Member/Volunteer Opportunities At Your Co-op

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Member/Volunteer Opportunities At Your Co-op

While Department of Labor regulations prohibit member/owners from doing work performed by paid staff (stocking shelves, etc.), there are many ways you can participate in your Co-op. In the next months, we will need help in the following areas:

• Tabling at the Co-op and events to educate about GMOs
• Classroom assistants for our school-partner program.
• Events: including Earth Day and Garden Fest.

We need over 50 volunteers for our Earth Day Celebration, Sunday, April 16th.
Call now to get involved!
Ask for Joanie or Trout.

The important work of member/volunteers is recognized with an 18% discount
at the register for one week for every three hours volunteered.
For more information, please talk to Joanie or Trout in Membership Services: 265-4631, ext. 329.

Volunteer Of The Month: Alison Rosa Clark

The Co-op’s drive to collect postcards urging Representative Heather Wilson and Senator Jeff Bingaman to support labeling of foods containing GMOs has received a big boost from the efforts of Alison Rosa Clark, who takes the concept of staffing a table to new heights.

Clark moved here from Brooklyn, New York, where she was an active member of the Park Slope Food Co-op. “That helped me understand how impor-tant co-ops are; it’s a small co-op so all the members worked and there was just a small staff. I worked in many capacities: on the scene and behind the scenes… so, I was positively disposed to La Montanita Co-op when I came here… I had the opportunity of continuing my own tradition of making a difference, to help all of us be more fully realized people. The GMO Task Force was a great opportunity for me to get involved — especially staffing the table. What we are doing here is very critical: providing food, pro-viding information, providing an opportunity for people to learn.”

When Alison Rosa Clark is scheduled to staff a table (a task she takes on weekly), we know there had better be a lot of post-cards available. She brings huge energy and good humor to her tabling shifts and truly carries out her tradition of “making a difference.” Alison Rosa Clark’s work as a member/volunteer helps insure that the Co-op serves its members well — that in addition to providing food, we provide information and an opportunity to learn. Stop by the table and talk to her and you’ll not only have a chance to write a postcard, but you’ll go away feeling a little better about the world.

Thanks, Alison Rosa Clark!

The Search Has Begun:
The Co-op Board CTL Search
Committee Work Well Underway
by Marrianne Dickinson

If you’ve been reading the minutes of recent Board of Directors’ meetings, you won’t be surprised to know that our current Co-op Team Leader’s contract will expire later this year and that the board has begun work to find a replacement.

When Eric Stromberg left the position, the board and staff looked for quite awhile for a person meeting all the job requirements. Eventually Donal Kinney, who had been working on a consulting basis in financial areas, was hired because he had the skills needed to get many of the Board’s goals accomplished, in particular the leasing and setting up of the second store and a new computerized register system. The board’s understanding with Donal was that another person would be hired for the long-term management.

With the Valley store successfully launched, we now have the time to make an extensive search for candidates, starting with our existing staff and extending worldwide on the Web.

The details of the job requirements, and other information about your Co-op, can be found on our website at . If you or someone you know is a good candidate for the job, let us know as soon as possible. Screening is scheduled to begin in May.

School Partner News
by Joanie Quinn

A big THANK YOU to Boulder Fruit Express, distributors of much of the Co-op’s dairy and produce, for their donation of strawberries to our school partner, Duranes Elementary. The strawberries will be used at the Duranes Ice Cream Social, organized by “Duranes Parents and Teachers Together” to support the school library and other critical programs.

And, a big THANK YOU to Plants of the Southwest for their generous donation of a huge supply of really neat seeds for the student garden at Alvarado Elementary.

And while we’re thanking people, another big THANK YOU to all the Co-op member/volun-teers who are working at Alvarado, Bandelier, Cochiti, and Duranes Elementary schools. Your efforts in the classrooms, and in special programs like Art in the School, are making a difference.

If you need some good used stuff, check out the “White Bear Sale,” Saturday, April 29, at Bandelier Elementary with proceeds to the library and other projects, And please call Sue Estell at 255-3541 if you have items to donate to the sale.

The Food Museum Comes To The Valley Co-op

Your appreciation of what you eat will never be the same. The Food Museum opens at the Valley Co-op the first week of April with an exhibit on Rice (It’s Nice). The Food Museum is the creation of Meredith and Tom Hughes. Tom, a teacher, and Meredith, a writer, have been collecting and preserving items related to the history and social influence of food for over 25 years. For several years, their first museum, The Potato Museum, entertained and educated visitors and residents in Washington, D.C. Tom and Meredith collaborated with the Smithsonian Institution on its quincentenary exhibition, “Seeds of Change,” and worked with Canada’s National Museum of Science and Technology on an exhibition called “The Amazing Potato.”

Now, pieces from their collection will be featured in a kiosk exhibit at the Co-op that will feature a new food every month. Literature will be available at the kiosk, and a monthly presentation on the “food of the month” will be given at the store for all interested members. Information on the first “food of the month” presentation will be available at the kiosk. Watch for Captivating Capsicums, Chocolate: Food of the Gods, Amazing Maize, and other exhibits over the months. We’re sure you’ll love this great addition to the Valley Co-op, so get down there and check it out. To all you Nob Hill shoppers who have been putting off a trip to the valley to see our new Co-op, this is the perfect time to go visit. Just be prepared to get hooked on the Food Museum — you’ll have to plan a trip every month.