Every year in the fall, we celebrate YOU, by holding your Co-op Annual Membership Meeting to bring you Co-op updates and more! This year it will be held on

Saturday, November 12, 2016
11am – 2pm
Olympia Community Center, Room A
222 Columbia Street NW
downtown Olympia

The Olympia Food Co-op’s mission is to contribute to the health and well being of people, with goals to “Support efforts to foster a socially and economically egalitarian society” and “Assist in the development of local community resources.” Food Sovereignty and Native rights, the theme for this year’s meeting, relates to efforts which the Co-op has been engaged in this year, including the collaborative mural projects featuring the art work of political prisoner Leonard Peltier at both stores, support for the Paddle to Nisqually inter-tribal canoe journey, the upcoming register round-up donation to support the Standing Rock Tribe’s legal campaign to halt the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline across their sacred grounds and water resource, etc. Come hear local leaders, Sonny Davis of Native Harvest, Elizabeth Campbell and Aleta Poste of the Squaxin Tribal Garden, speak on their work around cultivating food sovereignty and native rights for tribal communities here in the Pacific Northwest.

Learn about the latest Co-op ideas and decisions through reports from your Co-op Board and staff collective, meet the Board candidates running in this election cycle. And top it all off by feasting on traditional and seasonal Northwest food provided by Twana Catering (Skokomish) and salmon by Native Harvest– along with local sweets and beverages. A space for your children to play and be entertained will also be provided at this family-friendly event. This is an excellent opportunity to reconnect with old friends, learn about the latest Co-op comings and goings, and become involved in our Co-op community.

We hope to see you there!

Saturday, November 12, 2016
11am – 2pm
Olympia Community Center, Room A
222 Columbia Street NW
downtown Olympia

Stand in solidarity with Standing Rock every time you shop at the Co-op!
Stop the Dakota Access Pipeline

Round up at the Register
and the Co-op will match all donations up to $1000!
Proceeds will benefit multiple organizations, these as well as others:
Standing Rock
Sioux Nation Youth Council
Sacred Stone Camp Legal Fund

Bring to the Co-op much-needed supplies
and they will be delivered to Sacred Stone Camp!
Scroll below to find out what is needed

For the latest news
sacredstonecamp.org

Donate directly to Sacred Stone Camp through Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/196PVIWRDX1M4

Petition
change.org/rezpectourwater

Solidarity Poster design
justseeds.org/solidarity-with-standing-rock

Supplies List as requested by Sacred Stone Camp
Gift Cards Lowes, Menards, Amazon, Verizon
Tents (Especially Winter Tents)
Sleeping Bags for Subzero Temperatures
High Quality Winter Jackets
Battery Packs & Solar Chargers
Carts, Wheelbarrows, Snow Tires
Ropes, Tie-downs
Heavy Duty Tarps
Heavy Duty Storage Bins
Power Invertrrs and Solar Panels
Walkie-Talkies and CB Radios
Gas Cards, Paint, Money
Do Not Bring
Clothing or anything not on this list

links update, November 3, 2016

Raven Redbone, of Olympia, hosts the “Make No Bones About It” show Sundays, 4 – 6pm, on 89.3 KAOS Radio. We requested Raven to provide us with links for folks to access accurate information about Standing Rock. Here’s what was sent our way…. thank you, Raven!

#WorldWaterOne

Indigenous led movement to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline
https://nodaplsolidarity.org/

Red Warrior Camp
https://www.gofundme.com/redwarriorcamp

Goodthinking 4 All Our Relations is a registered nonprofit organization founded in July 2009 to address and meet the needs of the seemingly forgotten and overlooked children and Elders in “Indian Country.”
http://4allourrelations.org/?page_id=2

This group is to help facilitate transportation to the protest due to emergency need of help
https://www.facebook.com/groups/noDAPLtransport/537541309780609/?notif_t=group_activity&notif_id=1475069554002032

No DPAL Stand Up for Standing Rock: 100% of all funds are going to 501 (c) 3 nonprofit Goodthinking 4 All Our Relations
https://www.gofundme.com/2ryy8uxg

Censored News is a service to grassroots Indigenous Peoples engaged in resistance and upholding human rights.
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Censored-News-428451600511125/?fref=ts

Honor The Earth, creating awareness and support for Native environmental issues and to develop needed financial and political resources for the survival of sustainable Native communities
www.honorearth.org/

Indigenous Environmental Network, an alliance of grassroots Indigenous Peoples whose mission is to protect the sacredness of Mother Earth.
www.ienearth.org/

In anticipation for our
Annual Harvest Party and Local Eats Celebration
Westside Olympia Food Co-op
September 18, 1pm – 5pm
here is a blog post from a staff member’s experience of being a Local Artisan …

remember this calendar from 2001?

