Grange Notes Archives - Page 40 of 51

Socks pile up, Community Service ramps up, the driveway will get fixed up…and dressing up for fun and a prize!

October 25, 2016 by Tova

Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, October 17, 2016

Thanks! for socking it to the Grange! 136 pairs worth!
This picture was taken at the VT State Grange annual meeting, held last weekend at the Capitol Plaza. Capital City Grange and the people who rent our Hall donated 75 pairs. Phyllis Skinner asked Cabot Hosiery (makers of Darn Tough), who donated 61 pairs. All of these are included in the 752 pairs donated by Granges around the state.
All of these socks will be brought to the 150th annual National Grange meeting, held in November in Washington DC. We’ll try to get a picture of the big tree which will feature the donations from around the country. ALL of the socks will be donated to homeless shelters in DC.
Thanks to everyone who donated!

Grange meeting: moving forward with community service

October 1st brought our stalwart crew of active Grange members back to the Hall, to make some decisions (see below for plans for the driveway and the parking lot) and start planning for the future.
Merry Shernock reported on her first meeting with Onion River Exchange (https://www.orexchange.org/), to start implementing our new membership. Her goal was to get the specifics on how Grange members can perform services for elders involved in Home Share Now (https://www.homesharenow.org/, a partner organization which matches people seeking a place to live, with people seeking house-mates, for mutual support and companionship. The organization provides lots of assistance and support for all parties. Since that meeting, she has met with the Home Share office staff to learn more. The basic idea is that by using volunteer time to provide rides/companionship/shopping help/other services, Grange members working through O.R.E. and HomeShare can earn “hours” of credit for the Grange. In turn, the Grange could get help with all types of services available from O.R.E. members–everything from landscaping to baking to painting help.
One note about working with HomeShare Now–all volunteers would have to go through a background check, part of their normal vetting procedure for people getting involved.
Merry has also arranged with Washington County 4H to provide free rental for their Oct. 23rd “Achievement Celebration”, starting at 2:00. AND they are looking for 2 or 3 lucky JUDGES for their Cupcake competition. To volunteer for this onerous duty, contact 4H leader Allison Smith: allison.smith.2@uvm.edu
We are going to add a “Community Service” report to our regular meeting schedule, to keep up with initiatives like this–and of course our ongoing sponsorship of Kids Trade & Play on 2nd Saturday mornings!
Grange Musician Matt Nunnelly led us in a singalong, list of songs he planned along with Merry, who provided words for the ones not in the Grange songbook. They included This Land is Your Land, I’ll Fly Away, and Yellow Submarine, among others! We ended with a few rounds, assisted by conducting help from veteran singer (as well as dance caller) Bill Olson, including a new one about pizza…which was an excellent prelude to our usual delicious post-meeting potluck dinner–don’t miss the next one on November 5th!

It’s baaaaaaaaaaack
The Halloween Contra Dance Costume Contest
Do you remember those horrifying and/or laughable visions from last year? Join us for the CDU dance on Saturday, Oct. 29th, tune up your costume, and compete for the sweet prizes. Presented by Merry and Tim, just for fun!

Who likes the driveway?

No one who has driven up it recently…but we have a plan! At our October meeting, the Grange voted to invest in re-working of the driveway by the same contractor who fixed the “gully” which threatened to eat our parking lot last year. Matt Dwyer will re-grade the driveway to direct run-off to the side, to avoid the gullies which always want to form. He will also re-grade the parking lot, deliver 15 cubic yards of crushed granite, and will use his compactor to solidify the re-grading to reduce the damage from future downpours.
This is the sort of thing that is easier to fund, now that we have been given a tax exemption by the town of Berlin. We’re on Matt’s schedule for November!

Socks for the homeless, and Oct. 1st = next meeting with singing and potluck

September 27, 2016 by Tova

Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, September 25, 2016

Are these a sock in your eye?

