First Annual Meeting Nov 14
Thank you to our 759 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.
Big News - First Annual Meeting on November 14!
Having an annual meeting is a big part of co-op business. It is a chance for us to gather together as a community, hear about what the board is working on, find out about volunteer opportunities, and ask questions. Plus we’ll be announcing the results of this year’s board election.
This year’s annual meeting will take place on November 14th at 7:30pm at the Watertown Public Library, in the “Watertown Savings Bank Meeting Room.” We will also be offering a Zoom option, but we encourage folks to come in person if you can.
Please RSVP for the annual meeting here: https://ti.to/crfc/2023
We’re looking for volunteers!
All current members are welcomed and encouraged to join our board meetings every other Monday night from 8-9pm on Zoom.
Interested in getting more involved? Join us at our finance and marketing committee meetings. You can find dates and joining information for all our meetings here:
https://charlesriverfood.coop/calendar
We are specifically looking for a media partnership specialist to join the marketing team and help expand our local media presence. If you are interested, email us at info@charlesriverfood.coop
Want to help us spread the word?
Forward this email!
Print and post a flier on a local community bulletin board!
Follow us on social media @charlesriverfoodcoop and share our posts!
Message from the Board
Market Study approved
The CRFC board, at a recent meeting, voted to approve funding for a market study by Simplified Business Solutions, one of the companies we were looking at. This is an important step forward, and will help to move us along the path of determining the size of our store, and the best location for it.
Member Spotlight
Erin McKay, Member #368
I live in Watertown and I'm a teacher and co-head of school at Wildflower Montessori in Cambridge. I also volunteer on the Board of Snapdragon Montessori, where my daughter attends. I'm passionate about early childhood education and making quality early education more accessible.
I love shopping at the Berkshire Co-op—my husband plays in the Boston Symphony, so we spend our summers near Tanglewood.
My mother was a co-owner of Rainbow Natural Foods, which, though not a co-op, was one of the oldest organic grocery stores in the Atlanta area. I saw how much she poured into her community. She was extremely dedicated to providing local, sustainable, and organic produce and products and I saw how it lifted up the community. It is so important to have access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food options—something that is hard to come by these days. I'm proud to be a member of the Charles River Co-op and am excited for what is to come.
Currently, my favorite fruits and vegetables are what I'm still harvesting from my postage stamp garden—ground cherries, which taste like candy, and butternut squash, which I just roast with olive oil, salt, and pepper—keep it simple!
Community News
Dorchester Food Co-op is Open
Dorchester Food Co-op doors officially opened on Saturday October 14th, with a ribbon cutting with Mayor Wu at 11a.m. The Co-op is strongly committed to offering a range of wholesome, conventional and organic, local, culturally relevant, minimally processed, affordable groceries, plus health & beauty, cleaning and bulk food sections. We congratulate everyone involved in the creation of this new business at 195 Bowdoin Street.
Nick Quaranto writes about Starting a food co-op: Year 2
Founder Nick Quaranto sums up our progress so far, and has thoughts on what comes next. Read his article here.
Teamshares
The Boston Globe recently ran an article about Teamshares, an employee ownership platform for small business, driven by proprietary software, education, and financial products. Teamshares buys small businesses from retiring owners, grants 10% ownership of the business’s stock to employees after closing, and progressively increases employee ownership to 80% within 20 years. Employees earn stock through ongoing service. They do not have to buy stock. We like how this approach helps to save businesses that might go out of business due to things like the owners deciding to retire.
Co-op Principles: Education, Training and Information
We wanted to highlight why our co-op is different from other organizations, and we'll be doing a monthly segment on each co-op principle for the rest of the year!
6. Cooperation among Cooperatives
Cooperatives serve their members most effectively and strengthen the cooperative movement by working together through local, national, regional and international structures. CRFC has been closely monitoring the progress of other coops, such as Assabet which opened earlier this year, and Dorchester, which opened very recently, and learning from their experiences. Board members have been participating in conferences with other coops around the country.
For more information about the 7 co-op principles, check out the International Cooperative Alliance website.
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 members: Melissa, Tim, Nick, Jen, Lew, Thomas, Benny, Lissa, Christina
Newsletter team: Joelle, Simone, Scott, and Kathy
P.S. If you missed any of our previous newsletters, you can find them on our website.
