted stories of the everyday.”
She has won a Peabody award for her episode “Finn and the Bell”, and been named as the #1 podcast for 2020 by The Atlantic and for 2022 by The New Yorker–among other awards.  We hope you will come and hear her own stories in person!
The program will start at 5:00 PM on Feb. 7 at the Grange; you can also attend virtually using the Zoom link in the Program listing on the Grange website Calendar:  https://capitalcitygrange.org/event/erica-heilman/.  And of course there will be a great potluck afterward!

I’m sorry to report…

..that the 2–30″ x 60″ tables that have been missing for at least a few months now have not been returned.   To be clear, these were not “loaned” to anyone, they just disappeared.  Possibly a renter used them, and they were taken by accident–though all have “Property of Capital City Grange” labels on the bottom surface.   We will need to purchase replacements.

Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) January 2, 2026

January, 2026 Grange Meeting–this Saturday

• We’ve gotten a great start on the Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall’s “Indoor Air Quality Improvement” project, with the ERV and the 14″ supply duct installed just before Christmas.    Our electrician will be connecting the wiring to the ERV and the associated duct heater, perhaps this week, so that Peak Mechanical can set up the controls for the system.
• We mounted the Iso-Aire air purifier on Tuesday, 12/30; the installation of a ceiling-mounted “smart outlet” will get done in a week or two as well.  Quieter air cleaning is coming soon!
• The State Grange has begun requiring that Community Granges like ours perform the first of the 4 Degrees of Community Grange membership in 2026.  We’ll be discussing how we can do this in conjunction with at least one other Grange.   I hope to have copies of the text of the First Degree available at this meeting.  There’s a lot of beautiful, nature- and farming-based language in these ceremonies.  We hope that all Capital City Grange members will see or take part; at the meeting we’ll talk about how to encourage that.
• The illustration to the left is an 1873 poster promoting the Grange, then only 6 years old!
• We’ll be discussing how to encourage people to sign up for the Red Cross Blood Drive which we’ll host on Friday, Jan. 16.   See more details below.
• The National Grange has raised the amount of dues which go to the national organization–we’ll decide how much our dues payments need to go up as a consequence.
• We’ll also be reviewing the Grange Holiday Sing-Along which we held on Dec. 20, and how we can attract even more singers next year.

Sign up now to donate at the
Jan. 16 Blood Drive

As usually happens in the winter, the Red Cross has an urgent need for blood donors!   This year, the Grange is in a great position to help–because we are sponsoring a Red Cross Blood Drive on Friday, Jan. 16, from 10:30 AM to 3:00 PM.   With our large, free parking lot, our location safe from any chance of flooding, and our tradition of community service, the Grange is a great match for these events.
It’s easy to sign up:  just click this link, and you’ll see our currently scheduled blood drives.  Click “See Times” and you can choose when you want to donate whole blood, or do a “Power Red” donation.   If you’re not familiar with Power Red donations, it’s a way to donate two unit’s worth of red blood cells.  It takes a little longer than donating blood, but you can only donate every 16 weeks.  If you want to hear more, email me, Tim–I’ve been making Power Red donations for about a decade!  Or, you can learn about all types of blood donations at this Red Cross page.
All donors before Jan. 25 also can win a chance for a Super Bowl trip, with airfare to San Francisco, hotel and a $1,000 gift card.
We’re also looking for a couple of volunteers to help give out snacks to donors, and wipe down the donation beds during the drive (you won’t be touching any blood).  I will be staffing the welcome desk for the drive, and so far we have one volunteer for a couple of hours–but it will really help to have one or two others to help too.   Red Cross folks will train you (and me–it’s my first time as a volunteer, not a donor).

Holiday Sing-Along–report

Our annual Holiday Sing-Along took place on Saturday, Dec. 20.  We had about 25 people there, and we all had a good time!   In addition to Grange members, we had a good number of other folks show up to enjoy the singing, plus the cocoa we served (many thanks to Liz Benjamin for taking care of that).   Many thanks also to Grange Musician Matt Nunnelly, who led songs and accompanied all on the piano.  As usual, we sang songs of many types, including traditional carols (like Good King Wenceslas,  O Come All Ye Faithful and We Wish You a Merry Christmas), plus more modern takes on the season (like I’m Gettin’ Nuttin’ for Christmas, Rudolph, and Jingle Bell Rock).  We’ll be doing a Sing-Along like this next December, keep an eye out!  Below are some pictures taken by Patty Giavara, showing some of the action.

