Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) November 2, 2023

Coming up on Saturday:  November meeting

As I’m writing this, watching the frost melt outside my window, it’s easy to believe that we are in November!   October’s warmth was remarkable, but it won’t surprise any of us that it is getting colder as the days shorten.
Looking ahead to winter is one of the subjects of our Grange meeting, this Saturday from 4:30 to 6:00 PM.   I’ve done some analysis of our heating bills for the 2022-23 heating season, which I’ll discuss.  It’s our first using our pellet furnace, installed in April 2022!  Sneak preview–it’s saving us money, as well as greatly reducing our carbon footprint.
We’ll also start taking a look at our rental policies:  we have been seeing our Calendar of events on the website fill up, which is helping our cash-flow quite a bit.  Some of the increase has been because Montpelier event venues got flooded, and have still not re-opened.   Groups that have used those in the past are finding our beautiful Hall a good alternative.  We are not celebrating the reason for these new rentals–but the impact is noticeable.   The availability of our lift for people who can’t use the stairs has also helped us attract some new groups.  Having lots of rentals has also made us look at some of our rental policies, especially around the free use of the Hall we’ve been providing to Berlin individuals and families and Berlin non-profit organizations, and use of the Hall by Grange members.  We’ll start some discussion, and also want to designate a subcommittee to write up some more formal guidelines–see the “help wanted” ad below this meeting preview!
We’ll also be talking about the Vermont State Grange “annual session” which was just held–in Middlebury–on Oct. 27 & 28.   Tim, Liz Benjamin and Carl Etnier attended, and will report on the discussions of Resolutions and other actions.
We’ll also start talking about next year’s VSG annual session, because it will be happening at our Hall, on Oct. 25 & 26, 2024!   Merry has already reserved these dates on the Calendar, but we will have to do more planning:  how to handle meals for delegates?  How to make sure that we use our great assortment of plates, dishes, glasses and silverware instead of disposables?  Recruiting some dishwashing help will likely be needed!   Please join us to discuss all of these issues, and help us anticipate others.  Attendance is likely to be around 80-100 people, so a good-sized crowd for 2 days.
Those with good memories may recall that a stripped-down, speedy annual session was held at our Hall in October 2020–with no reports of Covid following–as we fitted it in before the “Delta Surge” later that fall.   This will be a much bigger deal!
Of course, our meeting will be followed by a Community Potluck Dinner, see below!

Help wanted:
Rental policy subcommittee

Needed: New Grange rentals committee member(s). Our renters – both regular weekly/monthly, plus many one-time or short term users –  help us to pay Hall expenses and maintain and grow our vibrant Grange Hall community.  Rental of the Hall for cultural arts programming, community meetings and events, plus family gatherings is core to our Grange’s community service mission.  The rentals committee develops and recommends rental policies, and provides support and guidance to the Rental Agent when requested.  Experience with venue management or rentals would be helpful but not required. Open to members and non-members!  Please contact Tim or Merry to learn more.

After the meeting, it’s potluck time!

We’ll move out of the upstairs Hall at 6:00, to make room for setup for the  contra dance.   We’ll move downstairs, and enjoy our monthly Community Potluck dinner!   We hope you (and many others) will join us in sharing tasty main dishes, sides, salads, soups, desserts and more!   We know you’re going to eat dinner, so why not join our sociable group?   Bring whatever you want–and if you don’t have time to cook, contribute chips and salsa, or a loaf of bread and some cheese, or a jug of cider.

October program report:  Downstreet Housing

• Shared Equity Downpayment Assistance:  This program can provide help getting a sufficient downpayment together.   In return for this, the program requires that when you sell your dwelling unit later on, some of any increase in value will be returned to Downstreet, enabling them to continue to expanding the Shared Equity program to others in the future.  You would still get some of the increased value, just not all of it.
• Budget counseling and homebuyer education:  Downstreet will help you improve your credit, create household budgets to improve savings rates, and also teach you the steps involved in buying a house.   They know that it is a confusing process, especially for first-time homebuyers, and they are there to help you.
• Grants for homebuyers:  They know about many existing grants for would-be homebuyers that can help overcome the financial hurdles.   These include programs from the USDA, VT Housing Finance Agency, Veteran’s Department, and others.

New in the kitchen!