Twenty two years ago, after graduating from college, I was determined to “make it as an artist”. After several years of exploring ideas utilizing my natural talents and interests, I ventured to take some pictures of downtown buildings, printed them in the local college darkroom, found some discarded card stock from the local frame shop, and put together little cards and went to the Olympia Food Co-op, shyly asking if they would be interested in carrying them.

The staff member who helped me was so kind, and immediately purchased a handful. Within a month I was selling a dozen a week. This inspired me to go to other stores. Within a year, I produced a handmade calendar (Xeroxed!) with the images, carried in 13 stores with a high turnover. The next year, I produced another calendar with more success. This gave me the confidence to continue as a self-employed artist, creating more projects that enriched our community, branching out to music and dance, and hiring – and paying well – local bands, performers, and teaching assistants for community and school cutural events .

This all started by the Olympia Food Co-op being so willing, so kind, to carry my art project, and this beautiful community of folks who appreciate local products enough to support with their hard-earned money.

This story is to demonstrate how one little seed, one little purchase of something local, can directly contribute to a community that is enriched with creativity.

It takes a great deal of creativity to come up with how one can run a business, starting with an idea. Many small businesses start with a simple idea, maybe something like – hey! other folks might appreciate this! And from there, it is often to find that a mere 20% of one’s time is devoted to the craft, while the other 80% is wrapped up in business tasks. Thus, one can arrive at a place to question the validity of their hard work. And, often, it is the dollars that will make the difference. The dollars that you give to them.

When shopping, and I find myself faced with a decision to spend an extra dollar on something because it is local, handmade, etc., it is interesting to observe my thoughts. Often I find that immediately – perhaps because of my consumer training – I reach for the cheaper product. And then, suddenly something happens, what it is? Perhaps a memory of how it feels to be a small business owner, providing work for folks in my community? What is this urge to support local? Is it to take this opportunity to provide a sustainable future for my community by spending only an extra dollar? To support anything that will allow folks to have good jobs within their passions and talents?

Whatever it is, it feels good, and I want to go there.

The idea that my dollars will go directly to folks who made this – who came up with the idea – who risked their finances to put together a business built on passion – who daily work hard to make it work. That extra dollar is worth all that for me. Not only that? Likely it will taste better, feel better.

Now, for a tip-toe into the Olympia Food Co-op’s Local Farm program… in my new staff training I was introduced to this program, and was amazed. As I recall, it all started with something like – hey, we were getting multiple farmers coming into the store with the same products and we had to turn many of them away. The produce department staff came up with an idea where they could work directly with the farmers before planting season. Over the years, this has bloomed into an incredible program, where the participating farmers rotate crops (creating sustainability of their land), and grow product that our members will readily purchase, while ensuring that our stores will have a variety of product.

And, a final thought of voting with my dollar. When I focus on selecting foods that are grown locally, I feel that I am able to say – hey! ! I want our local land to be used for farms! I want to eat food grown around here! I want a future for my son where he can eat food grown in the region! I cannot help but to think… if a land is bulldozed and poured over with cement, how easy would it be for someone down the road to want to put a farm in there? This is worth that extra dollar, which is my vote.

Thanks for reading through my personal journey of exploring local. Here are some other ideas found out there in the world wide web….

CUESA – San Francisco
A nonprofit organization educating urban consumers about sustainable agriculture and creating links between urban dwellers and local farmers.
A Year of Eating Locally. Katrina Davidson, blogger in Bay Area

Grace Communications Foundation – New York
Developing innovative strategies to increase public awareness of the critical environmental and public health issues created by our current industrial food system, and to advocate for more sustainable alternatives
Why Buy Sustainable?

EcoWatch
An online environmental news resource, combining insights from environmentalists and business leaders, and has prominent board members including Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
9 Ways to Support Your Local Food Community

National Co+op Growers
Our partnership with other co-ops, bringing excellent pricing in our stores. They are the supporters of our Co-op Explorers Program where kids get free fruit when visiting
Healthy Foods, Healthy Communities

link to magic kombucha fundraising campaign

Recently, there was a tragic fire at the Magic Kombucha production facility and warehouse storage site. This business is an Olympia treasure, one that produces a very popular beverage here at the Co-op.

check out their FaceBook page here!

The Olympia Food Co-op Chill Managers have come together to find ways to support the re-building of the business by posting information on the cooler doors, and donating remaining backstock to Rachel to help her effort to rebuild her supply of kombucha mothers.

