From the Board President:

On Monday, March 23 at Three Pines Farm Board and committee members sat down together to share a home cooked meal that included marinated asparagus, split pea soup, sweet potato and quinoa chili, a fresh green salad, homemade biscuits, a growler of SingleSpeed’s Cooperate beer, and other delicious items. It was soul warming, a evening filled with satisfying food and wonderful people. But it was also an informative evening as the four Board members who attended the Up & Coming, Up & Running food co-op conference in February shared details about what we learned.

And we learned a lot! Amber Mann, Kristel McClenahan, Jaime Wilson and I attended the conference, now in its sixth year, and brought back samples, spreadsheets, stories, case studies, and lots of great contacts. In addition to all the great knowledge we soaked up, the conference was inspiring. People like us, from all over the country, are working on establishing food co-ops in Alaska, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Texas, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts. As a matter of fact, there are approximately 125 food co-ops in development just like the Cedar Falls Food Co-op. Imagine a room filled with people from all over the country who are working on building community. We felt right at home!  Be sure to check out our tweets from the event.

One of the key takeaways was the fact that now is the time for our Co-op to hire our first staff member. Over the next couple of months the Board will be developing a budget and creating a job description for a part-time or possibly full-time position to spearhead our outreach and membership drive campaigns. BisMan Food Co-op in Bismarck, ND, has reached new heights since hiring an outreach manager; they are one of the fastest growing start-ups in the country. With a lead person focusing on community engagement, their board can focus on policy and governance and the big picture goals. Stay tuned for more details.

Our time in Bloomington, IN, was also a clear reminder of P6, which is the hip, trendy way to refer to the sixth Co-op Principle, one of the Seven Cooperative Principles, which is Cooperation Between Cooperatives. Hundreds  of people, just like our board, are investing countless hours of volunteer time to build a co-op in their community, but they are always willing to help out other groups. I know all members of our Cedar Falls Food Co-op group found themselves not only asking others for good ideas and information, but for the first time, we were now helping others. In the eyes of many across the U.S., we are experienced!

Attending a conference is important, but building upon the knowledge is critical. Our dinner was not only a fun way to celebrate our accomplishments and build stronger bonds with many of the volunteers, but it was a great information sharing event. We hope to keep the information sharing going — both here in Cedar Falls and for other co-ops — until we can go again to the seventh annual Up & Coming conference.

In cooperation,

Tom Wickersham