We’re pleased to let you know that we have replaced one of the gas ranges in our kitchen with a new electric range!  We have had intermittent, but ongoing problems with the oven in the old stove taking a looooooooooooong time to start heating up, and we decided to bite the bullet and start over.  This decision was made much easier by an anonymous donor who contributed $600, covering 3/4 of the cost!
The new stove is plugged into a 220V stove outlet, which we had installed when the kitchen wiring was updated in 2008.  At that time, we foresaw that it might be a good idea to provide choices for cooking.  Since then, we’ve also become more sensitive about the need to eliminate the use of fossil fuels, so switching to an electric range is a good choice on that front as well.
As you can see, the new range is a “smooth-top”, which will be much easier to keep clean.   Of course, no abrasive cleaners should be used!

In the attic…

We currently have this storage cabinet, a “Shaw-Walker” metal shelf unit, with a tambour door that rolls up from the bottom!  As someone who spent his working life in the furniture-making world, this is a unique design, in my experience.  I have made roll-down and horizontal tambour doors, but never this design.
This cabinet used to hold a huge mess of Grange paperwork, 90% of which were old bank statements, receipts for membership dues, etc.   Valiant Grange member Patty Giavara took on investigating the contents earlier this year.  The information she found included meeting records about the construction of the building, which helped the Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall (of which Patty is the Chair) to prove that we are an “historic” Grange Hall, one that is still active for its original purpose.   This information enabled us to get a grant from the VT Preservation Trust that paid 50% of the cost of the scraping and re-painting of the Hall in May of this year!
We have sorted all of the documents and other items which had lived undisturbed in this cabinet for decades, saving ones which may be of interest to local historical societies, documents that are of interest to the VT State Grange (I took these to the VSG Annual Session last weekend), and documents that are of interest about our Grange’s history.  Others have been recycled.
So why am I telling you this?  This cabinet is now available, if you would like a unique cabinet to store your documents, or perhaps your collectibles?   We’d be happy to get a donation, but mostly we are eager to get some space cleared out in the attic storage area.   Please contact me (Tim) at:  swartztim15@gmail.com.  We’re offering this first to Grange members and friends, before putting it on other “free items” websites.

Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) October 3, 2023

This Saturday:  October meeting

I’m sure we will fill up the brief time we’ll have–as we need to pivot to the “Community Program”–see the article below:

What’s the state of housing in Central VT?
And what can be done to improve your access to home ownership here?

Kicking off our fall season of Grange Programs, we’re pleased to present a program featuring DownStreet Housing and Community Development.   This local, private non-profit’s website states their mission as:  ” Downstreet strengthens the communities of Central Vermont by creating permanently affordable homes, promoting equity and inclusion, and connecting people to the resources and services they need to thrive.”
Our program will focus especially on their “Homeownership Center”, which provides a range of services to help people before, during and after the home-buying process.  This includes down-payment options, help with financing repairs, home-buyer education and much more.   Our program presenters will be the Director of HomeOwnership, Cheryl Moyer, and HomeOwnership Specialist Bill Meckel, who is now a Grange member!
I expect that the current state of housing in Central VT will be a topic of discussion as well.  The impacts of the July and August flood events have reduced and/or damaged some of the housing stock, including properties owned by DownStreet.   We’ll have discussion and question time available to focus on the concerns of our audience.   We really hope you can join us to learn more about this very relevant topic!
We also encourage you to stay for….

After the program, time for a potluck dinner!

We’ll move out of the upstairs Hall at 6:00, to make room for setup for the special waltz session from 7 to 7:45, before the contra dance. We’ll move downstairs, and enjoy our monthly Community Potluck dinner! We hope you (and many others) will join us in sharing tasty main dishes, sides, salads, soups, desserts and more! We know you’re going to eat dinner, so why not join us? Bring whatever you want–and if you don’t have time to cook, contribute chips and salsa, or a loaf of bread and some cheese, or a jug of cider.

Who are these friendly people?

These are part of the technical assistance team for “COMSA“, which stands for “Cafe Organico Marcala S.A.”, a cooperative coffee processor in Marcala, Honduras.   This organization now has 1,573 coffee producers (25% women), each with less than 9 acres of land.    This represents quite a bit of growth since starting in 2001 with the equivalent of $300, and 60 producers!
So why are we telling you about this cooperative?   Because they are one of the coffee producers who supply Just Food Hub, the non-profit local organization which sells Equal Exchange food products in Central Vermont.   JFH donates its profits to local community organizations–including Capital City Grange!   The products they sell are all produced by small farmers and cooperative groups like this one, from around the globe.  All sustainably or organically grown, Just Food Hub’s products are available through the JFH website, and free delivery is available to a list of central VT towns (or they can be shipped to other locations).   Please choose “Capital City Grange” as the fundraiser beneficiary on the Checkout page, and we receive 25% of the sales price, to help us fund improvements!
For more info on COMSA, check out the info on the Equal Exchange website.  You can learn more about the “5 Ms” of soil health that are the basis of the organic approach they take at the cooperatives experimental farm, “La Fortaleza”.

Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) September 22, 2023

Lullabies on Friday, and a Dance Showcase on Saturday to benefit flood victims!

We’re happy to have our Hall be used for a couple of special arts events, both also designed to bring communities together.
Friday evening: Healing Together, a combination of community art project and a concert of new lullabies created for this event.   This event is free and open to all.  Musicians featured include Mary Bonhag, Evan Premo, Colin McCaffrey, Marianne Donahue Perchlik, David Ruffin and Andric Severance.
Schedule:  the Community Art Project will be worked on from 5:30 to 6:30 PM, and the concert will start at 6:30, with more art work after the concert.
For more info, and to RSVP (which will be appreciated), click here.

Saturday evening:  I Love What You’re Doing, a Dance Showcase will present a medley of works in contemporary Swing, Samba, Theater, Tango and Belly Dance by over 15 brilliant Central Vermont Artists.   Admission is by donation, accepted to benefit the Montpelier Strong Recovery Fund!  This event is sponsored by the Vermont Dance Alliance; there’s more info available here.

But wait, there’s more!

Also happening at our Grange Hall, for the rest of September and parts of October, there are rehearsals for the “Thriller Flash Mob”, a group that has performed on Halloween in Montpelier for several years.   If you want to join, check out the Calendar listing, and email the organizer for the “mob”, Emma Manion to find out how to join in.

I’m happy to publicize all of these events as a great illustration of how important our Hall is to local arts & culture organizations–but you’ll see lots more on our website calendar, of course.

September Grange meeting:  lots to talk about!

1. VT State Grange Annual Session will be held in Middlebury, on Oct. 27 and 28.   Our Grange will send Tim Swartz and Liz Benjamin to this year’s gathering.   One of our prime tasks will be to discuss and improve a dozen proposed resolutions submitted by a variety of Granges from around Vermont.   You can check out the resolutions and send us your input on what’s good or not-so-good about them, to advise us.   A download link for a PDF of them is available on our website, here.
2. We are planning ahead: we’d like to revive the Grange Cooking Contest for the May 2024 meeting.   In the past, we’ve recruited local “Celebrity Judges” to help us evaluate entries.   What we really need is someone to help us publicize this event–which is open to both Grange members and non-members, recruit some judges, and come up with 3 prizes.   I have just checked the State Program Book, and I see that the planned cooking contest is…a dish including 1-2 cups of Cabot Cheese.   For our contest, we will accept other types of cheese, so we can include cooks who can’t eat cow’s milk cheeses.  So consider sheep’s milk, goat’s milk, or plant-based cheeses too!   Start your experiments now…and let us know who will step forward to organize this fun contest.
3. Treasurer’s report:  because we are quite busy with rentals, our bank accounts are–for us–relatively healthy.   We went over the loans we are paying to the State Grange (much appreciated!), and feel pretty confident going into the winter.
4. Hall report:  We have had a first coat of paint on our Original Entrance foyer and stairway by a volunteer–another coat is needed.  There are several other small projects which can be handled by “handy” volunteers–please contact me!   We also discussed our readiness for  heating season (our chimney has been re-pointed, the furnace cleaned and the pellet bin was recently filled).
5. Rental report:  as noted, we are quite busy.   Some of this is meetings and rehearsals that have been displaced from former venues in Montpelier, which is an unfortunate way to gain business.   Merry has worked with various organizations to arrange–in some cases–barter arrangements to help non-profit organizations.   An example is the newly painted bathroom on the main floor, which looks great!
6. Website report:  as described in the previous Grange Notes, the website has experienced several lingering problems which seem to be related to updates to various parts of our website–especially the Calendar.   I have really been struggling to figure out what is going on.  Since I have zero training in website management, this has been very stressful for yours truly.   In August, we were advised by a web-savvy contact to sign up for website hosting and management by WPEngine.com, and decided to do so.   They will take care of routine monitoring and maintenance, including installation of all updates, as well as offering very good Support services.   While it will cost us a few hundred dollars more per year, this should improve the performance of the website, and reduce stress on me considerably.   The Grange meeting approved this decision retroactively, I’m happy to say!  We would still like to find someone who can help manage the content on our website, which has not been renovated since we set it up in 2014.
7. Programs:   we had a good discussion about themes for the bi-monthly public programs we offer on even-numbered months from October to June.   Our lively conversation focused on ways to draw on all of the talented groups that use our Hall, and local non-profits that focus on things like ways to mitigate the flooding that has dominated our summer, and resources for housing issues–which of course have been exacerbated by the flooding and its displacement of renters and homeowners.  I’ll be sending out an announcement about the program for the Oct. 7th Grange meeting soon–stay tuned!
8. Community Service:  see below for our current major project–and see above for examples of how our Hall is a multi-faceted community service project all year ’round.