Well, sort of. Our purpose is to remind you that the Grange is collecting socks, and we need some from you. All the new socks we collect will be delivered to the State Grange meeting, on Oct. 14th. The VT State Grange will bring socks from Granges all over the state to the National Grange annual meeting in November, held this year in Washington DC. After that, socks donated from all over the country will be given to homeless shelters. So–bring that extra pair of new socks you decided you didn’t like, or a six-pack of work socks from the back of your drawer, or a couple of pairs you go out and buy this week! We’ll combine all our donations with a number of pairs already given by Cabot Hosiery, and be part of at least 400 pairs from Vermont Granges. We all know winter is coming, and way too many people don’t have any warm socks to get through it–so it is a pleasure to support this national project. We want to AT LEAST fill up the laundry basket at the Hall.

Our next meeting is coming up! Featuring singing!

We have our second meeting in 2 weeks, thanks to our September meeting being delayed to avoid Labor Day. You’ll see a report below. Our October meeting, on the first day of the month, which is also the first Saturday will include more planning for the future, and discussion of the Resolutions to be voted on at the VT State Grange session on Oct. 14th and 15th.
And at 5:30: Singalong at the Grange will feature Grange Musician Matt Nunnally at the piano, providing a strong lead for songs like This Land is Your Land, I’ll Fly Away and Blue Skies, plus Merry will teach some “fun rounds about food”!
After we sing about it, we’ll eat it–at the Community Potluck advertised on the elegant “side-sign” made by the multi-talented Patty Giavara. We now have an easy sign-hanging system which will allow organizations using the Hall to put up signs for special events–no tools required. This one will be used over and over, of course!
Merry has been publicizing our singalong and our potlucks on Front Porch Forum in Berlin, Montpelier and Northfield, plus on the Grange Facebook page–please spread the word where you live, and in all of your social networks, in person and on line.

Grange meeting votes to join O.R.E., supports community organizations, celebrates summer painting projects, elects officers and starts planning for the fall

Our first Fall meeting for the year got us started on Grange business, and reviewed where we are now. Our treasurer’s report from Les Skinner confirmed that our finances are in better shape than before–our tax abatement voted by the Berlin Town Meeting in March has come into effect, which really helps!   Les did report that he did receive a bill for taxes in August, but was able to get the records corrected and the bill withdrawn.
Merry Shernock has been encouraging community involvement with our Grange, and looking for community service opportunities. She has been focusing on Berlin, but embracing the whole region. At her request, we approved having the Grange join the Onion River Exchange, which is a “Time Bank” designed to allow members to donate time (not dollars) to worthy causes and to other people, and thus accumulate “hours” in their accounts. They can then use these to rent the “hours” of others for services of all types. As an “institutional member” we can earn hours by donating use of our facilities–both indoor and outdoor spaces (raised beds?   community gardens?)–and by involving our members in providing services to elderly people in the HomeShare program–reading, giving rides, providing companionship, and more. Merry is meeting with the O.R.E. coordinators on September 28th, to learn more specifics.   If you want to be involved, get in touch with her!
Merry has also made contact with the Berlin Schools PTA to discuss a rotating display of children’s art at our Hall–which will encourage their parents to come as well.   And she is making arrangements for free use of the Hall by the Washington County 4H chapter, which connects us with local agriculture and local young people.
We have room and support to do much more–we need people who want to organize community service projects, or who want to help with Hall projects–we’re happy to have people involved with the Grange, but are also happy to support projects by non-members.   Get in touch!
We gave a round of applause to the various painters who have improved the looks of our Grange Hall: Alison Forrest’s interior painters, and Joe Blakely’s exterior painters.   Alison has also sewed a new decorative border for the stage opening! Merry has started reorganizing the community bulletin board on the South end of the Hall, to clarify what events are held at the Grange, and to distinguish ads for local goods and services.   Check it out!   Merry and Alison were approved as the official Hall Re-Decoration committee to decide how and where to hang photos, quilts, woven items, Grange information and art like the Berlin kids’ art we hope to have soon.   Want to pitch in? contact Merry at her Grange email address: rentals@capitalcitygrange.org, or Alison: https://feedkidswell@hotmail.com to offer to help.
We also held our biennial elections for Grange officers, and were able to add Joe Blakely as Steward to our previous roster. Katherine Blakely was elected to be Pomona–one of the 3 “Graces” who sit at the front of every Grange meeting.   Other officers remain the same–ask if you want to know the details, or come to our next meeting to see us in action. As you will see from the notice above, there is fun to be had.