They are also encouraging folks who might have un-opened bottles to do the same.

link to magic kombucha fundraising campaign

a letter from Magic Kombucha

hello fabulous customers & friends. i write with a heavy heart & some tragic news—as some of you may have heard, the magic kombucha warehouse burned to the ground late last night. it’s a total loss. fortunately nobody was hurt or injured. the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

obviously magic operations are on hold indefinitely while we sort out insurance claims & rebuilding plans…at this point it’s hard to estimate how long such things will take, but we are determined to rise out of this stronger, healthier & more impassioned than ever. in the meantime, we may need to do some crowdfunding to cover unexpected &/or legal expenses. we will keep you posted.

thanks for loving our booch, & being such a supportive, loving family of rad local businesses. please keep those good vibes coming. xoxo
Best,
Rachel Carns

text from fundraising campaign site

The Story

Anyone who’s ever been lucky enough to sip Magic Kombucha knows that the name isn’t an exaggeration. The stuff is pure joy, brewed and “Bottled by Geniuses” (says so right on the label!)…or more specifically brewed and bottled by owner Rachel Carns and her 8 employees – artists, musicians, writers, performers – who lost their entire livelihood in a devastating fire that took out their 100-year-old warehouse in the wee hours of July 5, 2016.

The entire Magic operation is a loss. Everything is gone, literally up in smoke, with nothing left but a blackened skeleton of a building and piles of twisted metal and scorched green bottles. It’s truly a heartbreaking sight. Even more tragic is the fact that the employees are left with no income for an indefinite period – and this is where Magic can use your immediate help.

Let’s take a moment to paint a happier picture, because there’s something special about Magic Kombucha. They brew their kombucha in small batches (using Olympia’s famous artesian well water!), & fill, cap, & label each bottle by hand. Each kombucha tub, now lost, had a tag, named for pets, friends, ancestors, revolutionaries, cultural icons. The love and care that goes into their “booch” – a sweet-sour, bubbly fermented health tonic made with organic green tea – has made Magic a beloved staple of Olympia and beyond. Even the Seattle Seahawks drink it for post-game recovery; their nutritionist puts it in their smoothies!

Magic had expanded production a few months back, so the warehouse was crammed to the gills with booch – literally floor to ceiling with just a narrow aisle to maneuver through, a full six months’ worth of bottled kombucha. They had just started selling in a number of stores in northern California, and their distributor was in the process of getting Magic Kombucha into 30 regional stores of a national grocery chain. They were poised to take things to the next level.

Unfortunately, as Magic had been growing rapidly, they were running on an outdated insurance policy from several years ago that is capped at $77,000 – a mere fraction of the costs needed to cover employee wages while out of work, finance building out a new space, and provide living expenses for Rachel and the crew during the first few months of production. Magic’s lost product inventory alone is estimated at over $175,000, and that doesn’t include equipment. They are going to need immediate emergency financial assistance to help get them through the weeks-to-months before the insurance pays out – & to help cover the many losses and expenses that their insufficient insurance policy won’t.

Rebuilding the company is further complicated by the fact that you Just Can’t Rush Kombucha: from start to finish, the Magic brew needs 3-4 months (depending on weather) to properly ripen. That means 3-4 months of full-time work before income starts coming in.

Beyond that, this timeline doesn’t account for the weeks it will take to grow new kombucha cultures from scratch, or how long it will take to find a new space and build it out to Magic’s unique production needs. Magic’s employees may be without work for quite a while.

It’s a sad picture, but with your help it is also a rare opportunity to rebuild a Magic Kombucha that is stronger, healthier, and more impassioned than ever. Many have reached out to offer kind words and emotional support, and the Magic family is truly feeling the love. If you can, please consider donating to help bring that love to the table. However you can help, in word or deed, the entire Magic crew is eternally grateful, totally humbled, and in awe of the support and love from Magic Kombucha lovers near and far.

THANK YOU.

link to magic kombucha fundraising campaign

Fundraiser Updates

Posted on July 15, 2016 by Friends of Magic Kombucha

HEADING TOWARD $9000!!!thank you friends. Magic has a long road ahead, so don’t stop now! please continue sharing this page & giving if you can. still embroiled in insurance red tape…will post more info when we have a clearer picture of what might happen. meanwhile, we are putting out a call for HALF GALLON OR LARGER GLASS JARS!if you are in the olympia area & have some to spare, send us a facebook message– we’d love to take them off yr hands. MASSIVE SCOBY REGENERATION IN PROGRESS!

Posted on July 11, 2016 by Friends of Magic Kombucha

YAY! just passed $7000! this will help pay out partial wages for the Magic employees during the months of transition ahead. THANK YOU! we have a long way to go…& even if you can’t give money, there are many ways to help. local Magic fans & Olympia businesses have been donating their precious Magic Kombucha stock so we can grow new kombucha culture (better known as SCOBY, an acronym for Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria & Yeast); these booch angels have driven from port townsend, portland, seattle & beyond – every bottle counts! meanwhile, seattle komo news 4 interviewed Rachel & ran a clip on our story over the weekend – watch it here!

Posted on July 9, 2016 by Friends of Magic Kombucha

WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW you all are the best! only one day in & already at $4000!!! THANK YOU. days & days of endless meetings & messages & phone calls with insurance people & other insurance people & then some different insurance people…so happy the weekend is here. meanwhile, the local newspaper ran a cool story on Magic today–check it out by clicking here!

