Forty Years of Cooperation and Community B y J u l i e Kendr i c k
G
oing to the market for a bag of groceries can seem like the most prosaic of household duties. But for the past 40 years, the corner market on Franklin Avenue has been providing much more than just physical sustenance—it’s been a source of activism, community and philosophical enrichment. Growing with Purpose documents the birth of one store’s place in the co-operative movement and offers insightful profiles of the people who have kept it going strong for all these years. And for those who think of the big green market as just another grocery store, the forward by Minneapolis Mayor R. T. Rybak sets them straight right off the bat: “From the day it opened in 1972 to today, the common purpose of Seward Co-op has been to put people in charge: in charge of what they put in their bodies and in charge of the food systems and shopping environment that reflect cooperative values.” Tom Vogel, Seward Co-op’s marketing manager, says, “The project started with an idea to capture the history of the co-op and its relationship and place in the community, but it really grew into something so much more than that. We realized that for many of these people involved in the early days of the co-operative movement, their stories had never been put down on paper. We wanted the next generation of co-operators to know what these people did, what they accomplished and what their ideals were. Capturing their stories was the catalyst that drove this book, so it is both a chronology and a human interest work.” He adds that response to the book has been highly positive and that many copies were sold over the holidays to be given as gifts. The book is divided into two main sections: “The First Twenty Years” and
“The Second Twenty Years.” Patricia Cumbie, who wrote the first section, says that one key figure in those early days was Kris Olsen, who died in 1998. “Kris kept everything,” Cumbie says, “and then, wonderfully, he donated all of his papers to the Minnesota Historical Society. It was really a treasure trove. I was able to read letters that people had written to the co-op, board meeting minutes, memos and log books. I was struck by how passionate people were about what they were doing, and I got a sense of how the day-to-day issues of running a grocery store interacted with this incredible vision to make the world a better place. Reading all that material was alternately profound, entertaining and sometimes downright funny,” she says. Coauthor Kari Cornell focused on more recent history, including interviews with local purveyors, such as Harry and Jackie Hoch of Hoch Orchards. “That trip to their place in La Crescent, Minn., was great fun. The drive down the river in early fall was beautiful, and Jackie and Harry Hoch were welcoming and generous with their time. After we talked about how instrumental Seward Co-op was in selling the Hoch’s first crates of organic apples, they sent me home with a box filled with applesauce, ciders and apples,” she recalls. As Cumbie says, “For some people, a lot of that history had been forgotten, so the book has reinvigorated their interest. I feel as though Seward Co-op stayed strong because of all those people profiled in the book. And for every one of them that we wrote about, there are hundreds more who have done their part to support co-ops.” Julie Kendrick is a Minneapolis-based freelance writer who focuses on family, business and lifestyle reporting for a number of local sites and publications. to bu y Growing with Purpose is available for purchase at Seward Co-op.
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