Earth Day Principles

Earth Day.  Earth Week.  Earth Month.  Earth Year.  

As this formal celebration of our home planet winds down, let's reflect on our actions, decisions, and commitments to the environment.  We are indeed charged with the responsibility of making changes that will help align our values with our conduct.  Our industrial food system as it is today is loud, big, and destructive.  We know that.  Food cooperatives remediate this impact by exchanging it for locally grown, sustainable, healthy, happy produce and products. 



A big welcome to Giles, one of our new Earth Day member/owners



It’s time to do your best for our bitty part on the Earth called Richmond.  If you haven’t yet become a member/owner of the Richmond Food Co-op, the time is now.  For those of you who have already made this commitment, refer a friend.  Act out your Earth Day principles.

Eat:  Fresh food.  Eat it.

Act:  Don’t stand by the sidelines.

Recycle:  Co-ops are great recyclers.  

Together:  Cooperation is where it’s at.

Healthy:  Food. Mind. Body.  

Decision:  If you have the choice, make the right one.

Affordable:  Shop at the Co-op, knowing you are paying a price that’s as low as possible.

Yours:  And Mine.  And Ours.  The Co-op belongs to us all.

Growing our membership opens our doors. 

Next year let’s celebrate Earth Day together at the Co-op!

i.e.* Finale

(Thanks to Danny Spry Photography for our member slide show and video below)

Last night's i.e.* Competition affirmed that Co-op equals community.  All of the finalists were there because they each received around a thousand online votes – and we thank you for yours!  Clearly there is power in the number of people who support our cooperative endeavor.  Also, we extend special gratitude to everyone who came to CenterStage to cheer.   Your enthusiasm truly captures the spirit of the Co-op.

Congrats to Jon Davidow - one of our first supporters - and his partners at Speakeasy for winning the competition! Congrats as well to finalist Zach Sisisky - one of our Pioneering Co-op Member/Owners - for an awesome presentation and all of the great things that his business the Richmond Autism Connection is planning to do. There were many inspiring business pitches in this competition, and it was pretty amazing to know that we were sharing that stage with another Co-op Member/Owner.

I value my Co-op. I am grateful for my Co-op community. I am proud of this venture that we are all a part of together.

-Michele

Spring Into Action!

Did you hear that winter's over?  The basil and the carnations cannot control their laughter. The nightingale, back from his wandering, has been made singing master over all the birds.  The trees reach out their congratulations. -Rumi

If you have ever met me, the least you could say is that I am enthusiastic, especially when I discover something amazing.  To me, the Richmond Food Co-op is beyond amazing!  When I met Michele Lord last fall, I practically flew to her side where she stood next to the trusty chalkboard announcing the news, “Food Co-op Coming Soon”.  I’ve had the privilege of working for the Co-op ever since.  

We have recently reorganized our original Steering Committee into a few sub committees focused on the Co-op’s most pressing needs at this point in the start up process – the Outreach Committee, Events Committee, Buy Local Committee and an Advisory Council. I am excited to Chair the Events Committee, as events are the most tangible (and fun!) way for us to stay connected to our growing community. We have many great plans in store in the coming months - it will be a busy spring and summer! Dates and details for all of our future events will be posted on our website and Facebook page.

Are you a member/owner and looking to lend a hand?  Consider becoming an official Co-op volunteer and help us spread the word at our events.  We are building a trained volunteer support team that we will call on to help promote and staff our events and we need your help! Email me at Frances@richmondfoodcoop.com if you are interested in learning more. It’s time to get busy and Spring Into Action!   Work with me to help make our dream into our reality! 

Additionally, we need our entire Co-op community to join us next Tuesday, April 16^th for the i.e. Start Up Competition at Richmond CenterStage.  In addition to the grand prize of $10,000 there will be an audience vote for a $2500 award – your attendance matters! Tickets to the event are free - please register today. Please note that audience members will vote electronically – so be sure to bring a smart phone or laptop with you to the event. We look forward to seeing you there. 

-Frances Martin, Events Committee Chair

Survey Results!

First of all, thank you to everyone who filled out our first survey!  Your input, whether through surveys, emails and Facebook, our community forums, or happy hours – is vital to our community effort of forming the Richmond Food Co-op.

We hosted a short survey in January and February to ask you where you shop for groceries, what you like about it, and what the Co-op can do differently and better.  Our final tally was 108 Richmonders!  Technical speak disclaimer:  108 is a big number to us, but in statistics it's small.  Also, because the survey was mainly promoted on the Co-op's blog and facebook page, these results don't represent all of Richmond, but an outspoken group of people interested in what we're doing here.  And outspoken you were!  Almost everyone left long comments, and we read every one.