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link to magic kombucha fundraising campaign

A Really Sad Story about Fruit and Hail
Excerpt from August 2016 Produce Department Newsletter

Last week we received an email from Mike Brownfield, one of the Co-op’s primary growers for Washington fruit, including stone fruit (peaches, apricots, etc), apples and pears that had the following information:

“Greetings to our loyal customers, I’m afraid the prospects of a great season for us have vanished. We suffered a vigorous hail storm Tuesday afternoon. It lasted about 7 minutes and severely damaged around 50% of our fruit….Since we sell all of our stone fruit to our I5 customers, the quantity currently available has been greatly reduced by this storm. The peaches, etc. were in an area that received the brunt of the hail, wind and rain. Concerning our apples and pears, one end of the orchard appears to have 30% damage while the other end has around 70%.”

What this means for you as Co-op customers, is that we will likely see less of Brownfield’s delicious fruit than we normally do, and that the fruit we receive may have some damage. Mike has also let us know that he expects to have many cases of fruit available for canning, so if you are interested in purchasing a case of slightly damaged fruit, please let a produce worker know and we can get you information on pricing and availability.

It’s really sad how such a short and unusual weather event can cause such a horrible amount of damage, and it should remind us all of the risk that farmers take every day to bring us the fresh, high-quality, healthy, organic produce. I wrote about this last month, but I want to reiterate that as climate change continues to happen, we will likely see more weather events like these, more pest infestations, and a harder time controlling plant diseases. So take a moment to appreciate your produce, even when it’s not cosmetically perfect.

A picture of Brownfield’s delicious apricots pre-storm

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The Nisqually Tribe welcomes and celebrates all nations and visitors to Canoe Journey 2016! The Tribal Canoe Journeys – Paddle to Nisqually – will take place July 30th through August 6th, 2016.

Canoe Landing in Olympia on July 30th
Port of Olympia North Point

One of the ways we are supporting this effort is by offering Olympia Food Co-op Working Member credit in exchange for volunteering for the event. These links to take you to the volunteering opportunities:

Volunteer for the Canoe Journey

Volunteer for the Canoe Landing – Port of Olympia

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are you 12 or under?

come by the Member Services desk for a piece of free fruit every time you visit the Co-op!

and, a note for caregivers….

Co+op Explorers is a free fruit program for NCG co-ops. The benefits of a free fruit program include promoting healthy eating for kids (and appreciation by parents and the larger community) and a more engaging and fun shopping experience for both parents and kids.

Queer People of Color, Queer Trans People of Color, LGBTQ+ people …

… the Olympia Food Co-op loves you!

Many queer staff and allies are grieving the violence against people every day in this country. Native lives, black lives, brown lives, queer lives are lost every day.

We stand in solidarity with our community through yet another tragedy. We stand in solidarity with the victims of Pulse, with the victims of hatred and intolerance.

The community is invited to show it support by filling our store windows with hearts and rainbows with notes of support for the rest of June.

You can find hearts at each store or you could bring a heart or rainbow you made at home.

Let’s show some love because hatred is killing people.

Volunteer  for the greatest CO-OPATOPIA on earth!

CO-OPatopia celebrates cooperative businesses and all they contribute to our communities and the local economy.

Now in its fourth year, CO-OPatopia is the only free regional event specifically to promote cooperatives, their products and services to consumers, and to other co-ops. Co-opatopia invites co-op members to volunteer for this event! Contact Maija at the Northwest Cooperative Development Center for more information and to participate.

The purpose of CO-OPatopia is to

• Celebrate the community of co-ops
• Help current co-op members identify other co-ops in the area
• Educate non co-op users about the benefits of co-ops and how they can get involved.

Saturday, April 23, 2016

2 pm – 7 pm
“Co-op Street” – 5th & Adams – The Pet Works Parking Lot – in Olympia

Part of spring ArtsWalk

This weekend, April 16th & 17th, the eastside Olympia Food Co-op will be working on a mural painting project based on paintings by imprisoned Native American activist and artist, Leonard Peltier. This new mural joins the already completed Leonard Peltier mural at our westside location.

This project is in itself an action to raise awareness to Leonard’s innocence and his case for freedom, while also helping build momentum for a reawakened movement to pressure President Obama to grant Peltier executive clemency in this last year of his presidency.

Sign the petition to request his clemency here.

Our new quarterly newsletter, Table, has arrived in the store! Come pick up a copy and read articles and recipes by working members and staff!

Quarterly News Page

Even when the sun doesn’t shine, this deep yellow plant brightens up our plates and palates!

Turmeric is a favorite winter crop and we are happy to announce it has arrived at both our stores!

 It is an honor to host Leonard Peltier’s powerful paintings in both of our stores through November. We welcome you to visit these beautiful works, and visit www.whoisleonardpeltier.info and www.freeleonard.org to learn more.