Challenge Fundraiser succeeds, Grange meeting will celebrate

September 14, 2016 by Tova

Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, September 12, 2016

FCCGH Challenge Fundraiser ends with success–and a great dessert potluck

Thanks to everyone who donated to the Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall, the FCCGH raised over $3,500!    All of these donations will be used to support maintenance and improvement of our Grange Hall.   Unlike previous years, the Friends don’t expect to need to pass on some of the proceeds to cover the operating deficit of the Grange.   This partly due to no longer having to pay property tax to the Town of Berlin, and also to the increasing number of rentals filling the Grange Calendar.
The Friends met on Thursday evening, 9/8, to begin discussion of plans for the next year.   There is no shortage of projects–items we discussed include replacing doors in the old entrance, adding insulation and siding on the North gable end wall, improving drainage and insulation for the basement, and many more.   We are looking at options for grants to help us leverage the money donated by the Grange and dance communities as matching funds for grants, too.
We also talked about holding another “Family Fun Day” as we did in January of this year–which got universally good reviews! This functioned as a fundraiser, but also as a great community bonding event.   Look for more info as we get closer.

Thanks to everyone who contributed!
Of course, thanks to the hundreds of people who gave us a few or a lot of dollars. As always, lots of people made this successful fundraiser happen:

Patty Giavara, Chair of the Friends made the “ladder of success” shown here–note that the total ended up as over $3,500, even more than we knew about, thanks to contributions coming in via mail and Paypal contributions!
Dana Dwinell-Yardley organized another very popular dessert potluck for the dance break, and many people contributed brownies, cakes, cookies, nuts and more. Even more dancers managed to eat almost all of the offerings–and donated to the contribution bowls on the way.
Ben and Jerry’s donated large boxes of vanilla and strawberry ice cream! Thanks to Todd Taska for picking it up; Thomas Weiss and I dished up this ever-popular treat.
Rob Nichols grew a lot of beautiful potted plants, which were given for a contribution of $5 or more.
Our “Challengers” put up $1500 before the fundraiser for the dance and Grange communities–who more than matched it!
Many volunteers helped with cleanup after the desserts (mostly) disappeared; Merry Shernock helped encourage and coordinate the volunteers–and then took the tablecloths and towels home to launder.

Our stage was beautified for the fundraiser and beyond by yet another contribution from dedicated Grange Chaplain, dancer and volunteer organizer Alison Forrest, who made a border of quilt-type squares to dress up the “proscenium arch” of the stage opening. Combined with the quilts on the back wall, our stage is looking pretty spiffy. The left quilt belongs to my family, the one on the right was made by Charles Martin and Richard DeCosta–and is available for a donation of $400 or more!)

The hall has new paint on all the interior walls. 3 walls have a creamy yellow, and the stage wall a darker color, and all the window and door trim has been re-painted. Many thanks to the volunteer crew, organized by Alison, and including at least Marissa Keller, Joe Blakely, Cynthia Haviland and Todd Taska–and likely others who I have inadvertently left out–let me know and I’ll correct the omissions!

The FCCGH is supporting both of these projects by purchasing the paint and supplies for all the painting–part of the proceeds from last year’s Challenge Fundraiser!

Grange meeting next Saturday will feature celebrations and planning…and then a potluck!

We’ll have our September meeting on the 17th, the 3rd Saturday of the month, to re-start Grange “business” meetings. After this month, we’ll meet on the first Saturday. We’ll start at 4:30 PM–please come on time so we can move through a lot of items:

Celebrate the fundraiser success!
Celebrate the completed painting of the interior!
And the progress on outside spot-scraping and priming!
Celebrate Marj Power’s most recent award for needlework-from the State Grange
Planning: continued reaching out to the Berlin community which has shown its support for us–Muzzy Rd. Park maintenance? Putting on community events (like the Family Fun Day sponsored by the FCCGH)–movie nights? Board game nights? Lego nights? I’m borrowing ideas which came up at the FCCGH meeting–there are more.
Onion River Exchange: Merry will present a proposal for joining this central VT “time bank”
Organizing the “community bulletin board” on the south wall of the Hall–having it cleaned off for the painting gives us an opportunity to suggest some reduction in the chaos–Merry and I hope to make a first pass before the meeting at distinguishing Grange and non-Grange events, commercial and non-commercial advertising.
Singalong at 5:30 on October 1 will feature Grange Musician Matt Nunnally at the piano, providing a strong lead for songs like This Land is Your Land, I’ll Fly Away and Blue Skies, plus Merry will teach some “fun rounds about food”!
Potluck at 6:00: we’ll set up our usual potluck dinner–bring your favorite dishes featuring the harvest of the summer gardens! We’re starting the potluck earlier than we used to, to make for a more relaxed and convivial dinner.