IAQ project update

IAQ stands for Indoor Air Quality.  The box shown above, an Iso-Aire RSH1000, is a ceiling-mounted air purifier–and we’ve just mounted it on the ceiling in the Main Hall!   This unit is just part of the project.  It will filter the inside air through a HEPA 99.99% filter, and circulate the filtered air around the Hall.  The filter removes virtually all particles down to .3 microns–below the typical size of COVID-19 virus droplets.   This unit is a different version of the Iso-Aire RSF1000, which is located in the Lower Level.  It will replace the 4–“Room Air Filter Boxes” we’ve had hanging in the Hall, and will filter as much air as 2 of those, while running at only half-speed, and more quietly.  The electricians will install a “smart outlet” in the ceiling, into which the unit can plug, early in January.  We’ll be able to take the 4 RAFBs down once that is done.

Meanwhile, the ERV has also been installed.   Peak Mechanical installed the unit in the attic, plus the duct visible in the photo below that will supply filtered, warmed outside air to the Main Hall!  This will provide fresh, outside air to supplement the filtration of the indoor air by the Iso-Aire unit.  Peak will be back soon to install the controls (occupancy sensor and CO2 sensor) and to get it ready to start up soon!
Read on, in the article below, to find out how we’ve been able to make this project (and many others) happen, and how you can help.

Matching grant funding from the Friends!

Long-time readers won’t be surprised to be reminded that the Grange can’t accomplish projects like this Indoor Air Quality one without the backing of the Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall.  We’re able to make this one, the overall cost of which is about $50,000, happen because the FCCGH applied for a grant to cover half the cost.  It actually took a few attempts to get the grant awarded.   The Friends can’t do it alone either–it’s thanks to the generosity of many supporters in the Grange community (members, Hall users, and more) that the Friends have also been able to raise the matching funds needed pay the other half of the project cost.
Right now, the FCCGH’s Fall Appeal is still underway.   I’m pleased to report that the Treasurer thinks we are “well on our way” to make our fundraising goal for this campaign, with donations from 35 people so far.  You can help us get there!   All the information on how to donate, including a PayPal link, is on the Donate page on the Grange’s website.  Just click that bright yellow link, and you’ll find the Paypal link, the postal address, and information on the many projects that have been accomplished by the Friends, the Grange, and our many supporters who have donated in the past.  There’s also a link to view the Fall Appeal letter we sent out.  Please join the other generous donors–any amount helps, and lets us know how important the Grange and the Hall are to you.  And donations to the Friends are tax-deductible to the full extent allowed by the IRS!

If you’ve taken 2 of our tables, PLEASE RETURN THEM

We’ve realized that we are missing 2 of the 30″ x 60″ folding tables that we store in the “Table Closet” in the Main Hall.  It’s easy to tell they’re ours:  each is labeled “Property of Capital City Grange” on the bottom.
We had to replace 2 “borrowed” tables that never came back in 2024, also–it cost us over $150.   We cannot afford to have items like this “walk away”!  As of this writing, we haven’t seen them return since my appeal in the previous Grange Notes.

Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) December 15, 2025

We’ll be singing in the Grange on Saturday!
Come and join the chorus!

• Making and serving hot chocolate
  • One person to purchase milk, sugar & cocoa–we’ll pay for the ingredients, of course!
  • One person to bring up cups from downstairs, to mix up the hot chocolate, and to serve it when we take a break for refreshments.
  • One person to clean up, and to wash the cups when we’re done.
• One person to clean up the cookie-serving, wash plates, etc.
• One person to provide some craft-making for kids

December meeting report:  reviewing finances and rental rates, and more.

• We reviewed the study of the Grange’s finances conducted by the Executive Committee–many thanks to Patty Giavara for compiling the data.  While we’re basically healthy, constantly rising costs are starting to threaten our cashflow over the last couple of years.
• It’s been at least 10 years since we raised rental rates, even slightly.   The Executive Committee recommended a small increase, to compensate for the increased expenses for everything from heating fuel, to electricity, to snow-removal and repairs.
• The Executive Committee also discussed how important our long-term renters are for the mission of the Grange, and our desire to not over-burden the non-profit organizations that provide important services to, literally, thousands of Central Vermonters.  The proposal is to discuss with these groups how much they can manage pay, to help us financially, with the long-term goal always being to keep the Grange Hall an affordable home for so many cultural, religious and community service activities, as well as the local families who use the Hall.
• The meeting voted to adopt the recommendations of the Executive Committee:  for our Rental Agent to put in place slightly higher rates for new Hall renters, and to discuss with our valued, long-term renters how much they can contribute to keep us going.
• We also discussed the plans for purchasing some replacements for the metal folding chairs that we have used for decades.   Since we received a very generous donation from North Branch Grange, in honor of Charles Martin, specifically for padded chairs, I have been looking at choices for this type of chair.  We recruited volunteers for a committee to select chairs to buy samples of, so that we can get feedback on what combines comfort with affordable cost and best use of the storage space we have in the bins under the stage.   Stay tuned for developments!
• We also thanked Patty Giavara for donating a quarter-page ad in The World, the weekly newspaper in Central Vermont, and for putting together a great list of Grange-sponsored events in December.  You can see it here.  Over Patty’s objections, we voted to reimburse her for the $60 auction bid she made in a fund-raising raffle, which “won” the ad she then donated to us!

