October 2022 Newsletter
Hello co-op friends!
Welcome to our October newsletter. (If you missed it, our previous newsletters can be found here.) We now have over 450 paid members! A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has already joined us. We are still aiming for 500 members to reach our first big milestone for the co-op and be ready for the next stage of development - we need you to help us get there!
If you join the co-op before November 1st, you'll be entered in a raffle from our friends at the Neighboring Food Co-op Association for some Cabot Cheese themed skis, REI gift cards:
You can help us spread the word by forwarding this email, by printing and posting a flier on a local community bulletin board, or by sharing our posts on social media.
We’ve heard a lot of feedback from members and prospective members that we should look into providing reduced cost membership for people for whom the membership fee would be a burden. We are running a survey to see how many people are interested in buying or receiving a “solidarity membership” (a membership bought by someone who can afford to spend more and given to someone else who can afford to spend less).
Please click here to take our 1 minute survey on Solidarity Shares!
Our board president, Nick Quaranto recently had an Op-Ed about the co-op published. Check it out, his story of missing Russo’s might sound a lot like yours! If you miss Russo’s like we do, please forward this email to a few friends, so we can try to meet our 500 member goal.
Nick, our board president, also recently attended a co-op conference as part of the “Cooperative Leaders and Scholars” program - it was great to meet so many other leaders from across the co-operative movement!
Also - big thanks to Fig City News for covering our membership drive launch back in August. If you haven't read this interview yet, check it out!
A few of us recently met with JQ Hannah from the Food Cooperative Initiative to talk about creating a Board Governance calendar. This is an annual calendar that helps us plan ahead for things like tax fillings and board elections. This will be a really helpful tool as we move into the next year to keep us organized.
We have been busy for the past few weeks at several community events, including the Newton Harvest Festival and the Watertown Faire on the Square. A big shout-out to all of our volunteers who helped out at these events - your help makes this all possible!
Watertown Faire on the Square
Newton Harvest Festival
Once again 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,
The Charles River Food Co-op Board
(Nick, Melissa, Thomas, Tim, Christina, Lissa, Lew, Benny, & Jen)
