Chocolate and Theatre: Now is a great time to become a Member-Owner and encourage others to join your Co-op!

Chocolate and Theatre: Now is a great time to become a Member-Owner and encourage others to join your Co-op!

 What do Chocolate and Theatre Tickets have in common? Both are going to be given away this month to a few lucky new member-owners or possibly to current member-owners who encourage someone to invest in an owner share. During our Love Your Co-op campaign (January 20 – February 14), you can join as a member-owner or if already a member, can have your name is written in when someone joins regarding how they heard about the Co-op, then you will be entered into the drawing for a yummy treat from Chocolaterie Stam in Cedar Falls. From baking chocolate to cocoa mix to truffles and even a gift card, this mouth-watering gift basket is sure to please any chocolate lover. And anyone can sample free chocolate on Thursday, February 8 during the Downtown Delights event on Main Street Cedar Falls. Participating businesses will be offering free wine and chocolate pairings. The event goes until 9, but stop by Chocolaterie Stam anytime between 5 and 7 p.m. to get your co-op questions answered while sampling some chocolate and wine and listening to live harp music courtesy of co-op member-owner Sheila Benson. You’ll be able to purchase member shares and/or Co-op t-shirts too!

But wait – the giving continues…. Waterloo Community Playhouse has generously donated tickets to their upcoming show, The Full Monty. Tune in later this month to our Facebook page or contact us for full details regarding when you can be in the drawing for a pair of tickets. To be eligible you must be a new member-owner who joins during the specific giveaway timeframe or be a current member-owner who is written in on the member application as the person from whom the new member heard of the Co-op.

 

We are grateful to you for supporting your Co-op. As we grow in membership, we grow in community and get even closer to opening the doors to our store!

 

 

Board Happenings: January 2018

Take a minute to see what your board has been up to!
– Our committees have been hard at work getting ready for the co-op’s best year yet!
– Operations has worked hard to put together a General Manager (GM) job description. Hiring a GM is one of the most important task a start-up co-op undertakes, so we’re making sure to take the time to get the best one we can.
– The Membership Investment Campaign is putting together all the materials needed for our upcoming campaign. This ranges from loan paperwork, to legal documents, to marketing materials. This is a HUGE undertaking, but we’re plugging along and will have everything set once we’re ready to launch.
– It may only be February, but it’s never too early to start planning next year’s budget. We take our fiscal responsibilities very seriously, so we make sure to be thoughtful that we’re spending the co-op’s money in ways that benefit our members.
– Our next meeting is February 21st, at 7pm. Board meetings are always open to our membership and we encourage anyone interested in learning more about how your board is functioning to attend.

Board Happenings: December 2017

– Our volunteers have been absolutely AMAZING this past year! Our members have volunteered over 3000 hours, which equals over $72,000 in wages!
– Our Capital Campaign committee has been hard at work, and we know we’ll have an exciting few months ahead of us.
– The majority of our meeting was spent planning out our activities for the next four months. We are at a very exciting time in our development, and there are going to be a lot of great news coming out very soon. Some of these plans include:
             – Finalizing job descriptions for both our Capital Campaign Coordinator and the General Manager.
             – Revising our mission and vision statements
             – Working on our business plan, and…
             – Launching our Capital Campaign!
– In case you didn’t know, all our board meetings are open to our membership, so if you want to hear all of our exciting news first hand you are invited to attend our meetings. They are always held the 3rd Wednesday of the month, at 7pm at Millrace.

From the President: Tom’s Annual Grab Bag Full of Year End Updates

The year is almost over, and that means it’s time for my annual grab bag column. Much like the lunches I just had over the recent holiday weekend, the assorted tidbits and details should make a full meal. Enjoy!

 

New Board Leadership

At the November meeting of your board of directors, we elected new officers and realigned some of our committee leadership. Here are the new or updated roles:

Tom Wickersham, President

Andrew Morse, Vice president

Jess Cruz, Secretary

Scott Wirtz, Treasurer

Brenna Griffin, Membership Chair

Jess Cruz, Communications Chair

Scott Wirtz, Finance Chair

Terry Stewart, Operations Chair

Andrew Morse, Capital Campaign Chair

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Members Add Value to Their Investment by Making Gifts of Membership to Others

Cindy and Russ Dodd felt so strongly about their investment soon after purchasing their own member share that they bought shares for their children. As Cindy puts it, “Purchasing Cedar Falls Food Co-op memberships was an opportunity to invest in Cedar Falls. Both of our children live here and enjoy healthy food. We believe in shopping locally and knew it would be fun for our families to be part of this business from the beginning and watch it progress. This is a gift that will give back for years.” And as is evident from this photo of the Dodd family, the impact of these share purchases extends beyond the member-owner to several other household members.

