The organizing group has done a fantastic job getting the word out about the survey..we have more than 300 responses now!
Let's make one more push to get even more: if you haven't taken the survey yet and you're a resident of Kittitas County, please take it....and pass it along to your friends! Add it to a newsletter! Email it to your co-workers!
The survey only takes about 10 minutes. Thanks again for the help...
www.ellensburgfoodcoop.org/survey
Monday, February 22, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Follow-up from Co-op Meeting: we have a lot to do, so dig in!
Thanks to everyone who came to our meeting on Tuesday - we continue to forge ahead!
First, we talked about the four Working Groups - it's time to get them working.
We decided that in order for the working groups to start working, 2 things needed to happen:
1. We needed to revisit the notes from our Nov 17 session, where we brainstormed activities for each group, and we need to put these and other critical activities on a timeline.
Then, we talked about an upcoming workshop on Incorporation and Bylaws with the NW Cooperative Development Center.
We're very fortunate to have Teresa Young from the NW Cooperative Development Center coming to Ellensburg to facilitate a half-day workshop on creating Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws for our co-op.
The workshop will take place in early March - date TBD. Once we have details on the day, time and location of the workshop, we'll post a message to the blog inviting everyone from the co-op group to attend. You're welcome to come if you're able to swing a weekday afternoon!
The workshop will be strictly informational - the ultimate goal will be for us to have a VERY rough outline of our own articles and bylaws and a solid understanding of the decisions that need to be made by our organizing group as a whole.
Next, we talked about the Community Survey.
As of the meeting, 160 people had taken the survey online, which is fantastic. We've barely done anything to promote the survey, and already we're halfway to our goal of 300 respondents.
Next steps for getting the survey out to more people in Ellensburg include:
1. Eight or so members of the organizing group have volunteered to distribute the survey to specific groups/locations in town, including:
-Rotary
-the library
-the Vegetarian Society
-Central Washington University faculty and students
-grocery stores around town
-the Downtown Association
-the Unitarian church
-Greendrinks
2. Mike Williams, owner of Brick Road Books, has offered to print up some copies of our Community Survey poster for distribution.
3. Carlan Wray is going to add the poster to our website so anyone can download it, print it, and post it somewhere.
YOU CAN HELP GET THE WORD OUT ABOUT THE SURVEY:
- Stop by Brick Road Books at 305 N Main St downtown and grab a handful of posters from Mike. Put them up in public places - with permission, of course! - where you think people might see it and take one of the tear-aways off the bottom.
-Or, find the flyer on our website, ellensburgfoodcoop.org, and print out a couple copies yourself.
-Lastly, email this link to everyone you know, and ask them to take the survey:
http://ellensburgfoodcoop.org/survey
Thanks!
Finally, we started fleshing out a timeline on butcher paper with Post-it notes and markers.
We'll have to wait on sharing a digital version of the draft timeline; an exciting outcome of this exercise was the creation of 2 key deadlines.
Please know that these deadlines are, for now, SOFT. We're just getting started with our planning, and they may change if need be.
April 13, 2010: we want to have our Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws finalized, so that we are in a position to begin member recruitment by the time the farmer's market opens in May.
November 01, 2010: opening day for our co-op, when the farmer's market is closing for the season.
Great job, everyone. Good meeting!
First, we talked about the four Working Groups - it's time to get them working.
We decided that in order for the working groups to start working, 2 things needed to happen:
1. We needed to revisit the notes from our Nov 17 session, where we brainstormed activities for each group, and we need to put these and other critical activities on a timeline.
2. We needed to revise our meeting schedule.
The week of February 21, Working groups will meet on their own and there will be no general meeting.
The next general meeting will be Monday, March 9.
This way, we'll continue to meet every other week - but we'll be alternating working group meetings with general meetings. Then, we talked about an upcoming workshop on Incorporation and Bylaws with the NW Cooperative Development Center.
We're very fortunate to have Teresa Young from the NW Cooperative Development Center coming to Ellensburg to facilitate a half-day workshop on creating Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws for our co-op.
The workshop will take place in early March - date TBD. Once we have details on the day, time and location of the workshop, we'll post a message to the blog inviting everyone from the co-op group to attend. You're welcome to come if you're able to swing a weekday afternoon!
The workshop will be strictly informational - the ultimate goal will be for us to have a VERY rough outline of our own articles and bylaws and a solid understanding of the decisions that need to be made by our organizing group as a whole.
Next, we talked about the Community Survey.
As of the meeting, 160 people had taken the survey online, which is fantastic. We've barely done anything to promote the survey, and already we're halfway to our goal of 300 respondents.
