Know Your Board: Tim Vidra

Coming clean on this post — before learning about the Richmond Food Co-op and becoming an owner I do not ever recall stepping foot into a cooperatively owned grocery store. Of course, that has changed and I have visited several in my travels over the past couple of years, growing to love and advocate for the Co-op concept here in Richmond.

So, what have a I learned serving on the board and becoming a part of this positive movement in Richmond? Well, quite a bit and I'm excited to share the major points that have resided with me:

1. Did you realize we are surrounded by Co-op's in Maryland, DC, North Carolina, and Virginia, but have yet to open one in Richmond? Yeah, we need to change that.

2. Co-op's are all about volunteering and working in the community! I can't tell you how much I've learned about Richmond and the new friends I've made through volunteering opportunities with the Co-op. Here's a favorite shot from the group of us volunteering at Feedmore's Community Kitchen and another from our visit to Shalom Farms here in Richmond:

Richmond Food Co-op volunteering at Feedmore

Dominic Barrett of Shalom Farms during the Co-op volunteer day

3. Co-ops are all about giving back to the community! One of my favorite holiday memories was having the opportunity to help cook a Thanksgiving meal for a family in need through the Co-op's efforts this past season:

2013 complete Thanksgiving meal donation

4. Co-op's are about working with local farmers so we know where are food comes from! I met Josiah and his family of Lockhart Farm through the Co-op — learn more about Josiah, another board member in this post.

Josiah, Jocelyn, and Alexander of Lockhart Family Farms

5. Member owned Co-op's are about educating and giving owners a voice in their grocery store. I couldn't be more excited for this opportunity in Richmond.

Richmond Food Co-op's first annual member meeting

Finally, and most importantly, the Richmond Food Co-op is about fellowship, open minded conversations and engagement surrounding our community, our local economy, and the local, seasonal, organic, and ethical means our farmers use to bring food to our store and ultimately the table for our families.

Co-op 2nd annual picnic

If you would like to be a part of this growing grocery here in RVA you can become a member here. You can also gift a membership (hint: Father's day is Sunday), or you can help with our indiegogo campaign by making a contribution or sharing it with your friends and family to help spread the word.

To stay in touch with the Richmond Food Co-op follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Tim Vidra Vice-Chair, Richmond Food Co-op

Join Us: 1st Annual Richmond Food Co-op Member Meeting

We are so excited to be holding our first member/owner annual meeting tonight and hope to see you there!

When: Tonight — Monday October 7th, 2013 from 6:00-7:30
Where: Feedmore 1415 Rhoadmiller Street Richmond, Virginia 23220 Directions — HERE

We are looking forward to recapping just how far we have come since starting our membership drive back in February. We've had some exciting happy hours, potlucks, community forums and our first annual picnic. Of course, we have some business to take care of too and will be electing some new board members!

To recap, the following 3 members are up for election are:

Board nominees: Julietta, Tom and Kelsey

• Tom Karnes, professor at VCU. Learn more about Tom here.
• Kelsey Miller, local Tax Associate and Scott's Addition resident. Learn more about Kelsey here.
• Julietta Singh, English professor at the University of Richmond. Learn more about Julietta here.

In other exciting news, we have just been awarded with and are eager to announce a $10,000 seed grant from the Co-op Initiative, a cooperative assistance nonprofit. What does this mean and how will it help your Co-op? Find out tonight!

We also have plenty of committee signup opportunities. Are you awesome at outreach, event planning, or have you just been itching to get involved in a community garden? These are some of the avenues where we can use your help (and awesomeness). This is a great chance for you to get involved with your Co-op!

Then there is the fellowship. Fellowship is one of the main drivers of a good Co-op. What is the definition of fellowship?

Fellowship: friendly association, especially with people who share one's interests.

"They valued fun and good fellowship as the cement of the community."

So come spend some time with us tonight and meet other member/owners and share in our joint interest of community, local healthy food, and our vision for a Co-op in Richmond, Virginia. It's long overdue, don't you agree?

-Tim Vidra, Board Vice-Chair

Richmond Food Co-op "Goals for 2013"

We are so thrilled to bring in the New Year! We will have plenty of events that we hope will help you to get to know us better. One event we are looking forward to is our meet and greet January 31st at Hardywood Park Craft Brewery! Stand by for all the details early in 2013.

As we head into the new year, we here at the Richmond Food Co-op have some resolutions of our own we'd like to share and several of them you can help us achieve!

Richmond Food Co-op 2013 Resolutions

1. 800 members by September 1st 2013. Our membership drive will begin early in January with more details to come!
2. Building partnerships with local business who support our vision.
3. 2000 followers on the Richmond Food Co-op Facebook Page!
4. Growing our community and spreading the word through member-hosted Pot Luck parties.
5. Keeping and growing money in our local economy through community investments and 200 member loans.
6. 1000 followers on the Richmond Food Co-op Twitter Page!
7. Host 12 member and non-member "Meet and Greets" (remember the 1st one is January 31st).
8. Supporting as many local farms and artisan food sources as possible.
9. Growing our network of volunteer and support; media, sales, and event experts.
10. Have our physical space picked out and defined as early as we can in 2013.
11. Once we've defined the space, getting those doors open for shopping!

So to say we have some lofty resolutions is an understatement, but it will ultimately start with YOU, our members. We have some exciting ideas to help our efforts once our memberships start rolling in — some of which involve a Kickstarter campaign and a Member Loan Drive. More to come!

So with that, all of us here at the Richmond Food Co-op wish you a Happy New Year — with much prosperity and good health in 2013! We are so excited to get to meet all of you in the community.

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to the Richmond Food Co-op blog; we're so glad to see you! While we continue to get things rolling, please take a moment to look around and make yourself at home. Great places to start are our About page, FAQ's page.

Keep up with Richmond Food Co-op news, events and general going-ons by following this blog. Enter in your email and press submit above, or add us to your reader by clicking the orange RSS button in your sidebar and choosing your preferred method for following.

We're always happy to hear from you — please feel free to contact us any time via Richmondfoodcoop@gmail.com or call us: 804-384-0583.