ESSEX JUNCTION -- More than just the brightly colored drawing of a garden bountiful with peas, beans, corn and garlic went into the making of Siobhan Mendicino's second-place poster at the Vermont State Grange exhibit at the Champlain Valley Exposition.

The message that Mendicino, 12, of Jericho is sending is finely printed on the yellow poster board where it says the produce from the Community Grange Garden is donated to the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf.

George and Pat Gerecke of Williston pause to read and admire displays on the history of the Vermont State Grange at the Champlain Valley Fair in Essex Junction on Thursday.

"We've been growing vegetables at the community garden (in Essex Junction) and donating them to the food shelf for as long as I can remember," the Browns River eighth-grader said. "I really like helping people out, and we do that a lot in the Grange."

Giving youths the chance to become involved in the community is one way for the organization to recruit young members, said Colchester Grange President Sue Powers-Bellew.

There are 65 Granges in Vermont, six of them in Chittenden County. The organization has about 100 youth members, ages 14-21, and about 150 Junior Grangers, ages 5-13. Adult membership totals 1,700.

Community projects include funding for foster parents who care for children still enrolled in high school at age 18, and the purchase of vending machines with dairy products for high schools throughout Vermont.

Powers-Bellew, 41, took two days off as an information systems analyst at IDX Systems Corp. in South Burlington to chat with fair-goers and present the winners of the Grange poster contests with cash prizes.

"We think it's important for the Grange to have a presence at the fair," Powers-Bellew said. "We're still very active in the community."

Although only a few onlookers perched on bleachers under bright skies at midafternoon Thursday to watch Powers-Bellew hand out prizes to Mendicino and others, the effects of the Granges' efforts ripple throughout Vermont.

A history of the Grange is on display in the Blue Ribbon Pavilion at the fairgrounds. Each Grange created a section of the timeline, showing the range of Grange community involvement. They include rural electrification in 1935 and a national school lunch program in 1946. The timelines notes that the Vermont State Grange supported legislation four years ago to increase funding for foster families. Current projects include raising money for school dairy product vending machines and purchasing Merriam-Webster soft-bound dictionaries for third-graders at schools throughout the state.

What is the Grange?

The Grange was founded in 1867 by Minnesotan Oliver Kelley to advocate for farmers' interests. Today, most members are not farmers, though the group continues to advocate on rural issues. Membership stands at about 300,000 people in 3,600 local Granges. The organization focuses on nonpartisan political action, community service, leadership training and social activities.

Grange Terms

National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry: Formal name of the organization. Grange is an old English word for a farm.

Subordinate Grange: A local Grange chapter.

Pomona Grange: A regional or county level Grange. Master: Top leader of a Grange unit at the local, state or national level.

On the Web

National Grange Web site: www.nationalgrange.org
Vermont Grange: www.vermontstategrange.org
Vermont Youth Grange: www.vermontgrangeyouth.org