Meet the 2023 Board of Director Candidates

MICHELE MEULENDYK

How long have you lived in the Brattleboro area?
2 years

When did you become a shareholder of the Brattleboro Food Co-op?
2021

1. Why would you like to serve on the Board of Directors of the Brattleboro Food Co-op (BFC)?
   I value what the Co-op brings to our community. I’ve enjoyed serving on this board and have appreciated learning about cooperative practices, policy governance and even a few things about myself. I also hope to continue contributing to the stability and productiveness of the current Board of Directors.

2. What experience or involvement have you had with the BFC or other cooperative enterprises?
   BFC is the first cooperative structure I’ve worked with.

3. What opportunities or challenges do you see in the future for the BFC?
   Market structures aren’t designed to support small independent businesses. While we are bolstered by our partnerships, we will continue to struggle with rising costs of goods and services. We currently have very strong leadership that I believe will help us navigate these challenges. As for opportunities, I believe that BFC can become a hub of sorts in our community for education, connecting shoppers to local and regional farms and makers, providing our shareholders with unique opportunities to serve the community, channeling resources from our patrons’ generosity to organizations like Foodworks and modeling ethical and socially responsible behavior towards all members of our community.

4. What qualities, skills, and experiences would you bring to your service as a BFC board member?
   In addition to serving on NEA and Art Council boards, I’ve now had a couple of years of experience and training with BFC. I’m diligent and detail oriented. I think I have a knack for getting to the heart of things and seeing how things interconnect. My mind can be changed with new information and I’m not operating from a single-issue platform, so I can take broad perspectives as we continue to navigate both challenges and opportunities at the Co-op.

5. Describe an experience where you worked on a team. What did you offer the team? How did you compromise for the team’s benefit?
   I was recently involved in a project, in which I felt like I, personally, had put a lot of effort. In the course of things, a third party came in, seemingly discarded our group’s original work, and sent the larger group down a different path with a different outcome. This was frustrating, as it felt like our original work and time were wasted efforts. Though I advocated to revisit our work, I also saw some beauty in that second outcome, and immediately saw how they could be combined. The language for the project has gone through yet another revision and I feel that I’ve been able to set aside my attachment to the original work or need for recognition of effort and not only embrace, but advocate for someone else’s final draft, in service to the whole.

VANESSA VADIM

How long have you lived in the Brattleboro area?
9+ years

When did you become a shareholder of the Brattleboro Food Co-op?
9+ years

1. Why would you like to serve on the Board of Directors of the Brattleboro Food Co-op (BFC)?
   My interest is multifold: it is essential to me personally, and on a civic level to serve my community as I can; I think that we are in need more than ever of effective community and business models, and that the cooperative model is one of the most resilient and ethical; to share my experience and skills to support and protect the cooperative model and BFC as an essential community resource; and continue to learn from the BFC in order to replicate working models across a variety of community endeavors.

2. What experience or involvement have you had with the BFC or other cooperative enterprises?
   I first started working for our local food co-op when I was about seven years old (hey, it was the 70s), and have joined the local food co-op as first order of business in every place I’ve lived. I went to cooperative preschools, and brought my own children up in our local cooperative preschool. I’ve also had the opportunity to visit and engage with various women, workers, and community co-ops around the world, most memorably in Nicaragua in the late 80s. And I’ve had the pleasure of serving on the BFC Board for the last year.

3. What opportunities or challenges do you see in the future for the BFC?
   The impact of, and response to, economic and climate disaster especially in relation to food security and community cohesion.

4. What qualities, skills, and experiences would you bring to your service as a BFC board member?
   I have founded two nonprofits* and also worked with many non-profits, often serving on their boards — mostly in the realm of local food systems, and the arts as a nexus for empowerment. I’ve spent decades both seeking and distributing grants, in non-profit and foundation settings. I’ve worked in community gardens for as long as I can remember, and as Board Chair of the Putney Community Garden, attempted to create a more democratic and inviting organization. I am a problem solver by nature, and editor, and have a good balance of creative and logical approaches that have served the non-profits I have worked with. I come with a dedication to participatory democracy and social justice, and as a small-scale, regenerative ag farmer, and artist, bring a perspective that I think could continue to be of service to the BFC.
   (*MayDay Media was a production company that used documentary film as a tool for positive social change, and Earthseed Commons seeks to create resilient and sustainable local economies, and invigoration of commons, expressly in efforts related to food security, ecosystem protection, and social justice.)

5. Describe an experience where you worked on a team. What did you offer the team? How did you compromise for the team’s benefit?
   The majority of what I do, I do alone (solo farmer, artist, single-parent…). That said, I’m also a filmmaker, and although I tend to work in the smallest crews possible, wearing most of the hats myself, film is an inherently cooperative and collaborative endeavor. In the end, the product is only as good as the collaboration. My interest is in consensus, which I do not think of as compromise. I suppose one of the things I offer is mediation: an ability to hear the core of what others see or are saying, re-articulate it so it is accessible or understood by others, and find the places where seemingly divergent positions come together.

6. Is there anything else you’d like to tell us? Do you have other experiences that you see as being related to the work of the Board?
   I’ve really enjoyed and have gotten a lot out of my time on the BFC Board, and hope to be able to continue. Cooperatives are a particular creature, and Policy Governance has presented a steep learning curve that I’d like to become more proficient with. I’ve tried to be brief, but am happy to expand on anything and answer any questions the Board or shareholders may have. Also should note, I serve on the Putney Planning Commission, ARPA Committee (American Rescue Plan Act), and am JP (Justice of the Peace) for the VT Progressive Party.

DENISE GLOVER

How long have you lived in the Brattleboro area?

6 year

When did you become a shareholder of the Brattleboro Food Co-op?

2017

1. Why would you like to serve on the Board of Directors of the Brattleboro Food Co-op (BFC)?
   I would like to rejoin the board as a shareholder director to continue my service with the Co-op. I would like to continue to support the board as part of my commitment to the BFC as an integral part our community.

2. What experience or involvement have you had with the BFC or other cooperative enterprises?
   I was an employee of the Co-op as a part-time cashier and cashier sub for 4 years. I was on the Board as a staff director for around 3 years. I am chair of the Brattleboro Tree Advisory Committee. I am a member of the Charter Review Commission for the Brattleboro Town Charter.

3. What opportunities or challenges do you see in the future for the BFC?
   Climate change and income disparity are both a challenge and an opportunity for the BFC. I believe we can continue to move forward in supporting our town in both of these realms. We can continue to increase our resilience, lower our environmental impact, and make food available and accessible for all.

4. What qualities, skills, and experiences would you bring to your service as a BFC board member?
   Deep listening; detail-oriented; working-class viewpoint.

5. Describe an experience where you worked on a team. What did you offer the team? How did you compromise for the team’s benefit?
   As a past board member of the BFC, I had many opportunities to learn, share, compromise, and contribute.