Come try some delicious samples from our wonderful vendor Exquisite N Traditional  

From 11 – noon at the eastside on Saturday November 14th, and 11 – noon at the westside on Sunday Nov. 15th!

They will also be giving out Exquisite N Traditional shopping bags if you purchase two or more of their products during their demo. Oh…the joy in every bite!

Economics for Everyone: Building a Cooperative Movement

The World Health Organization recently released a statement regarding processed meats, saying, “reducing consumption of these products can reduce the risk of cancer”. We want to take this opportunity to remind our community that the Olympia Food Co-op has buying policies that shape our purchasing practices.

Our meat department works directly with local growers and suppliers who are committed to these same values, as well as the highest animal welfare standards and environmental stewardship practices. We do not carry any meats that have added nitrites/nitrates, meats treated with growth hormones, or preventative antibiotics. We never have and we never will. We value working with small farms, companies, and brands that take these values as seriously as we do, and bypass carrying products that may qualify under our guidelines if we feel we can get a superior product from “lesser known” brands/companies, in order to provide you with the highest quality product possible.

In short, we are proud to sell the meat in our stores, and welcome you to browse our awesome selection of sliced meats, salamis, sausages and bacon in health and safety!

Board of Directors Elections 2015
election held October 15 – November 15

Click here for Ballot PDF

Four candidates for the 2015 Board elections were received by the Sept 10 deadline. We realize that having one candidate per position is less than ideal. We strive to always having contested elections although we don’t have that this year, we are committed to running the election as prescribed by the bylaws article 3 section 4 which states “elections shall be held annually.”

The Board is researching and gathering feedback on reasons for the current low interest in running for the Co-op Board, and we welcome your opinion.

Candidates were asked to answer the following questions:

1. Why do you want to be on the Co-op Board of Directors?
2. What general abilities and skills would you bring to the Board?
3. What vision do you have for the Co-op?
4. What else would you like to share?

Eric Mapes

1. Why do you want to be on the Co-op Board of Directors?
The Co-op plays an important role in the Olympia community, making good food more accessible, providing living-wage jobs, and promoting social justice. The Co-op’s growth and prosperity over the last four decades demonstrates that a business model driven more by values than profit can succeed. I feel fortunate to have the Co-op in my neighborhood and want to do my part to keep it both economically viable and true to the Mission Statement.

2. What general abilities and skills would you bring to the Board?
I am committed to our consensus-based process, and have the skills to participate effectively in it. Having served as an elected member of the Co-op Board from 2009 to 2012, and as an appointed member since February of this year, I have experience with the Board’s process and understand the issues the Co-op currently faces. With a B.A. from the Evergreen State College and a J.D. from the University of Washington law school, I have developed strong written and oral communication skills. I am a licensed attorney and spent more than two years doing legal research and writing at the state Court of Appeals, so I have a good understanding of Washington law. I also spent about five years living and teaching in Japan, an experience that helped me appreciate the difficulties visible minorities face here.

3. What vision do you have for the Co-op?
I see the Co-op not only as a welcoming place for all people to access good food, but as a force for positive change in Olympia and the world. In terms of specific goals for the near future, I see the Co-op developing a workable, financially sound plan to expand our retail and warehouse space, investing in alternative energy systems to power our operations, and implementing a system to foster increased member input and involvement. I would also like the Co-op to revisit the issue of selling locally-produced beer and wine: I believe we can meet member demand for these products, strengthen our business, and support local producers in a way that both respects the needs of people suffering from alcohol addiction and preserves our working-member cashier system.

4. What else would you like to share?
After I moved to Olympia in 1994, I worked as a cheese packager at the Westside store for many years. The Co-op both nourished me and inspired me to imagine a better world- the working member discount allowed me to enjoy a quality of life I could not otherwise have afforded, and seeing the Co-op function inspired me to think critically about the injustice in our economic system. I will always be grateful. I humbly thank you for allowing me to serve as a director of this amazing organization, and would be honored to have your vote again.

Marc Hartung

1. Why do you want to be on the Co-op Board of Directors?
I want to be on the Co-op Board of Directors so that I may contribute to sustainable, and accessible, healthy food in my community. I am passionate about food and believe that it is the cornerstone of health. I am also passionate about social justice, open communication and collaborative processes. I would like to help the Co-op continue to move forward as a leader in the community in providing healthy affordable food, and applying anti oppressive practices in an open and inclusive manner.

2. What general abilities and skills would you bring to the Board?
I am familiar with consensus decision making and non-violent communication and I am committed to continuing to examine my place in our community through an anti oppression model. I do not shy away from struggle or discomfort. I believe these qualities will serve my position on the board by allowing me to facilitate moving forward in addressing difficult issues with both self and community awareness. I have experience working in logistics and I am skilled at seeing things from many different perspectives, asking a lot of questions, and working towards efficient solutions where necessary. I am insatiably curious and always eager to learn and contribute.

