Fall is here, and our Annual Meeting is right around the corner! The theme for our meeting this year is “ensuring a thriving future for our Co-op,” and we have an engaging panel discussion planned, so if you are a shareholder remember to save the date for November 9th. Staying financially healthy is foundational to our longevity, of course, but we have many other things to consider as well. We exist to meet the collective needs of our shareholders. Ensuring a thriving future means that we understand how these collective needs may be evolving and that we develop plans to support them. The Brattleboro Food Co-op has an opportunity to meaningfully increase the value that we bring to shareholders and the impact we have on the community.
Shareholders
In Memoriam
Photo by Dorothy Weicker
New Outlooks, New Gratitudes
Much has been said and written about the turn into this new year. At the Co-op, things are no different—our cumulative exhaustion is proof enough that things need to go better in this new year, as we will no doubt need to adjust several more times to new normalities. Still, I find that gratitude has actually been easier to come by in my own assessments, and I believe this to be true of lots of our community members and Co-op customers as well.
Annual Brattleboro Food Co-op Shareholder Meeting
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BFC Shareholders: Join us for our 43rd Annual Shareholder Meeting at NEYT (New England Youth Theatre) on Flat Street on Friday, November 9th, 6-9 p.m. Enjoy a handmade meal from the Co-op’s Deli team and hear updates about the Co-op from the General Manager and Board President. We will be hosting a panel discussion with a wide variety of community members to share the many ways the Co-op has impacted their lives. Panel members include Josh Davis from Groundworks Collaborative, Cor Trowbridge from BCTV, Tim and Brooke from Laughing Child Farm, and a few to be announced. Voting will begin at 9:00 p.m. that night.
Co-op Discounts
Co-op Projected to Give Over $700,000 This Year
As hopefully most Shareholders know, our Co-op has just had its first profitable year in many, with a net profit of about $30,000. This is great! This is something we should celebrate and of which we can be proud, while continuing to push for further business success.
KidsPlayce Says “So Longˮ to Loyal Reader and Requests Shareholder Volunteers
Many Friday mornings, for over 2 years, Bronna Zlochiver, BFC shareholder, and artist, has been bringing her kindness, sweetness, creativity and joy to the kids at KidsPlayce, an indoor play space for kids located on Elliot Street in Brattleboro. She researches, chooses, and dreams about what books the pre-school age kids would enjoy—she has even purchased titles herself to share with her little fans. In her Pippi Longstocking ponytails, or wearing a silly hat, Bronna walked to the Co-op the first and third Fridays of the month for years, to choose a healthy snack to share with her listeners from 10:30-11:30am as part of an Education and Outreach program called Story & Snack Time.
Brattleboro Food Co-op Board Welcomes Four New Members
The BFC Board of Directors is pleased to announce that Mary Bené, Anna Edson, Skye Morse, and Arion Thiboumery have joined their leadership team, following their election by shareholder member-owners.
A New Dawn
On July 15, the BFC staff represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 1459, voted to ratify a new three-year contract. This is the second contract for our staff, and this one was arrived at by a group of folks from both management and the bargaining unit who met nearly every week since March 30 to work through an understanding, using the principles of “interest-based problem-solving.” This methodology first identifies the interests of each side,
