It was our day to shine at our local food co-op. Well, actually, it was a special day for …
… our Kettle Chili and all the special people that give us such an amazing place to shop, dine, make new friends, and even …
listen to live music.
I have two lapel buttons that tell the world how I feel.
#1: I LOVE MY CO-OP
#2: KISS ME, I’M ORGANIC
… a couple of Co-op factoids: my dad’s sister, Sandy Ogle, was one of a small group of people that started our Co-op some 30 years ago; my dad served as chair of the board not so very long ago; my mother was instrumental in the charge to move the Co-op to a bigger and better space when I was a kid.
It was during the era that she worked full-time as a carpenter. I remember her working late at night, night after night, but we didn’t care because in one of the upstairs rooms, she rented a TV and movies for us (we didn’t have a TV at home), enough to last the entire month that she pounded nails, hung sheetrock, and transformed an old Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet into an organic Co-op. Go mom! I love you and I’m grateful for your involvement in the community that I am now raising my family in. Oh, and let’s not forget the tiny little kid-size shopping carts you donated to the Co-op that my girls LOVE to use, pushing them around OUR, no, MY Co-op, acting ever so grown-up. Yup, three generations of Co-op-ers.
This is great – in these troubling financial times America is facing it is time to reconsider the cooperative movement as a way to make America great again and not some out-of-date rural farm movement. Just as a reminder every cooperative uses the following governing principles. The seven principles that guide all cooperative are
Voluntary and open membership, Democratic member control, Member economic participation, Autonomy and independence, Education, Training and Information, Co-operation among Co-operatives and Concern for community.
Wonderful! Wish we had something like this in our little town.