Of course, families are probably not the only ones on your holiday gift list this year.

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Holiday Online Store

We’ve opened up an online store just in time for the holidays!
If you love our Co-op shirts, you’re in luck! We’ve opened up an online store through Xpressions for a limited time to give our supporters a chance to own even more Cedar Falls Food Co-op swag. We have a wide variety of products, including items ideal for the cooler weather. Ordering is simple: place your order through the website below, complete your payment online, and you can pick up your items when they’re ready. The store will be open until December 13th and the items will be ready to be picked up before the holidays. Check it out today and get a jump start on your holiday shopping!

Board Happenings: November 2017

Take a minute to see what your board has been up to!
– This was the first meeting with our newest Board Members! Welcome aboard Andrew, Jackie, and Scott!
– With new board members, it means we have new officers elected. Our new officers are:
     – President: Tom Wickersham
     – Vice President: Andrew Morse
     – Secretary: Jess Cruz
     – Treasurer: Scott Wirtz
– The Board has moved its meeting time to the 3rd Wednesday of every month, at 7pm, at Millrace.
– We had two representatives from the Board attend the Strong and Small Conference in Minnesota this month, and they brought back a lot of great information for us to use.

Changes on the Cedar Falls Food Co-op’s Board of Directors

Jacquelyn Berggren, Andrew Morse, and Scott Wirtz

At the 2017 Member-Owner Potluck & Meeting, the Cedar Falls Food Co-op wrapped up its elections for three seats on the Board of Directors. The three incoming members began their term immediately following the meeting on Oct. 24.

The nine-member Board leads the Co-op’s efforts to establish the community-owned grocery store in or near downtown Cedar Falls. With 31.1% of the membership voting, the results are as follows:

Andrew Morse           28.8%

Jacquelyn Berggren  25.9%

Scott Wirtz                 25.3%

Blake Conover           20.0%Continue reading

From the Board President: Excuse Me While I Get a Little Sentimental

With the conclusion of this year’s board elections, we now have three new people  stepping up to help the Co-op’s efforts to establish a community-owned, and community-grown, grocery store. It’s exciting to see our passionate members step up to serve in this very important role.

I want to take a moment, though, to acknowledge the three outgoing board members. Over the years, I’ve taken advantage of this platform to share my appreciation for many of the Co-op volunteers who I’ve been lucky to work with. Those include steering committee and the initial board members (Melanie Drake, Erica Graen, Julie Halevan, Steve Hoodjer, and Jaime Wilson), and many, many other volunteers. However, our three outgoing board members have been engaged since the very beginning and deserve some recognition.

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DIY Gift Ideas

Looking for some DIY gift ideas? Learn how to make your own vanilla and much more…

 

DIY Gift Ideas

As the holiday season approaches, if you celebrate Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa or another tradition, you are probably starting to think about gift-giving. In our household, we have struggled with the idea of purchasing gifts that may not be either sustainable nor necessary for our loved ones who seem to have more than enough “stuff” in their homes. When do buy gifts, we focus on buying local, spending at least one weekend patronizing local businesses. I find it’s one of the few times I actually enjoy shopping!

 

However, the best tradition that has come out of this struggle is do-it-yourself (DIY) gifts. Growing up, my siblings and I were encouraged to make gifts for teachers, friends, and family members, but this was time-consuming so tapered off. As an adult, I’m fortunate that my in-laws have inspired a DIY gift-giving tradition. I have received amazing goodies over the years including jam, paper flowers made from maps, hot sauce, and granola. The following is a recipe for DIY gift I did last year along with other DIY options that not only do not take much time, but are also consumable, reducing the amount of waste that is a result of most holiday gift-giving. In fact, you will discover that recipients beg to be kept on your holiday list for future DIY gifts.

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