Happy Holidays! From Charles River Food Co-op
Thank you to our 766 paid members and our 2,000+ newsletter subscribers who have joined us and helped spread our co-ops mission in our community!
If you’re not a co-op member, we invite you to join us by investing in the Charles River Food Co-op today.
Thinking about Holiday Gifts?
You can purchase a gift membership on the website for anyone you choose. When you purchase a gift membership, an email will be sent to the recipient announcing the gift, and giving them instructions on how to complete the signup process. You can use the link below to get started:
https://charlesriverfood.coop/gift
Volunteer Opportunities
All current members are welcomed and encouraged to join our board meetings, every other Monday night from 8-9 PM on Zoom. You can also join our marketing or finance committees. You can find dates and joining information for all our meetings here:
https://charlesriverfood.coop/calendar
Our biggest volunteer needs right now:
Media Partnership Specialist to help expand our local media presence to grow awareness for the co-op
For any questions about volunteering, please email us at info@charlesriverfood.coop.
Member Spotlight
Bill Wood, Member #203
Where do you live?
I live in west Watertown, right on the Waltham line near Gore Place.
What do you do for work (and/or volunteering)?
I am retired from paid work—a varied career doing manual labor, teaching, office management for nonprofits, and many other things. I currently spend time as a volunteer for various medical studies as a healthy control, and am a regular platelet donor for the American Red Cross.
Why did you decide to become a member of the co-op?
I miss Russo's, and wanted an opportunity to help create a replacement for it. I worked in the coop community in the Twin Cities (MN) in the late 1970s–80s, both as a member of a local food co-op, and as a worker/owner of one of the wholesale coops there.
Where have you been buying your produce since Russo’s closed?
Primarily Market Basket in Waltham, the India Market there, and occasionally Wegman’s in Burlington.
What is your favorite fruit or vegetable and how do you prepare it?
We eat a primarily plant-based diet, and I'm pretty eclectic as a cook. I like to work with whatever is in season. My roots are in the southeast, and I especially love collards and other greens, though my wife doesn't appreciate them as much. I usually cook them in the Instant Pot with onion and garlic, then season with pepper. During the pandemic I became a member of the Rancho Gordo Bean Club, and have gotten in the habit of cooking at least a pound of beans weekly, and turning them into 3–4 different meals.
Message from the Board
Help with our Market Study
We'd love your feedback and opinions on your shopping habits to help our market study partners, Simplified Business Solutions, with understanding how our co-op can be a success. Please fill out the survey here.
Give Us General Feedback
We'd love to hear from you about how together, we can improve. Please provide your feedback on the annual meeting, or any other topic, using this Google Form.
Our First Annual Meeting!
On Tuesday, November 14th, 2023 we had our FIRST ANNUAL MEETING at the Watertown Free Library. It was so exciting to meet those who came in-person and has us enthusiastic about the future of our co-op! About 46 co-op member and other friends attended in person, and more attended virtually via Zoom.
We’d like to thank our outgoing board members Thomas Michel, Lew Berk, Lissa Gilbert, Benny Lee, Jen Kaplan. We’d also like to introduce our new board members. Over 25% of our members voted, which added up to 193 voting members. The 3 top vote getters, Allison Filler, Joelle Sugianto, and Kathryn Loup, will serve a 3 year term. The other 2, Scott Shurr and Sonya Green, will serve 2 years. Our new board consists of Nick Quaranto, president, Melissa Appel, vice-president, Tim Snyder, clerk, and Christina Beck, Allison Filler, Joelle Sugianto, Kathryn Loup, Scott Shurr, Sonya Green, directors.
You can read the full summary and find links to the video and slides here: https://charlesriverfood.coop/blog/annual-meeting-2023.
Community News
Co-Op Food Producer of the Month: Wellspring Harvest
Wellspring Harvest delivers fresh, high quality local lettuce varieties year-round to commercial and institutional customers in the Pioneer Valley and Northern Connecticut. Their greenhouse is located in the Indian Orchard neighborhood of Springfield and is the largest urban greenhouse in Massachusetts. As part of the Wellspring family of cooperative businesses, the greenhouse provides jobs with on-the-job training and ownership opportunities for low income city residents. Their 15,120 square foot greenhouse was completed in April 2018, and started selling hydroponically grown lettuce in August 2018. The greenhouse employs 7 local residents, and is organized as a for-profit, worker-owned cooperative business. The greenhouse produces an estimated 250,000 plants a year (lettuce, greens, and herbs).
Sullivan Tire will be Owned by Employees
In 1955, Bob Sullivan and Sons Tire was founded on a dead-end street in Rockland, Massachusetts, along with his trademark phrase, "Treat everyone, customers and fellow employees, as you would a member of your family." In early November, Sullivan Tire and Auto Service has announced it is converting to an employee stock ownership plan, which means the company will be 100% owned by its nearly 1,500 employees in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Maine.
Co-op Principles: #7 Concern for Community
We want to highlight why co-ops are different from other organizations, and we'll be doing a monthly segment on each co-op principle for the rest of the year!
7. Concern for Community
All cooperatives focus on their internal communities, but they are also concerned with their local communities outside of the organization. Co-ops source materials from and invest in local suppliers to contribute to the community’s sustainability. While the group works as a unit, each member should also take it upon themselves to contribute to the community in some way. The cooperative and surrounding network should encourage them to serve with pride.
But sustainability doesn’t stop at the local level. Community goes as far as a worldwide reach, and cooperatives should think and act on both a local and global level. Members can work towards approving policies that consider the community at large.
Maintaining local and global concern is important for several reasons. As other principles dictate, cooperatives are independent organizations that work best in a collaborative effort. So, each co-op should have their own way of contributing to sustainable development, but they should also work within their networks. This enables cooperatives to take action on a level that can affect the world. Not only are co-ops directly affected by community development, but they can also have a great impact if they work together.
As always - thank you so much to all of you for your support and please spread the word by forwarding this email to a few friends.
In co-operation,
Board: Melissa, Tim, Nick, Christina, Allison, Joelle, Kathryn, Sonya, and Scott
Newsletter Team: Joelle, Simone, Scott, and Kathy
P.S. If you missed any of our previous newsletters, you can find them on our website.