3. What vision do you have for the Co-op?
I envision the Co-op growing and evolving with the needs of the community as it pertains to maintaining or increasing access to food as well as increasing awareness within our community of discrimination and oppression that continue to permeate our culture. I believe that the Board of Directors exists to ensure that the Co-op remains a safe place that exists primarily to serve the whole community as well as its employees.

4. What else would you like to share?
I graduated from The Evergreen State College with a BS emphasizing pre-medical studies, medical sociology and ethics. I have two children and I love getting out into the wilderness with them to foster their love and stewardship of our earth. I currently work part time as a care-taker, and volunteer at the Olympia Free Clinic while pursuing a career in healthcare.

Sam Green

1. Why do you want to be on the Co-op Board of Directors?
I want to serve on the Co-op’s Board of Directors to ensure that the cooperative continues to effectively serve its members, empower its workers, and reach out to the greater Olympia community. The Co-op is not only a great resource for food and groceries, but living proof that people can use the cooperative model in an empowering and relevant way. I fully understand that our Co-op’s success is only possible because of the hard work of its volunteer members, staff collective, and Board of Directors. With this recognition, I am offering my time and my hard work to ensure that this great project we call the Oly Food Co-op continues to thrive.

2. What general abilities and skills would you bring to the Board?
I will bring years of experience in non-profit management, industry knowledge in cooperative development, and a solid understanding of community organizing to my work on the Board of Directors and for the overall cooperative. As a union organizer, I learned the importance of bringing people together, addressing the needs of our economic lives, and looking to our principles for guidance. Later, as a chief administrative officer for a labor union, I learned the skills of financial stewardship, accountable communication, membership engagement, strategic planning, and project management. These experiences will play directly into my ability to serve on the Board as a resource and as a cooperator. Most recently, I oversee the finances for a small local building company, and work part time as a cooperative development specialist with a non-profit, here in Olympia. These experiences have offered me the ability to hone my financial management skills and dig deeper into how cooperatives succeed and flourish.

3. What vision do you have for the Co-op?
I envision the Olympia Food Cooperative as an engine for not only meeting our community’s need of food, but for providing great jobs and connecting us with great farmers. Further, I want to see the cooperative as a resource for new cooperative endeavors and small-scale, added-value food projects. I want our Co-op to be a model of how consumer cooperatives may financially succeed while sticking to their principles and fulfilling their mission.

4. What else would you like to share?
I am really excited to see how our Co-op grows and changes in the coming few years. Being born and raised in greater Oly, I have always admired the way the Food Co-op overcame challenges to emerge stronger. It is my hope that whoever is elected to the Board will embrace these exciting times, navigate the unforeseen challenges, and keep our cooperative committed to its mission.

David Coppley

1. Why do you want to be on the Co-op Board of Directors?
Co-ops changed my life. Growing up a jaded, cynical kid, exposure to the cooperative model in my young adult years provided me with an opportunity to try to do something better than the status-quo for which I held such contempt. Some twenty or so years later, I have had the good fortune to work in a number of cooperative organizations—from national retails chains, to tiny non-hierarchical collectives. Throughout my career, which has included a variety of positions in the public, private, and non-profit sectors, I have always strived to champion the values and ethics we built in the co-ops. While my current employment in as a bike-promoting, youth engaging, all around do-gooder is very rewarding, I miss co-ops. So just toss me a vote, why don’t you, and together we can keep making this community of ours even better.

2. What general abilities and skills would you bring to the Board?
Well over a decade of retail experience, including approximately 7 years in cooperatives. I have worked in a variety of capacities in food cooperatives, doing everything from writing the paychecks to scraping the raisins off the floor. Extensive professional program management experience (about 10 years), with a focus of cooperative, volunteer-based workforces. I know how to keep a group productive and inclusive while having a good time. Public engagement – I am a confident, engaging speaker and active listener. Experience leading/supporting effective and inclusive meetings. I am a big idea person. I love to creatively envision, and have enough knowledge and experience to produce ideas that are achievable and relevant. My tofu salad is pretty bad-ass. Just sayin’.

3. What vision do you have for the Co-op?
I think the Olympia Food Co-op is doing pretty damn well as it is. My vision will come after I have had the opportunity to hear the interests and concerns of staff, volunteers, and patrons which make up our happy little community.

4. What else would you like to share?
Edward Abbey once said, “Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul.” If you are reading this, you obviously give a damn. So do I. Let’s keep making things better . . . together. I promise I am not as pretentious as my verbiage may imply. I am a pragmatist at heart and will get things done!