Handing out gift cards from our Challenge Fundraiser

All of our donors to the Challenge Fundraiser jointly run by the Montpelier Contra Dance and the Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall made it possible for the Grange to hand out  gift cards, last Monday evening, to well over half of the 41 families who were flooded out of two mobile home parks in Berlin on July 10th.   Both were located on the banks of the Stevens Branch of the Winooski River.  The homes there have all been condemned, so these folks have suffered really major financial losses–and all of the social losses and disruption that come with the loss of their homes as well.
Our contributions to the families are not large–the $2700 raised for them amounted to a $65 gift card for each family when spread over 41 households–but was very much appreciated.  I gave them out at a meeting organized by the Governor’s office for these residents–and a number of them told me this was actually the first real monetary aid they have gotten.   The meeting was called to discuss the best steps to get State and FEMA aid to these families.  It has evidently already been a slow and painful process for families that have had to take refuge with friends, family members and wherever they can land, spread throughout Central Vermont and beyond.
For a more complete report on the State of Vermont’s efforts to speed up aid–and the limits on that aid–please click on this VT Public report on the meeting.
The remaining families will be able to pick up their gift cards from Corinne Cooper, who was among those flooded out of the Berlin Mobile Home Park, at  her office at the UVM Extension Service at 327 US Rt. 302 (Barre-Montpelier Rd).  Corinne, as I’ve said before, has been a huge help to us by coming up with the list of all the families, and has been working to connect the residents with all sources of aid since the flooding.
The picture shows a home from River Run Manor mobile home park, as of Sept. 19.

Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) September 12, 2023

We had fun going over the top!

I hope that many of the recipients of these Grange Notes were able to join us at the “Montpelier Contra Dance” Challenge Fundraiser Finale event on Saturday, Sept. 2.    There were around 156 people at the dance, and we got generous contributions from a lot of you to get us past our goal of raising $2500 to match $2500 already pledged by “Challengers”.
Besides the excitement of collecting donations, we also decorated the Hall with many strings of holiday lights (see the photo below), and (at the break in the dance) provided ice cream and fruit popsicles, plus home-made treats from cheddar cheese to gingerbread, to gluten-free brownies for everyone–all of them popular!   Donation buckets by the snacks got filled, and people also bought quite a few of the beautiful houseplants which were grown by Rob Nichols–his last year of taking on the large task of propagating, potting, re-potting, delivering and selling them.   He’s donated all the “profits” from the plants to the fundraiser for years!  And many people stopped by the Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall table on the porch, to donate the change from their admission, or drop off a check or send money via Venmo or Paypal in support of the fundraiser.    It all added up!   By the end of the break we had gone over our target, ending up with about $5,300 in total!

Genticorum plays for a crowd of happy dancers

Caller Will Mentor took this picture from behind the band during the dance on Sept. 2.   Band members Yann Falquet, Pascal Gemme and Nicholas Williams (L to R) kept the dancers’ feet moving all evening.  It was fun to decorate the Hall for this special event, too!