No dogs with rabies!  Just some dam fishy stories.

The “Community Program” following our brief Grange meeting on Dec. 6 was presented by Clark Amadon, President of the MadDog Chapter of Trout Unlimited.   The name comes with a geography reminder:   the Dog River and the Mad River are in adjoining valleys, and both flow north into the Winooski!   Trout Unlimited is a national organization, founded in 1959, that recognizes that if people want to fish, they need to protect the streams where the fish live.  This local chapter is particularly devoted to improving and maintaining the water quality of the watersheds for the two rivers, plus other streams in Northern Vermont and the Northeast Kingdom.
You can see the slide show which accompanied Clark’s presentation at this link on the Grange website.  There are pictures of tree-planting, dam removals, riverbank protection, “Trout in the Classroom” activities in schools, fly-fishing camps, and much more.   Check it out, and get involved if you can!
Their website also has information about this local chapter.

IAQ project update

The box shown on the left, an Iso-Aire RSH1000, is a ceiling-mounted air purifier–and we’re soon going to have one mounted on the ceiling in the Main Hall!   This unit is just part of the project.  It will filter the inside air through a HEPA 99.99% filter, and circulate the filtered air around the Hall.  The filter removes virtually all particles down to .3 microns–below the typical size of COVID-19 virus droplets.   This unit is a different version of the Iso-Aire RSF1000, which is located in the Lower Level.  It will replace the 4–“Room Air Filter Boxes” we’ve had hanging in the Hall, and will filter as much air as 2 of those, while running at only half-speed, and much more quietly.
As I write this, the unit is being shipped, with an ETA of Thursday, Dec. 18.   DOES ANYONE HAVE A 2-WHEEL OR 4-WHEEL DOLLY capable of holding 140 lbs., which we could borrow to transport the air-purifier from the delivery truck to the Hall?
We hope to get this unit hung within the next week.   The electricians will install a “smart outlet” in the ceiling, into which the unit can plug, early in January.
Meanwhile, the ERV is to be installed next week.   Peak Mechanical will be working in the attic and the Main Hall on Dec. 22-24, and we’ve been told that installation should be complete early in the week after Xmas!  This will provide fresh, outside air, filtered and warmed (if necessary), to supplement the filtration of the indoor air by the Iso-Aire unit.
Read on, in the article below, to find out how we’ve been able to make this project (and many others) happen, and how you can help.

Matching grant funding from the Friends!

Long-time readers won’t be surprised to be reminded that the Grange can’t accomplish projects like this Indoor Air Quality one without the backing of the Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall.  We’re able to make this one, the overall cost of which is about $50,000, happen because the FCCGH applied for a grant to cover half the cost.  It actually took a few attempts to get the grant awarded.   The Friends can’t do it alone either–it’s thanks to the generosity of many supporters in the Grange community (members, Hall users, and more) that the Friends have also been able to raise the matching funds needed pay the other half of the project cost.
Right now, the FCCGH’s Fall Appeal is underway.   I’m pleased to report that the Treasurer thinks we are “on track” to make our fundraising goal for this campaign.  You can help us get there!   All the information on how to donate, including a PayPal link, is on the Donate page on the Grange’s website.  Just click that bright yellow link, and you’ll find the Paypal link, the postal address, and information on the many projects that have been accomplished by the Friends, the Grange, and our many supporters who have donated in the past.  There’s also a link to view the Fall Appeal letter we sent out.  Please join the other generous donors–any amount helps, and lets us know how important the Grange and the Hall are to you.

If you’ve borrowed 2 of our tables, PLEASE RETURN THEM

We’ve realized that we are missing 2 of the 30″ x 60″ folding tables that we store in the “Table Closet” in the Main Hall.  It’s easy to tell they’re ours:  each is labeled “Property of Capital City Grange” on the bottom.
We had to replace 2 “borrowed” tables that never came back in 2024, also–it cost us over $150.   We cannot afford to have items like this “walk away”!