Saturday October 17
11am – 2pm

Olympia Community Center
222 Columbia St NW
Olympia, WA 98501

Live music by Erev Rav
Co-op Business News
Panel speakers from Cecosesola
Delicious food catered by Ninevah and Arepa
Drinks from Magic Kombucha and Kefir Soda
Desserts from Cobb’s and Peace, Love & Raw
Jusby the Clown to entertain the kids

The Annual Meeting for the Olympia Food Cooperative will be held this year on October 17 at the Olympia Community Center, 222 Columbia, in downtown Olympia, from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM.

A lunch buffet will be catered by two wonderful local food truck restaurants: Arepa, offering delicious Latin cuisine from Venezuela, and Nineveh with its unique Assyrian fare.

In addition to annual committee reports from the Board of Directors, we will also be graced with a panel of folks from the Cecosesola Cooperative who will just have arrived in Olympia from Venezuela. They will be getting a warm welcome from our members and at the same time will be accepting questions from the audience about their own excellent cooperative organization.

With the Board Elections moving into full swing, all members who have applied to run for a position on the Olympia Food Co-op Board of Directors will have the opportunity to take the mic and introduce themselves to all of those in attendance.

Children are welcome and will have a space to gather and play during the meeting and we may even have a clown join us!

This meeting is a good chance for members of the Olympia Food Co-op to get the latest news on Co-op business, meet up with old friends, share some scrumptious food, meet Board candidates, ask questions of the current Board, and learn about how the folks in Venezuela manage to run such a huge, successful cooperative business in their country.

Please put this date on your calendar. This is your Co-op. Your participation is what helps to invigorate and enliven it!

The elections will be held
October 15 – November 15, 2015

Current Olympia Food Co-op bylaws allow only for member notification of the annual meeting and Board of Director elections through mailings via the U.S. Post Office. With the use of so much paper, and over 15,000 members to notify, these mailings are costly for both the environment and the Co-op. Electronic notification would greatly reduce these costs and allow the Co-op to become more paperless. However, this change in how Olympia Food Co-op sends out these notifications requires a change in our bylaws.

It is therefore proposed that the Olympia Food Co-op bylaws be amended to read, with additions underlined:

An annual meeting of the membership shall be held each year. The place, day, and hour of the meeting shall be mailed to all active members, or sent by electronic mail to those active members who have consented to receive the notice electronically, at least 10, but not more than 50 days, prior to the meeting.

To receive notice of the annual meeting electronically, members must submit a request in writing, either electronically or on a paper form available from the Cooperative, indicating their consent and designating the electronic mail address at which they wish to receive such notice. In addition, notice of the meeting shall be posted at the Cooperative at least 10 days prior to the annual meeting. The purpose of the annual meeting is to provide an opportunity for the Board and members to discuss the activities of the Cooperative. The Board shall establish the agenda for the annual meeting in a manner that allows for members to propose agenda. (Article II Section 6 of the Olympia Food Co-op Bylaws)

Request to go paperless will also be included on the Olympia Food Co-op Membership form.

PDF of handbill

Board of Directors Application PDF

applications due September 10
election held October 15 – November 15

BOARD OF DIRECTORS INFORMATION
The Olympia Food Co-op Board of Directors is the elected body that represents the membership by establishing policies, overseeing the operating and capital budgets, approving plans and recommendations, and setting general guidelines for staff and working members. The Board holds ultimate legal responsibility for the operations and actions of the Co-op. Serving on the Board is a great opportunity to be an active participant in your Co-op’s future and in the future of our community!

The Mission Statement for the Co-op (from Section I.2. of The Bylaws) is:
The purpose of the Cooperative is to contribute to the health and well-being of people by providing wholesome foods and other goods and services, accessible to all, through a locally-oriented, collectively managed, not-for-profit cooperative organization that relies on consensus decision making.  We strive to make human effects on the earth and its inhabitants positive and renewing and to encourage economic and social justice.

Our goals are to:

A. Provide information about food

B. Make good food accessible to more people;

C. Support efforts to increase democratic process;

D. Support efforts to foster a socially and economically egalitarian society;

E. Provide information about collective process and consensus decision making;

F. Support local production;

G. See to the long term health of the business;

H. Assist in the development of local community resources.

Board Responsibilities (as outlined in Section III.12. of The Bylaws) are:
13. BOARD DUTIES

Except as to matters reserved to membership by law or by these bylaws, the business and affairs of the Cooperative shall be directed by the Board of Directors.

The major duties of the Board are to:

A. Employ Staff, approve the make-up of the hiring committee, approve job descriptions, and approve a hiring policy;

B. Select officers, and fill Board vacancies as needed;

C. Approve an operating budget annually;

D. Monitor the financial health of the Cooperative;

E. Appoint standing and special committees as needed;

F. Authorize appropriate agents to sign contracts, leases, or other obligations on behalf of  the Cooperative;

G. Adopt, review, and revise Cooperative plans;

H. Approve major capital projects;

I. Adopt major policy changes;

J. Adopt policies to foster member involvement;

K. Authorize major debt obligations of the Cooperative;

L. Ensure compliance with all corporate obligations, including the keeping of corporate records and filing all necessary documents;

M. Ensure adequate audits of Cooperative finances;

N. Maintain free-flowing communication between the Board, Staff, committees, and the membership;

O. Adopt policies which promote achievement of the mission statement and goals of the Cooperative;

P. Resolve organizational conflicts after all other avenues of resolution have been exhausted;

Q. Establish and review the Cooperative’s goals and objectives.

R. Provide an annual report to the members to include a financial report, committee reports, and a summary of other significant events held and actions taken by the Cooperative during the year.