First, we asked where you spend most of your grocery dollars now.  About half of you shop at traditional chain grocery stores.  Around 30% said you mainly shop at either specialty or local health food stores.  This suggests our crowd is already willing to try something different.

We asked you to rate your primary store on different aspects, and also overall.  Below are the average overall ratings in each case.  You told us chain and specialty chain groceries meet your needs “Somewhat well.”  Local and health food stores scored slightly higher.  The few customers of CSA’s/Online gave very high scores, as did Superstore customers.

Thinking about your primary grocery store:   How well does the store meet your needs overall?   1-Very Poorly, 2-Somewhat Poorly,  3-Somewhat Well, 4-Very Well	# Listed as Main Store	Avg Score
Chain grocery (Martin’s, Kroger, Food Lion, Farm Fresh)	56	2.9
Chain specialty grocery (Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Fresh Market, Tom Leonards)	18	3.0
Local and/or health food store (Ellwood Thompson, Good Foods, Farm to Family, Libbie Market)	16	3.3
Farmers markets	6	3.0
Superstores (Wal-mart, Target)	4	3.8
CSAs and online buying opportunities (Fall Line Farms, Relay Foods)	4	3.8
Buying clubs (Costco, Sam's, BJ's)	3	3.3
Other	1	3.0
Total	108	3.1

We asked you to choose from a list of top factors you look for in a grocery store.  This tells us what we should focus on for the Co-op.  While quality, convenience, and price – that is, practical value – come first, Organic selection is as important as price to this group.  Organic was selected more often then Local, but there is more to this, as we’ll see later.

Next, let's look at the top six factors chosen. Among those who chose them as top factors, we have colored this chart by how well their current grocery store meets that need.  Though fewer people chose Local than Organic, they are relatively less satisfied with the Local selection at their stores than Organic shoppers are with their Organic selection.

Remember, the chart above showed satisfaction of just those listing Organic or Local as a top factor.  When we look at everyone who answered the survey, the difference is even more pronounced.  Over half of you said your need for local foods was somewhat or very poorly met at your current store (mostly poorly).  That's almost twice the dissatisfaction everyone reported with Organics. 

The last thing we asked you was what the Richmond Food Co-op could do differently that would make you want to shop there.  This question was open-ended, and most of you gave long, detailed responses.  While price was still at the top of the list, local food was the second-most mentioned.  The enthusiasm for supporting our local food economy is clear.  The Richmond Food Co-op has the opportunity to be a part of the solution here.  Our mission and guiding principles explicitly support this goal.

Specifically, we plan to open the store with as much locally-sourced food as we can.  Then we will set goals to increase that percentage each year.  As we get closer to opening, we will form a committee of member/owners who will work together to source products in the store.

Varied comments about having knowledgeable staff and a friendly atmosphere tell us that personality is important.  You also gave many specific requests for types of groceries, from a bulk aisle to organic or humanely-raised meats, fresh, in-season produce, and the ability to find most of your staples.  One in ten of you specifically said you were already familiar with food co-ops and are excited Richmond is forming one!

A few had questions about the Co-op's location, and food access equality throughout our city.  This is an important issue.  The Co-op's model is to be economically sustainable for its member/owners, while also being mission-driven.  We plan to partner with Richmond-area food-related non-profits.  We encourage your creative ideas.  You can read more here.

It is exciting that so many Richmonders share the vision for a community food co-op!  Everything you mentioned has been on our minds in the Steering Committee Meetings.  The most important step in shaping the Co-op is by joining – so if you’ve been considering becoming a member/owner do it today – membership is ownership!

Thank you!

Speaking of Co-ops, Dada Maheshvarananda

I’ve always found it strange that our political democracy is oblivious to economic democracy. Maybe it’s because co-ops aren’t well known or understood.  After more than 35 years of co-op experience, I’m invested in exploring and developing the highest potential of co-ops.

One of my earliest inspirations was Mondragon, a group of cooperatives in the Basque region of Spain. Started in the 1950’s to create jobs, it has become so successful that it now provides fair wages, job security and health care benefits through worker, consumer, producer and banking co-ops. It is a community of people making a better living with each other.

Co-ops create a sense of community because the members come together for a common purpose. Co-ops are not motivated by profit, resulting in a shift in the overall economy: jobs rather than profit, local suppliers rather than shipped in goods, quality products rather than cheaper products.

 

Someone who shares a co-op vision with me is Dada Maheshvarananda.  He advocates for economic change to improve quality of life in Latin America.  His idea is to create an ethical and fair economic structure, and co-ops are a big part of his economic plan.  Cooperative ownership of the majority of businesses would shift economic and political control away from big business. The focus would change from “how can a few get richer?” to “how can everyone have a better life?”

Dada’s economic model encompasses political, social, ecological, and spiritual aspects. He is the director of the Prout Research Institute of Venezuela.  Prout was the brainchild of S. R. Sarkar, who devised a plan to reorganize society and the economy for the welfare of everyone.

