Mend & Befriend program at the Grange

Join us!

Mend and Befreind at the Sebastopol GrangeMend and Befreind at the Sebastopol GrangeMend and Befreind at the Sebastopol GrangeMend and Befreind at the Sebastopol GrangeMend and Befreind at the Sebastopol GrangeMend and Befreind at the Sebastopol GrangeMend and Befreind at the Sebastopol GrangeMend and Befreind at the Sebastopol GrangeMend and Befreind at the Sebastopol Grange

Join us to build a community that fosters: sharing, mending, learning, self-reliance, friendships, zero waste, re-use, and repair.

MEND & BEFRIEND is a recurring event that will evolve over time based on our needs and talents.

When: On select Fridays
Where: The Sebastopol Grange – 6000 Sebastopol Ave, Hwy 12, Sebastopol.
Who: Open to Grange members and others of all ages.

We ask that participants bring clothes or fabric items that need repair and also sewing supplies, if you have any. We can help each other learn mending techniques both basic and decorative like embroidery and Sashiko: The Japanese Art of Mending Fabric with Beautiful Stitches. In addition please bring any yard tools that you would like to mend.

In addition, please bring any clean clothing items or fabric that you would like to put out for our clothes/fabric swap. If the item has a special story behind it, you can opt to write a small note about it and pin to your offering.

Also consider bringing any small tools that you know how to fix or that you need to fix so that we can start thinking about expanding our mending.

We will supply the following: extra sewing supplies, material scraps, project ideas.

We ask that you bring the following: a mask for when in close proximity to others while inside, plus a basket or bag for taking home your projects and any clothes you pick from the swap.

A donation jar will be circulated so that we can continue to support the maintenance of our Grange Hall.

Wanted – community members with tool repair and small electronic repair skills and sewing skills

Contact– produce@rahus.org.

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Grangers enjoyed being together at our December meeting

Our December meeting was a combined business meeting and general meeting. We enjoyed a boxed brunch of salmon toasts, quich, salad, and more, prepared by Dena with help from Carol and Dorothy Morgan.

President Laura reported on her conversations with Sean McNeil at the City of Santa Rosa about the tilling being done on the adjacent Kelly Farm by the current farmer, whose lease will be ending soon. McNeil said he is open to our Grange’s suggestion that the property be leased to a farmer who will use more biodynamic, no-till farming methods. They discussed the posibility of grants in partnership with the The Natural Resources Defense Council, the City of Santa Rosa, and the Grange.
“We have planted the seeds to make changes in local agriculture,” said Laura.

Ten-year-old Lucas Kessler, who received a scholarship from the Grange to attend Camp Winnarainbow last summer, told us aout the classes in break dancing, clown skills, Diablo and unicycle he enjoyed. He demonstrated his unicycle skills for us all.

President Laura swore in new members Lisa and Steve Pierce, Lucas Kessler and his mother, and Jeri Tavis.

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We met outdoors at the Grange for our July General Meeting

New Grange members
Grange meeting

We had a great time at our monthly General Meeting on July 27th! We welcomed five new members (four of whom are shown here with Grange Musician Peter Schurch and President Laura Shafer. ) We enjoyed a picnic outside with pizza provided by the Grange and were entertained by Peter and his musician friends! We caught up with old friends and made some new ones!

Sebastopol Grange

We met outdoors at the Grange for our July General Meeting Read More »

Movie Night at the Grange!

Lost in the Middle movie at the GrangeLost In the Middle movie at the Grange Backyard!
May 15, 8pm

A group of friends in their 40s come together the year after helping a friend die with dignity. They didn’t do a great job at it, sure, but they did their best, each of them getting through the pain in the ways they always have: sex, drugs and social justice organizing. Now, as they convene in the small town they grew up in to scatter the ashes and say one final good-bye, they discover grief about the past and fear about the future have changed them.

Think The Breakfast Club thirty years later meets The Big Chill, only more queer and diverse and funny.