Board members receive working member credit for their time spent in Board and committee meetings.  The monthly hour commitment ranges between 10 to 20 hours.  The Board meets once a month. Each Board member is required to join 2-3 committees which also meet 1-2 times per month (though this will vary from committee to committee.)  These committees establish plans and policies that are then passed on to the Board or membership for approval.  The standing committees include Finance, Expansion, Co-op Development, Ecological Planning, Standing Hiring, Local Products, and Member Relations. Temporary committees may be formed to deal with specific short-term projects (International Year of the Co-op, Discount Task force, etc.)

Eligibility & Election Information
To be eligible to run for the Board you must be a member of the Co-op with a current address on file, and you must be willing to make a 3 year commitment.  Board members can serve a maximum of two three-year terms. This year the Board has four positions to fill.  Newly elected Board members will receive in-depth trainings on consensus decision-making and anti-oppression, as well as the Co-op’s finances, policies, general procedures, and history.

The election will be held from October 15 to November 15

New Board members will be asked to attend the November and December Board meetings to begin their training and meet current Board members, and will officially begin their term in January.

If you are interested in running for the Board, you must fill out the application and submit it and a current digital photo of yourself to boardapplication@olympiafood.coop by 9pm on September 10th.

For more information, contact Fern at boardapplication@olympiafood.coop

This year’s Coopatopia event will be held as a “Co-op Alley” of booths in the Northwest Cooperative Development Center’s parking lot on 4th and Adams, right in the heart of Artswalk activities. A live Artswalk band & space for food and beverages will be onsite. Coopatopia is looking for artists who would like to display some of their work at a shared booth with a co-op, and talk with visitors about how much they love being a co-op member! Contact Cooptopia for more info on this event.

How is the Olympia Food Co-op involved with Cooptopia?
The Development Committee of the Board is working to create a network of mutually supportive co-ops and collectives in the Puget Sound. An exchange with CECOSESOLA in Venezuela is part of strength-building for this network. Supporting each other operationally, and helping new co-ops grow is part of our goal, too.

Visit our page on the Co-op Movement

The Co-op is upgrading the way that we maintain our membership database and how we apply 10% discounts. Members who are used to just telling the cashier “Pink, Purple, Blue, or Yellow Card” will need to take a couple more steps than that to ensure that your membership is current and that you receive your discount, if you get one.

We know how hard it can be to change old habits, and some of our members have proudly carried their tattered pink cards for several decades. We hope to make the transition as smooth and easy as possible. Every member will need to get a new membership card at the cash register.

Why are we causing such a ruckus at the register?  Our membership records have grown tremendously over the last 10 years and we need new software to help us keep up.  By linking our membership information into the register system, we will have more accurate ways to track dues payments and membership renewals than our current system allows.  There will be other benefits as well, such as automatic applying of discounts and easier ways to resolve returns and overcharges.

Thank you for your patience and for being a member!  The Co-op Staff and Board are grateful to our large and active membership and all the support you show the Co-op year after year.

For more info about becoming a member

Guess who’s turning 2?
Come celebrate the New Moon, Olympia’s Cooperative Cafe, with a drinks & a silent auction. Proceeds benefit an exchange between area co-ops & collectives with co-op workers from CECOSESOLA in Barquisimeto, Venezuela!

History of our exchange with CECOSESOLA 
In 2012, to celebrate the United Nations’ International Year of the Cooperative, the Olympia Food Co-op partnered with The Evergreen State College for a historic exchange with CECOSESOLA, an integrated cooperative of over 50 member organizations in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. This exchange began a rich relationship between our two organizations that continues today. Below is a short film with footage and interviews from our visit in 2012. For more writing and photos, visit the blog, CECOSESOLA: A Co-operative Exchange. To learn more about CECOSESOLA (in Spanish), visit their website at  www.cecosesola.org.

Passionate about getting involved with your Co-op?
Join the Member Relations Committee!

This Committee of the Board is a group of members-at-large, Board, and staff members meets monthly and is tasked to facilitate communication between the membership and the organization. You will receive working member credits for your time (and get a discount on your grocery) plus work in a fun and collaborative team!

Deadline for submission is September 15, 2015

For application PDF to print, click here

Submit application by email at memberrelations@olympiafood.coop or drop it off at either store location with attention to Member Relations.

For more info, contact memberrelations@olympiafood.coop