Meeting the Challenge–upgrading our Hall & raising money, plus planning for new Grange activities

August 31, 2016 by Tova

Challenge by the FCCGH: coming to an end on Saturday!
and there will be dessert!

Please join the Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall for the culmination of this year’s “challenge fundraiser” on Saturday, Sept. 3rd. Once again this year, generous supporters have pledged $1,500 in donations, and have challenged the rest of the dance and Grange community to match that amount. The CDU dance, featuring Nils Fredland and Nova will celebrate the end of the challenge–no extra admission cost, just an appeal for support for the Grange Hall. Bring some extra bills–or donate anytime via Paypal at the Grange website: https://www.capitalcitygrange.org/donate. All donations are eligible for a tax-deduction, too!
Another special attraction at the dance on Saturday: Dana Dwinell-Yardley is organizing a “dessert potluck”–bring your favorite goodies (sweet like cookies? savory like roasted nuts? filling like cake? whatever you specially like will be appreciated!) and share them at the break in the dance.
Reliable supporter Rob Nichols has grown another attractive selection of potted plants, which he is supplying for donations–his plants are healthy and ready to grow in your house! See them at the dance!
Where will your money go? The mission of the Friends is to support the maintenance and improvement of the Grange Hall, working with the Grange itself. The FCCGH will be meeting in September to prioritize projects: more painting (see below), better security (we had a break-in this summer, and have ideas about programmable locks), replacement of the old entrance doors, insulating the foundation, doing maintenance on the driveway (see below for pictures of what this summer’s rain has done). There is no shortage of projects!

New paint, after many years, graces the Hall

Bright new colors are showing up on the walls of our Hall, thanks to volunteers organized by Alison Forrest. We think the original color, put on when the Hall was built in 1953, has never been re-painted! Lots of steps–clearing the walls, washing them, taping off the trim around the windows and doors–has already been done. The new paint already covers both ends–see above for the new, cheery yellow color on the south end–and starting up the side walls.

Want to help with inside painting? contact Alison to find out when the next painting day is scheduled: https://feedkidswell@hotmail.com

Want to help with outside painting, organized by Joe Blakely? Contact Joe at: https://joeblakely640@gmail.com Joe has been gradually scraping the peeling old paint from the many spots on the outside of the building, priming as he goes, with help from Hap in the last few weeks.
The FCCGH is supporting both of these projects by purchasing the paint and supplies for all the painting–part of the proceeds from last year’s Challenge Fundraiser!

Join us on Sept. 17th to open our Fall season of Grange meetings

Since the first Saturday falls on Labor Day weekend, we usually postpone our September meeting to the 3rd Saturday. This year, we have our usual good list of things to discuss–we’d like the input of people who care about the Grange and the Hall, so please join us!

Review of the summer–a break-in, painting projects and more renters!
Security changes? what should we do to make our building a bit more secure.
Community focus–how can we continue to strengthen our ties to our local community–both the Town of Berlin and the central VT area which surrounds us? We have been opening up and reaching out over the past few years, and it has let us make more connections, let us do more community service, and brought more people to our Hall.
Berlin connections: we’ve been asked to help with maintaining Berlin’s newest park, at the corner of Rt.12 and Muzzy Rd, a few miles south of the Grange–weeding, taking care of sandboxes and play equipment–we’ll get more details.
Onion River Exchange–Merry will present a proposal for joining this community “Time Bank”. The basic outline is that we could earn hours by doing volunteer community service, giving us the ability to access professional services from others involved in the O.R.E.
Sock donations-we are still collecting (new) pairs of socks for the National Grange, which will distribute them to needy families at their National meeting in DC, in November. Keep bringing them in!
New links with 4H, which wants to use our Hall for their “Achievements Awards”, as well as for other meetings.
Quilting for the Grange–can we join with our renters, perhaps, to enter a new State Grange contest for making a queen-size quilt?
And we’ll be congratulating Marj Power–who has won another couple of ribbons from the VT State Grange for her knitting!
Our driveway is showing the effects of some of the downpours we have had–should we get it re-graded?
And this is the year for Grange elections–some of us have filled the chairs for quite a while. We have room for people to become part of the “officer corps”, talk to me or any of the other Grange members to learn more.