Shot in Sonoma County, where writer/ director Angie Powers grew up (her childhood home is a major location), Lost in the Middle celebrates the hidden diversity of small-town life and the longevity of the friendships she nurtured here.

Tickets: $10 ($11.49 w/service fee), proceeds shared with the Grange. Max. 50 attendees. Bring your own chairs and blankets. Parking will start at 7pm; music by Paul Schwebel will precede the film, which starts at 8pm.

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Stop Asian Hate

Grangers are talking about…

SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice), Bay Area chapter

Stop Asian HateThe recent murders in Atlanta and attacks in Oakland and San Francisco have brought to national attention to what, unfortunately, is not news to many: bigotry, misogyny, and racialized violence in our country is thriving and Asian and Pacific Islander Americans are frequently the targets of hate crimes and acts of terror. White supremacy lies at the heart of these attacks; the Atlanta attack painfully highlights the intertwining of racism, misogyny, and racist fetishization directed towards those perceived to be sex workers.

As a group organizing white people against white supremacy, we particularly decry any attempt to downplay or distract from the racial animus of the Atlanta murders. Justifying heinous acts of violence by highlighting the mental health issues of the murderer is a luxury afforded almost exclusively to white murderers and further perpetuates a culture that consistently fails to hold the perpetrators of systemic violence accountable. We will not allow these claims or any victim-shaming to distract us from the larger issue of white supremacist violence that is alive and well in our country right now.

We will continue to take action to address the growth of white nationalism and terror. We wish to extend a message of support and solidarity to all in our communities who are of Asian & Pacific Islander descent: We see you, we value you, and we stand with you.

Allies, please find some resources and actions you can take below:

  1. You can support the families of the victims of violence in Georgia here.
  2. Consider donating to the AAPI Community Fund.
  3. Learn more about actions you can take to Stop AAPI Hate.
  4. Attend a free, 1-hour, online Bystander Intervention to Stop Anti-Asian/American and Xenophobic Harassment workshop presented by Hollaback! and Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAAJ).
  5. Read and/or have your organization sign on to this statement from Red Canary Song, a grassroots collective of Asian and migrant sex workers, calling for protection and rights for Asian massage workers and not an increase in policing in Asian communities. You can also support this visionary organizing here.
  6. Educate yourself and share timely articles here and here about the intersection of racism and misogyny in the Atlanta shootings and white supremacist efforts to divide Black and Asian American communities and how they have worked to find common ground.

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2021 Home Gardener Produce Exchange/Donation at the Grange

Join us again for our local project to redistribute homegrown produce and eliminate food waste!

 

  • Trade surplus items from your garden for something you don’t have.
  • Share produce you have gleaned (with permission) from a neighbor’s yard.
  • Share or trade seeds and plant starts.

Bounty for the County is our new goal this year:

We encourage all to grow at least an extra row to donate to our community members in need of healthy produce. At the end of the exchange period, all leftover produce will be donated to a food recovery partner.

Where: The Sebastopol Grange 6000 Sebastopol Rd/Hwy 12
When: 5:00 – 5:45 pm on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays, May 11 – Oct 26
May 11 & 25, June 8 & 22, July 13 & 27, Aug 10 & 24, Sept 14 & 28, Oct 12 & 26
Contact: Dena at dena@rahus.org or 707-484-5703

The exchange is a great place to build community, share garden stories, recipes, food recovery information and tips on local plant adaptations!Garden exchange at the Sebastopol Grange

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Thanks to all who contributed to the Food Drive at the Grange in January!

Food Drive“Thank you to everyone who supported the Sebastopol Grange Drive-Thru Food Drive this past Monday. Your help and generosity helped to make it a huge success!
958 items were donated at a value of $3,278.25 plus $235 in cash for a total donation of $3,513.25.
A HUGE thank you to all who volunteered, donated and helped to spread the word about the event. And a very special thanks to our gracious hosts and volunteers at Sebastopol Grange who made this event possible. (Thank you Hrieth for organizing!) These donations will go a long way in helping us feed our neighbors living with serious illness.”

Thanks to all who contributed to the Food Drive at the Grange in January! Read More »