Next steps for getting the survey out to more people in Ellensburg include:
1. Eight or so members of the organizing group have volunteered to distribute the survey to specific groups/locations in town, including:
-Rotary
-the library
-the Vegetarian Society
-Central Washington University faculty and students
-grocery stores around town
-the Downtown Association
-the Unitarian church
-Greendrinks
2. Mike Williams, owner of Brick Road Books, has offered to print up some copies of our Community Survey poster for distribution.
3. Carlan Wray is going to add the poster to our website so anyone can download it, print it, and post it somewhere.
YOU CAN HELP GET THE WORD OUT ABOUT THE SURVEY:
- Stop by Brick Road Books at 305 N Main St downtown and grab a handful of posters from Mike. Put them up in public places - with permission, of course! - where you think people might see it and take one of the tear-aways off the bottom.
-Or, find the flyer on our website, ellensburgfoodcoop.org, and print out a couple copies yourself.
-Lastly, email this link to everyone you know, and ask them to take the survey:
http://ellensburgfoodcoop.org/survey
Thanks!
Finally, we started fleshing out a timeline on butcher paper with Post-it notes and markers.
We'll have to wait on sharing a digital version of the draft timeline; an exciting outcome of this exercise was the creation of 2 key deadlines.
Please know that these deadlines are, for now, SOFT. We're just getting started with our planning, and they may change if need be.
November 01, 2010: opening day for our co-op, when the farmer's market is closing for the season.
Great job, everyone. Good meeting!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Visual appeal and atmosphere at your favorite food markets - take a pic and share it!
Ever since we started this co-op project, I've become much more investigative and aware of my surroundings every time I shop for food. I take special note of the lighting, the layout, displays, and special offerings, and I store these observations away in my ever-growing cache of "dream store" elements.
Do you do this, too? If so, take a picture next time you see something you like, and share it!
When I was home for the holidays in Traverse City, Michigan, for example, I shopped at Oryana and the one thing that stood out to me was the friendly sign hanging over the produce section declaring that "children are welcome to eat fruit for free while shopping". I saw a five year-old choose an apple; his mother took it to the grocer, who washed it and handed it back to the boy. Such a beautiful addition to the shopping experience!
Then, I was out on Bainbridge Island to visit my grad school and I saw Real Foods Market. Now, this is a private, family-owned business, not a co-op - but what struck me was how much they do with so little space. The atmosphere is so appealing, the food so attractive...and the retail space is under a thousand square feet!
Look at how they've arranged their little produce section - the cold case is small, and fruits and vegetables are arranged in baskets that look so abundantly full:
And this is the meat and prepared foods department - a single cold case with all local meat, locally processed and packaged, very tidy:
It felt nice to just be in the space. If Ellensburg does indeed open a brick-and-mortar retail space, I would want it to be like this.
:)
J
Do you do this, too? If so, take a picture next time you see something you like, and share it!
When I was home for the holidays in Traverse City, Michigan, for example, I shopped at Oryana and the one thing that stood out to me was the friendly sign hanging over the produce section declaring that "children are welcome to eat fruit for free while shopping". I saw a five year-old choose an apple; his mother took it to the grocer, who washed it and handed it back to the boy. Such a beautiful addition to the shopping experience!
Then, I was out on Bainbridge Island to visit my grad school and I saw Real Foods Market. Now, this is a private, family-owned business, not a co-op - but what struck me was how much they do with so little space. The atmosphere is so appealing, the food so attractive...and the retail space is under a thousand square feet!
Look at how they've arranged their little produce section - the cold case is small, and fruits and vegetables are arranged in baskets that look so abundantly full:
And this is the meat and prepared foods department - a single cold case with all local meat, locally processed and packaged, very tidy:
It felt nice to just be in the space. If Ellensburg does indeed open a brick-and-mortar retail space, I would want it to be like this.
:)
J
Co-op meeting TONIGHT @6:30 - don't miss the update on our Community Survey...
Hi everyone,
Just a quick reminder that we're meeting tonight at the Ecumenical Church - 6:30-8:00pm.
We'll start with a quick update on some exciting progress with the community survey. We need everyone to help spread its ditribution so we can get as many responses as possible...Danny Arranaga wants 500. Can we do it?
Then, we'll move into plans for the next month and beyond. I still have that big sheet of butcher paper and post-it notes, ready and waiting for a timeline of tasks - hopefully tonight will be the night we can start populating it together!
See you soon,
J
Just a quick reminder that we're meeting tonight at the Ecumenical Church - 6:30-8:00pm.
We'll start with a quick update on some exciting progress with the community survey. We need everyone to help spread its ditribution so we can get as many responses as possible...Danny Arranaga wants 500. Can we do it?
Then, we'll move into plans for the next month and beyond. I still have that big sheet of butcher paper and post-it notes, ready and waiting for a timeline of tasks - hopefully tonight will be the night we can start populating it together!
See you soon,
J
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