 

 

Dada Maheshvarananda will be speaking about his book, After Capitalism, Economic Democracy in Action, on April 1, at 7 pm, at the Friends Meeting House, 4500 Kensington Ave.  Come out and hear what he has to say.

Here’s a link to the event page on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/events/574704812542446/578579855488275/?ref=notif&notif_t=plan_mall_activity#!/events/574704812542446/?fref=ts

Cheryl Marschak, Richmond Food Co-op Steering Committee

 

 

 

Growing Richmond's Citizen Sector

My first boss out of college, Ashoka founder Bill Drayton, often talked about eliminating the terms “nonprofit” and “nongovernmental organization” from our lexicon. He felt it didn’t make sense to be defined by what you were not. Furthermore he argued the term “nonprofit” sent the wrong message to both businesses and “charities” (an equally flawed term) and failed to capture what many in this ever evolving third sector were all about. Instead we championed the term “citizen sector.” It all felt a bit silly at the time. More and more though, the term is starting to resonate with me. This is particularly true when I think about why I am a part of founding what will be the Richmond Food Co-op.

Co-op models across the country fall across a wide spectrum of taxcode definitions. But I believe they are almost all best defined as belonging to this “citizen sector.” They are citizen owned, citizen run, and citizen-serving. Co-ops and other like-minded institutions, businesses, and organizations operate within a framework that can harness the best practices of the public, private, and nonprofit sectors while often avoiding some of the pitfalls and shortcomings of both.

These are not models that ignore or eschew capitalist principles of profit, efficiency, or economies of scale. Rather these principles are embraced and maximized to the benefit of all. This is capitalism at its best…a collaborative capitalism, a cooperative capitalism. What this, other co-ops, and fields like social entrepreneurship offer is the grand compromise of collaborative and cooperative capitalism. And I use the term compromise intentionally because the compromise goes beyond the business model. I feel confident in saying that this co-op will not be perfect. What it will be is a compromise that moves the needle forward and improves the local food system. 

I don't think for a second this co-op will be a perfect solution to our food access issues, but it will be a piece of the puzzle...a puzzle piece with membership available and affordable to all (including a discounted rate of $15 for qualifying members), in a central location accessible to as many people as possible. Despite our best efforts the Co-op will not reach everyone. The co-op will, however, become one of a number of other institutions working in their own ways to improve our food system and an active participant in an ongoing conversation. Richmond needs small neighborhood grocers like Little House, vibrant urban farmers markets like Byrd House Market, unique business models like Fall Line Farms, grassroots urban garden efforts like Roots of Woodville and McDonough Garden, and other “citizen sector” organizations like BusFarm/F2F, Tricycle Gardens, Renew Richmond, Shalom Farms and the Richmond Food Co-op working together on creative models to get healthy local produce into the urban core. This co-op is one more thread in the ever-improving fabric of the Richmond food system. That’s why I’m excited to be a part of it.

-Dominic Barrett, Steering Committee Member

I Joined the Co-op Because...

You've heard a lot of compelling reasons from us, your Co-op Board and Steering Committee, as to why you should become a member/owner of the Richmond Food Co-op.

Now it's time to bring in the voices of our Founding Member/Owners, those that have taken a leap for local, by becoming one of the first 100.

I JOINED THE RICHMOND FOOD CO-OP BECAUSE...

“It's long overdue in Richmond.  I have been a member in a co-op in another state in the past and loved being able to shape where I shop.”

“I have been dreaming of a co-op in Richmond ever since I moved here. It is about damn time!”

"To take part in something I believe in, healthy local food options.  I am a local farmer and nurseryman myself, and I understand the importance of a non-csa and non "Saturday" farmers market-related buying experience in Richmond.”

“We have big concerns about the sourcing of our food by big grocery chains.” 

 “I have always tried to eat healthy foods and support local businesses.  I'm a single working mother who is short on time, but now that my children are getting older I feel like I have the time to get involved in causes that mean something to me... joining the co-op as a member/owner seems like a good step in that direction.”

"I support community involvement, local farmers.... I love healthy food all year long. I want to be able to get good food not just during seasonal farmers' markets but anytime.”

These are the voices of your friends, neighbors, co-workers, and family members.  They have joined a community dedicated to eating fresh, healthy food that supports our local economy. 

And finally, a couple of quotes from folks who likely would have joined the Co-op too:

“We shall have no better conditions in the future if we are satisfied with all those which we have at present.”  -Thomas Edison

"Why not go out on a limb? Isn't that where the fruit is?"  -Frank Scully

Come out on this limb with us...where the VA fresh fruit is...

The sun is shining on Richmond now - so let's bloom!