The rain at the Grange floods downward as it drains

We had our driveway re-graded a couple of years ago, and it has held up pretty well until the heavy rains of the last few weeks. Now some small gullies have started to form. As mentioned above, one of our topics at our September meeting will be how to cope with this inevitable degradation. Try to control the runoff with water-bars? Pay for grading? Marshal a work-day with lots of shovels and wheelbarrows?

Break-in at the Grange, Summer 2016 Report, Challenge Fundraiser

August 18, 2016 by Tova

I’m sorry to report that our community hall suffered a break-in recently. It was ably handled by our Rental Agent, Merry Shernock, with help from other Grange community members. Here is her report:

BREAK-IN AT CCG HALL

DATE: Sometime between Sunday noon ( 7/24) and Monday (7/25) 8:00 AM.

REPORTED BY: Ken Eardsley, who came to the Hall to do Kendo. Ken called Berlin Police, and left a message with Jody Pettersen, former Rental Agent The door to the NEW ENTRANCE was open when he arrived at 0800. He found the door to the ‘Grange Closet’ in splinters, and guessed it had been kicked-in to access the attic. There was no other damage in the attic, or elsewhere in the Hall, and nothing appeared to be missing, though several drawers and cupboards were opened from the attic to the basement, and the intruders appear to have rummaged through things in a fruitless quest for valuables. Representatives of Barre Tones and Church of Christ confirm nothing was taken.

Ken advised that a Berlin PD Officer came to the Hall and checked around, and I have also called Berlin PD. I have heard nothing from them, however.

The wooden key-return box was ripped from the outside wall and is now missing. From this, several have deduced that entry was likely gained with a key in that box. No other keys appear to be missing.

DAMAGE REPAIRED: Joe Blakely, Grange member, and Lewis Neill, Montpelier Church of Christ, a long-time regular renter, cleaned up the mess. Lewis removed, planed, and sanded the undamaged door to the attic and hung it to the entry of the ‘Grange Closet.’ Joe repainted it. Lewis hung an old door of his own to close off the staircase to the attic. At the request of Alison Forrest, Grange member, Lewis reinstalled the lovely old brass knob, previously on the attic door, on the “new” door to the ‘Grange Closet’.

SECURITY RESTORED: The doors to both the OLD and the NEW Entrances were rekeyed on 08/03 by Jerry Sklon, Lockworks VT in Middlesex. Jerry also improved the way the door to the New Entrance operates. He made twenty (20) numbered keys for the new locks and I, as Rental Agent, am distributing these keys.

PLEASE NOTIFY me (rentals@capitalcitygrange.org) IF YOU MAKE COPIES FOR ANYONE

PLEASE NOTIFY me (rentals@capitalcitygrange.org) IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO GET IN NOW!

LONG-TERM SECURITY: I believe the CCG community was lucky this time. Per Carla Kervorkian, Afro-Caribbean Dance, another long-time regular renter, “This was a warning.” Next time we might not be so lucky; e.g., our floor could have been damaged, there could have been graffiti, there could have been windows and appliances damaged, the piano could have been rolled off the stage. Imagine the impacts and the long-term implications!

Therefore, the CCG Community soon will be planning for better security; e.g., new doors, new locks, new procedures. YOUR FEEDBACK IS WELCOME/NECESSARY/INVITED!

Please send your comments and suggestions to

rentals@capitalcitygrange.org, or master@capitalcitygrange.org
especially if you can help implement improvements!

