Dinnan sees Grange increasing in-person gatherings

For many people, the notion of a Grange conjures up images of days gone by. Tai Dinnan wants to make sure the organization stays relevant in the 21st century.

Dinnan grew up in Charlotte and has fond memories of community gatherings including Town Meeting Day. She recognizes that times are changing and feels a degree of nostalgia toward how things used to be. That’s one of the reasons she agreed to take on the role of president of the Charlotte Grange.

Dinnan got a degree in community health and child development from Tufts University. She was working as a school gardens coordinator in Somerville, Mass., when she realized how much she craved clean air, water and soil and a quieter environment. So, she moved back home to Charlotte in 2012.

“Most of my work has the underlying theme of community connections and understanding that people who are connected to their local community and are engaged and have purpose are healthier and happier,” she said. “I seek those things out.”

When she returned home, Dinnan saw that most members of the Charlotte Grange were in their 80s or 90s. She noted that a few key people kept things going, but the membership had diminished. There were some social events, often involving music, but Dinnan wasn’t feeling personally drawn to the organization.

That changed when then-President Mike Walker asked her to join in 2021. Dinnan volunteered to serve on the program committee but made it clear she would only attend one meeting a month and didn’t want to be involved in the bigger organization.

“The Grange Hall has been underutilized recently,” she said. “I felt like it had exciting potential.”

By the fall of the following year, the executive committee had retired. Dinnan said she’d be willing to take the role of president if Sally Wadhams would serve as vice president. “We were slowly growing,” she said, “but many of our members were brand new.”

Dinnan said the Grange came out of COVID having no programming except for the Grange on the Green summer music series and business meetings. These days, there are four programs a month and membership has grown to almost 50 people.

“We are growing exponentially,” Dinnan said. “Programming grows memberships and when membership grows, people have more ideas, and then there is more programming.”

She said some programs are those the Grange has committed to doing over the years, but others are brand new ideas, put forward by the new membership.

The Grange is considered a “third space,” which Dinnan described as a gathering place in the community separate from traditional spaces like homes and work places. She recognizes that traveling in Charlotte can be inconvenient, and in the aftermath of COVID, there are new ways of meeting virtually but there is a different dynamic when you gather in a room with people.

“It could be a pub or hardware store or playground,” she said. “Right now, the Grange Hall isn’t open most of the time, but it’s there, and we are doing more and more every year.”

In high school, Dinnan was involved with the work of Amnesty International. During college, she spent a summer abroad in France. Recognizing that she preferred her travel to not take place in a bubble with other Americans, she subsequently spent several months in Tanzania, training local gardening groups through the Global Service Corps.

These days, Dinnan is happy to be contributing to community closer to home. “As things are happening in the bigger world, we have so much access to information that it’s easy to get overwhelmed,” she said. “I’m so busy with doing what I can to strengthen and connect my local community that I feel like this is an area where I have the most ability to have an impact.”

In furtherance of that, the Grange is creating a directory of volunteer opportunities in Charlotte. It will list the different organizations that seek volunteers and how people can connect with them and will be available starting on Town Meeting Day.

Dinnan, the daughter of Lewis Creak Association co-founder and long-time Charlotte volunteer Marty Illick and artist, sculptor and stone mason Terry Dinnan, grew up in a home filled with community spirit.

“Our town is run by volunteers and small Vermont towns have been run by volunteers forever,” Dinnan said. “It is a trend for people to be caught up in national and international events from their seat in their home on their phone, but there is so much we can do here. I encourage people to engage in person in real life if they’re feeling hopeless.”