Helping our town’s residents after the flood

This year, we decided that only 50% of the money raised will go into the bank account for the Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall Inc., our planning and fundraising partner organization.   Your generous contributions will help us to finance future improvements.
But this year, we also really wanted to help people who lived in mobile home parks in the Town of Berlin, where the Hall is located.   The Berlin Mobile Home Park and the River Run Manor Park were both located right next to the Stevens Branch of the Winooski River, and both were hard hit by the July flooding.
We consulted with residents of these parks, especially with the help of Corinne Cooper, one of the people whose home was destroyed in the Berlin Mobile Home Park.  Corinne works for UVM Extension’s Berlin office, and is also quite familiar with the Grange, a connection that made it easy to work with her.  She’s been a regular at our Community Potluck dinners in the past.   She has been helping other families with the recovery process after the floods, since she has knowledge and contacts with VT agencies, legislators, etc. She’s also a former Assistant Town Clerk for Berlin.
Corinne has given us a list of 41 families who owned or rented space in those two mobile home parks. We have ordered 41 Visa Gift Cards to give to these families–it’s not nearly enough to help them recover completely from this major disaster, but we hope it will help them to afford some things to make their lives better.  We believe that they can best decide what they need, and the gift cards give them access to the wide range of things they might need, from groceries to gas to winter boots and school supplies for kids.  We’re pleased we can help, even in small ways.

Grange meetings:  starting up again on Saturday 

• Financial report:   our Grange Calendar has been looking quite full–check it out!  We think that this has been helping our bank balances as we head toward the winter months.  Treasurer Merry Shernock will give us the figures.
• Hall report:  we still have a few loose ends to finish up from our big project–and the new paint and trim show us where we need to take care of some old paint that doesn’t look as good.
• Rental report:  Merry is also our Rental Agent for the Hall.  She’s done a lot of work with families and organizations to help them find the best ways to use our Hall–and she’s encouraged them to get involved as members to help us keep it in good shape, too!  She’ll report on the response.
• State Grange annual session:  every year, Grange members from around the state convene.  This year, for the first time, it will be in Middlebury.   We’ll talk about resolutions that our delegates (who wants to join me for this convention?) will have to vote on.  And we’ll be discussing the possible hosting of the 2024 Annual Session at our own Grange Hall!
• Website management changes:  since all of you reading this have been paying equally close attention to previous editions, you’ll remember that I have reported on several “rough spots” installing updates to our website recently.   I’ve been frantically trying to learn the very basics of being a “webmaster”, in the absence of any volunteers who are able and willing to monitor our site.   Recently, I’ve chosen hire a website maintenance company–come to the meeting to learn more.   I still need some help, brothers and sisters!
• Planning for the Fall programs:  Grange Lecturer Carl Etnier will discuss what his plans are for public programs for the October and December meetings.   And we’ll discuss how to get more people to come.
• Bring your own ideas about how to improve our Grange and our Community Service mission!  We are always open to suggestions, especially from people who want to put in some time and energy to make them happen.   That’s how we’ve taken on sponsoring Kids Trade & Play and Dance, Sing and Jump Around, now well-established at our Hall.   What else can happen at our Hall and in our community that the Grange can help with?

It’s Community Potluck time!

Yes, we’ll be back to monthly potluck dinners following Grange meetings (in odd-numbered months like this one) and the Grange Community Program (in even-numbered months).    Start thinking about what delectable dish you want to bring, to provide extra excitement for the potluck–or what brand of chips’n’salsa you want to grab from the store on your way over.
We’ll be holding our potlucks in the Lower Level, now accessible for ALL thanks to the wheelchair/platform lift!   We have all the dishes we’ll need in our cabinets, plus we have lots of serving utensils, so just bring your food to share, and your appetite, and join us for a tasty and social meal!

Thanks for the help at the State Grange Center

We provided an enjoyable introduction to social dancing for the VT State Grange members who stayed for the evening meal and entertainment after the VSG’s “Fall Festival” on Saturday, Sept. 9.   Our Grange is known for having a lot of fun dancing happening, so were asked to provide the entertainment, for the first time since before the pandemic.
Calling for the dance was provided by Liz Benjamin, who is also the caller for the kids & family dance series sponsored by and held at our Grange in the winter months:  Dance, Sing and Jump Around.   She called simple dances, suited to the inexperienced folks who were there.   Music was provided by fiddler Susan Reid, a fixture in the Montpelier music scene who also grew up in Randolph and Brookfield, where the State Grange center is located.  She invited Doug Lapoint (fiddle and mandolin) and Mike Fiorillo (guitar), and they played great dance music for several round and line dances, plus a waltz.   Merry Shernock and I were there to provide more experienced partners, along with Doug & Mike’s spouses.   It was a small dance, but enjoyable!
Thanks so much to the people who helped make this happen–it means a lot to the State Grange, which has been a major supporter for our Grange over the years.
P.S.:  I set up our Champlain Valley Fair display with other Granges’ exhibits for the Fall Festival, and we earned a First place blue ribbon this time–a step up from the Second place red ribbon we got at the fair.    I’ll be bringing the Grange Hall model made by Alison Forrest to our Hall, for all to see.

Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) September 1, 2023

Having fun going over the top!

Our annual Challenge Fundraiser started on Aug. 5 at our outdoor barbecue, and we’re hoping to conclude it on Saturday, Sept. 1.   We call it the “Challenge” because 10 very generous donors have put up $2,500 in donations, and have challenged the Grange and contra-dance communities to match that total–or surpass it.   As of when I’m writing this, we have over $1,300 donated toward the match, so with your help we can make it!
This fundraiser is sponsored by the Montpelier Contra Dance organizing committee, and to make the finale even more fun, the Hall will be decorated with (at least) festive lights, and the committee is providing ice cream at the break in the dance (about 9:30)–plus we are welcoming “potluck treats” to be consumed at the break as well!   Feel free to bring sweet or savory items to share with the rest of the dancers, it will all be appreciated.
NO extra cost for coming to the dance!    The usual “choose your price” choices will all be available–$5 for kids or low-income folks, $12 for regular admission for adults, and $20 (or other) for “Dance Supporters”.   The admission money pays for the performers, plus rent to the Grange Hall.  Contributions are made separately.  How to contribute to the fundraiser, you ask?  We make it easy!   At the dance, there will be a donation table on the “old entrance” porch, plus there will be donation jars with the treats.  Or:  you can contribute via Paypal at any time, by clicking the Donate button on the Support the Hall/donate tab on the Grange website (read about our many projects, and scroll down to the button).  Checks:  make them out to “Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall” or just “FCCGH”, and bring them to the dance, or mail them to:  FCCGH, PO Box 192, Northfield Falls VT  05664.   All checks and Paypal donations will receive an acknowledgement from the Friends–and are tax deductible to the full extent possible, since the FCCGH is a 501(c)(3) charity!
If you want to contribute from your “Donor-Advised Fund”, please email or talk to FCCGH Chair Patty Giavara.  She can help you make donations from your IRA, too, or even help you plan a bequest from your will!

Dance Details

If you’ve never been to one of the excellent “Montpelier Contra Dance” events which have been happening at our Hall for about 40 years, this will be a great one to come to.    Calling will be Will Mentor, a long-time favorite, and the live music will be by Genticorum, an all-star band from Canada, which is known for its high-energy playing, infused with the traditional music of Quebec.
An instruction/refresher session for all will start at about 7:40; plan to come around 7:30 to change or clean your shoes (to protect our beautiful dance floor!).  You don’t need to bring a partner; people change partners for every dance.  We’re known for welcoming new dancers and integrating them into our fun-loving crowd.
We provide excellent ventilation with a large modern exhaust fan and 14 open windows.   We do not require masks, but welcome those who want to wear them–and we’ll have some to give away to dancers.   Admission is “choose your price” as noted above–no extra for this festive event!  Bring a water bottle and hydrate often is our recommendation–along with light, comfortable clothing.

Where The Money Goes

For years, the Challenge Fundraiser has supported improvements to our beloved Grange Hall.   The FCCGH has used donations from supporters to match grant funding, which has helped us accomplish major projects to make our Hall more accessible, cheaper to maintain, and more welcoming for all sorts of organizations and families.  Since March 2022, with donations and grants, we’ve invested over $73,000 to improve the Hall!   We need to refill our bank accounts so that we can plan more work for the future.  But–only 50% of the money raised will go to this purpose.
This year, our needs are not the only ones on our minds.   Everyone knows that the immense amount of rain that has fallen this summer, and the many floods that have resulted have taken a major toll on communities and families around Vermont.  While some VT cities have gotten a lot of publicity, some of the greatest impacts have hit people who lived in mobile home parks–including the Berlin Mobile Home Park and the River Run Manor Park–both in the town we call home, Berlin.
We’ve consulted with residents of these parks, and our plan is to convert the 50% of the amount raised into $50 Visa gift cards, which will be distributed to people whose homes have been condemned–some of the hardest hit folks, in other words.   This will allow them to choose where they most need to spend this money.
Please give generously to support the Grange Hall, and the people who have lost so much to the floods.

Beautiful plants for sale, too!

