Saturday, April 25, 2009

Members Only - First Indy Food Co-op Member-Owner Meeting Set for May 13

Members of the Indy Food Co-op are invited to the Indy Food Co-op's inaugral owner-member meeting, to be held Wednesday, May 13, from 6 - 8 pm at the John H Boner Center, 2236 E 10th Street.

Please bring your favorite dish for a pitch-in social hour from 6 - 7 pm, followed by the first ever owner-member business meeting from 7 - 8 pm.

* Find out about the co-ops progress towards securing a building
* Learn about volunteer opportunities
* Give input on your preferences
* Meet other owner-members and the board
* Vote on board term limits
* Get questions answered!


1) BRING YOUR FAVORITE DISH
We'll be having a pitch-in dinner prior to the business meeting. Bring your favorite, healthy dish to share with your fellow member-owners.

2) BRING YOUR FAVORITE, HEALTHY RECIPE
Indy Food Co-op will be publishing a cookbook of our owner-members' favorite recipes! An old family favorite or something you've created -- we are looking for the best recipes to include in the Indy Food Co-op owner-member cookbook (complete the recipe on the form you will be e-mailed to ensure that all formats are consistent).

3) Please RSVP by Monday, May 11, so that we can adequately plan.

Parking: Parking for the Boner Center is located behind the building, in the parking lot just east of the building, on 10th Street, or in the Burger King parking lot. Enter the building from the back (north) side.

It's an exciting time to be a part of Indy's first member-owned, non-profit cooperative grocery store. Don't miss our very first official Indy Food Co-op member-owner meeting!

We hope to see you there!

Questions? E.mail: indyfoodcoop@yahoo.com , or call: 317.631.2220
, or visit www.IndyFoodCoop.org

Sunday, April 19, 2009

April 18 Update from the Indy Food Co-op!

Plans for Indy's first non-profit, member-owned grocery store are moving forward as the board works to negotiate a location, secure grant funding, determine equipment needs and much, much more! We hope to have more details to announce very soon, so stay tuned! And, here is more information we hope you find helpful.....

SPRING MEMBERSHIP DRIVE
Indy Food Co-op is pleased to announce that we now have secured 167 member households representing more than 300 co-op shoppers! This is a fabulous start, but we need 500 members to really make a new food co-op economically viable. So, we want to continue to build our membership in the community, and there is no better ambassador for our message that you -- the member-owners of the co-op! Here's the deal: From now through June 30, 2009, for every new member referred to the Indy Food Co-op by an existing member, the existing member will receive a $10 gift certificate for the co-op at the store grand opening! That's right....if you refer three new member households, then you receive $30 in food co-op products; five new member households, $50!
Conditions apply: Only existing members are eligible; Indy Food Co-op board members are not eligible; new member must state the name of the person who referred them on their membership application; promotion only good through April 15 - June 30, 2009.

MEMBER MEETING IN MAY
The Indy Food Co-op intends to conduct its first membership meeting in May 2009. As soon as we secure the meeting location, we'll let you know the details. One clue: gather your favorite, healthy recipe - you'll need it very soon!

FOOD SAFETY IN THE NEWS
With recent recalls of jalapenos, tomatoes, spinach, and most recently peanuts, more people are questioning the safety of our national food systems. This concern has sparked several pieces of legislation by Congress. Indy Food Co-op has received numerous e-mails from those concerned that should these food safety bills became law, it would over-burden small, local, organic farmers, processors and distributors. In response, the Indy Food Co-op met with Congressman Andre Carson's office (representing the seventh district, Indianapolis in the US House of Representative and a co-sponsor of one of the bills of greatest concern). Since Congress works on a two-year cycle, and all of the food safety bills floating around Congress will ultimately be merged into a single bill in committee, we have been urged to wait to provide feedback on a bill until a single bill exists that is most likely to move forward. At that time, the Indy Food Co-op would like to convene a public meeting with the Congressman's office to allow our members, suppliers, vendors and friends to provide constructive input on the bill to ensure that it provides for a safe national food systems without being overly burdensome to those growing and promoting local, fresh, organic food!

CO-OP BROCHURE AVAILABLE IN SPANISH
Thanks to co-op member Felipe Martinez, we now have our Indy Food Co-op information and membership brochure translated into Spanish. If you know of Spanish-speaking folks in the community who might have an interest in the co-op, please request a Spanish-version brochure to share with them!

THANKS TO VOLUNTEERS!
Quite a few Indy Food Co-op members are eager to help out in some way and are already volunteering to assist. A special thanks to Laura Salyer for assisting with the co-op website and helping lay out ads! That's a big help and allows us all to save money on this important task!

INDY FOOD CO-OP AROUND TOWN
Please join Indy Food Co-op at one of the upcoming events:
  • April 22: Indianapolis City Market Earth Day Event, 11:00 am – 1:00 pm, free to the public
  • April 25: Earth Day Indiana Festival, 11 am - 4 pm, downtown Indianapolis, free to the public
  • April 25: Arts on the Green, Arsenal Technical High School campus
  • April 25: Herron-Morton Neighborhood Green Spring Up - presentation by Indy Food Co-op
  • June 13: INDIEana Handicraft Fair, 11 am - 10 pm, June 13, Harrison Center for the Arts, free to the public - Indy Food Co-op is the premier sponsor of this event; www.indieanahandicraftexchange.com

We hope to see you at one of these events over the coming weeks and welcome those who would like to help us staff a booth!

Thank you for your on-going support of the Indy Food Co-op and making Indianapolis healthier by supporting local, fresh, organic food!