In the end, however, WE ARE OUR OWN BEST SECURITY! People using the Hall at various times of the day and night (including those who come to access WIFI, or whatever, in the parking lot), people being mindful to close doors and windows, people paying attention to who is in the parking lot, people taking care with keys, people not leaving valuables on the premises, etc. plus the intermittent police patrols we have at present, are what we need to take to keep our Hall an accessible and affordable community resource now and in the future.

Merry Shernock, Rental Agent

Making our Hall even better looking

Volunteers organized by Alison Forrest are making real progress in improving the inside of the Hall. They have chosen new colors (one of them is seen on the stage-end wall), taken everything down from the walls and washed them and the trim down, and started to paint! Please be assured–all the quilts, fabrics, pictures and certificates are saved and will be reorganized and re-hung once the painting is done.

Want to help with inside painting? contact Alison to find out when the next painting day is scheduled: https://feedkidswell@hotmail.com
Want to help with outside painting, organized by Joe Blakely? Contact Joe at: https://joeblakely640@gmail.com Joe has been gradually scraping the peeling old paint from the many spots on the outside of the building, priming as he goes.

Kids are trading and playing at the Grange

We are pleased that Grange member Erin Barry (seen sorting clothes in the top photo) is continuing to build the success of “Kids Trade ‘N’ Play“, held every 2nd Saturday from 9:30 to 11:30 in our Grange Hall. There is a regular stream of all kinds of families every time she opens up, donating and picking up clothes to fit the ever-growing kids. The play area set up in the corner–also with donated toys–is a big hit too, keeping the youngsters busy. Parents network while they look for clothes (all clean and without holes), trade parenting advice, daycare recommendations, and make friends–as do the kids!
Want to help? KT&P needs someone at noon to take fibers to be recycled, or at 11:30 to help take-down. Maybe you can help with set-up on Friday, or maybe you want to sort donations? Contact Erin: birthsinnerlight@gmail.com to find out how you can get involved.
This is a great example of a community need, a willing organizer, and the space and support of the Grange coming together to provide a service. What’s your idea for what you could do with the Grange?

The Challenge begins again….

The Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall have begun collecting pledges (from challengers) and donations (from Grange members and friends) to supp0rt maintenance and improvements on our Hall. This year, $1500 has been pledged by a group of dedicated supporters–with the hope that the rest of the Grange/dance/renter community will match the challenge. This year, we hope that the Grange will not need help with operating expenses, so the money raised can go exclusively to improvement projects.
Projects the Friends are considering, besides continuing the painting, include:

A new locking system (programmable locks?)
Re-siding the north end
Replacing the old doors at the original entrance with insulated, weather-stripped ones with windows,
Insulating the foundation to warm up the basement
And many more–look for planning meetings this fall!

To support all of these ideas, donate via Paypal at the CCG website: https://capitalcitygrange.org/donate/, put money in the donation can at CDU dance events, buy some of the beautiful plants grown by Rob Nichols (available at the Hall) or see any Friends member!

The fundraiser will conclude at the Labor Day Weekend dance, Sept. 3rd, with Nils Fredland calling, and music by Nova!

Sock it to the…National Grange?

Capital City Grange will kick off a sock collection effort at the July 9th potluck, dance and celebration.   What’s it all about? Why is there a laundry basket, gradually filling up with socks?
The National Grange asks for donations for their meetings, held in November every year. Each year, items are donated by Granges from around the country, and are given to charity following the meeting.   In past years it has been a “mitten tree”–this year, the donations are socks!
VT State Grange has been challenged to donate 400 pairs of socks this year, and we want to do our part!   Bring in (new) socks of any kind–homemade, with toes, athletic socks, wool socks, kids’ socks, and drop them in the basket–it’s easy to find, there’s a big sign on it!

What’s the common thread for these Notes?

Even when the Grange is not meeting (we take a “hiatus” in the summer), the Hall is full of activity, and there’s always room for more. It takes a lot of people doing their various parts to keep this volunteer organization going and to keep improving our shared Hall.
When the Hall was broken into, Merry took charge of organizing our response–and got lots of others to pitch in as well. When the Hall needs painting, Alison and her crew, and Joe Blakely as well have stepped forward.
We’ll have our next meeting on the third Saturday in September, Sept. 17th 4:30 PM, to avoid trying to compete with Labor Day.