As he has done for years, stalwart supporter Rob Nichols has carefully grown and tended healthy and attractive indoor plants, which he is selling for the benefit of our fundraiser.   He’ll have a selection available at the “finale dance”, plus there are more for sale at Farmhouse Flowers, in Moretown on Rt. 100B.
Rob has decided that he can’t handle growing and selling these plants.  He’s planning that this year will be the last, so get your beautiful plants by Rob before they are gone!  We really appreciate all the work Rob has done for the Grange, the Hall and the contra dance–for decades! 

 Champlain Valley Fair! 

On Friday, 8/25 Alison Forrest and I assembled our 2023 exhibit, which is part of the VT State Grange’s exhibit at the CVF–which is still going on through Sunday 9/3.   I’m including some pictures below, showing the red ribbon we won for 2nd place in the Grange exhibits!
Our Grange also staffed the VSG exhibit this last Tuesday, 8/29.   Merry Shernock, I, Patty Giavara and Alison covered the two shifts, talking to people who are interested in the exhibits, giving them some idea of what a Grange is all about, and trying to get them interested in the VSG quilt raffle, the craft project (selecting fabric for “comfort pillows” to be sewn and stuffed by Grangers), and exemplifying the friendly welcome which the Grange offers to everyone who wants to take part.
During slow times, we were also able to listen in to the cooking demo taking place in the same large room–Ethiopian/Eritrean cuisine!    A friendly cook showed us how to prepare and cook Curried Chicken, Spiced Lentils and Spinach with Tomato, Jalapeno, Ginger and Garlic.   Wonderful aromas ensued, and we got to eat samples too!
We’ll need help again next year, to fabricate a new design for our exhibit, and to staff the VSG area–please talk to any of us if you’d like to take part–and get free parking and admission to the Fair for the day!

Grange model by Alison, slideshow & background by Tim

This year’s display was based on Alison’s willingness to take on building a scale model of the Grange Hall, which is the primary focus and community service project of our Grange.  Alison took the scaled drawings I have made over the years, pasted them on foamcore panels, and assembled the beautiful and detailed model you see here!   Below, there are photos of some of the details, including the dancers on the real wood floor she fabricated and her lift representation, plus the Lower Level details.
The slideshow on the screen showed photos from 15 years of Hall improvement projects, shown in less than 10 minutes!  The 2014 “new” Hall sign visible in the picture is just one of about 100 pictures.   The tri-fold background includes a (partial) list of the events we host–on a regular or one-time basis.

Dancing at the Grange Center–Sept. 9

If you want to do a little more dancing, you’ll have an opportunity to do some simple dances with VT State Grange members, a week from this Saturday at the VT State Grange Center in Brookfield.   That day is the State Grange Fall Festival, where many vegetables, needlework and other items which Grange members have cultivated and created will be displayed and judged, games will be played–and in the evening, a dinner and a dance!
Calling for the dance (which will be from about 6:30 to 8:00) will be by Liz Benjamin, a long-time dancer, and the caller and co-founder of Dance, Sing & Jump Around.   That event–for kids and their families–is a monthly favorite in the colder months at the Grange Hall.    Music will be provided by Susan Reid and members of the VT Fiddle Orchestra.   We have been able to provide dancing and music as evening entertainment several times before the COVID pandemic, and we’re looking forward to doing it again.   Both the State Grange members who take part, and those of us who’ve gone there to partner with them have found it to be fun, and we hope you will join us!   Please contact me, Tim: swartztim15@gmail.com for more info.

Charles Martin–recovering

What’s Your Answer to This Questions?

Or–what about your friends and neighbors?  All of us who read (or write) email newsletters know that having a good internet connection is an important necessity in this age.   And we also know that getting one is often a real struggle.
The National Grange–the nationwide organization which includes all the Community and State Granges like ours–is urging us to help solve connectivity problems for people in our area, by publicizing an existing program of the Federal government–the “Affordable Connectivity Program“.  People who qualify (based on income and number of people per household) can get a significant discount on monthly charges, plus up to $100 subsidy for devices to connect to the internet.
Capital City Grange would love to find a Grange member or a local citizen who would like to spearhead this effort in our area.  There’s available training, posters and handouts at no cost through the VT State Grange, and even help with grant-writing.  Get in touch, and we’ll be happy to support you!
Anyone who needs some help with internet costs can also go directly to the FCC page for this program, to get more information, application forms, etc.