From the Board

Call for Board Candidates

by Rob Smith

The Board of Trustees of the Skagit Valley Food Co-op has always been fortunate to have a good group of qualified, involved memberowners who were willing to invest their time and varied expertise in serving on the Co-op Board. This has provided the governance necessary to allow the Co-op to broaden our offerings of high quality, healthy food, support our environment, support our community with relevant education, and support local farmers, international fair trade, and other co-ops. We have been able to manage our finances appropriately to provide a base for growth and a cushion for harder times while still providing support to members of our community in need.

We are embarking on a more active mission to identify those individuals who will be our future board members. We are especially interested in bringing in member-owners with skill sets that will enhance our role, and who will more accurately represent the diversity of our community, and increase our impact in communities we feel are underserved and underrepresented in our owner-membership.

If you are interested in being on the Board, we ask that you fill out the Notice of Intent (available on the Co-op website’s Board of Director Page) and submit it with the attachments described to: board@skagitfoodcoop.com.

To run for the Board, a person must be an active member (which is defined by the bylaws as having “met the requirements of application [to be a Co-op member]…; is current in payment of equity; has made a purchase at the Co-op within the last twelve months; and has provided the Co-op with a current address.”) Everyone is eligible to become a Co-op member.

We ask that interested member-owners also attend at least one Board meeting and meet with current Board members to go over what the Board does and what you could expect if you joined.

The deadline for next Board election is fast approaching. If you are interested in being on the ballot, you’ll need to submit this paperwork by February 5 and complete the meetings prior to February 19 in order to have your name and info included in the Notice of Election in the April Natural Enquirer and online.

If you are interested in being considered for Board vacancies that might arise between elections, the timing isn’t quite as urgent, although it would still be valuable to get the process started.

Nota para los propietarios / miembros hispanohablantes: esta solicitación de candidatos para la mesa directiva de la Cooperativa de Alimentos del Valle de Skagit y el formulario que se debe usar para convertirse en candidato están disponibles en español en skagitfoodcoop. com en la página Co-op Board.

Skagit Valley Food Co-op Mission Statement

The Skagit Valley Food Co-op is a not-for-profi t organization whose purpose is to provide good food at a fair price. As stated in the Co-op By-Laws:

“The Co-op shall promote member welfare by utilizing their united funds and their united efforts for the purchase and distribution of commodities in accordance with the following criteria:

A. Maintaining the non-for-profi t status of the Co-op;

B. Offering high quality products which contribute to good nutrition;

C. Supporting a low impact, non-harmful approach to the environment;

D. Supporting local suppliers and producers;

E. A commitment to building a cooperative economy and supporting others who share that commitment;

F. A commitment to educational programs relevant to members and non-members in the community.”

Local Food Resiliency & Your Co-op

Member & Community Engagement Committee

Last October, we hosted our first “community conversation” on the topic of local food resiliency and how our Co-op can be a bigger part of that in these times of change. Over 30 people attended the session during the lunch hour via Zoom. Our first presenter was Cole Bitzenburg from the Skagit Food Distribution Center, and we learned how our local food banks and other partners are coordinating to distribute hundreds of boxes of food to families in need. As this need keeps growing, please contact Cole at ColeB@communityactionskagit.org if you can lend a hand, or make a donation. The next presenter was our own General Manager, Tony White, who gave us an update on Co-op happenings: thanks to our amazing staff and the loyal patronage of our member-owners, we are holding steady - even though we had to temporarily close Third Street Cafe and our Deli hot bar and salad bar due to the pandemic. In the remaining time, member-owners reflected on how lucky we are to have so much good food grown and raised here, by skilled farmworkers and farmers. Strengthening our local food resilience in these times of changing economics and climate is something we can definitely do – and it seems that the top priority is to get ourselves connected and educated. So, for next steps – our GM plans to be closely involved in the emerging food-system collaborations in the community, and our Board’s Member & Community Engagement Committee anticipates hosting more Community Conversations in 2021. We are currently imagining one session each quarter, to keep folks in the loop, with more time for dialogue. We hope to host our next session in February on the “True Cost of Food.” This is important, because liveable wages for the people who work in the food system need to be part of our design for community resilience. Stay tuned for more info, and we hope you can join in the conversation!

The Skagit Valley Food Co-op Natural Enquirer is a quarterly publication of the Skagit Valley Food Co-op. Opinions expressed are those of the writers and may not reflect Co-op policy. No articles are meant to be used for diagnosis or treatment of illness. The Co-op does not endorse the products or services of advertisers.

Editor: Nicole Vander Meulen | Layout & Design: Emily Zimmerman

Staff Contributors: nancylee bouscher, Ben Goe, Jenny Sandbo, Jay Williams, Leigha Staffenhagen, Renée Hall, & Tony White Board of Trustees: Brad Claypool, Kristen Ekstran, Britta Eschete, Casey Schoenberger, Rob Smith, Wayne Rushing, Tim Penninger & Tom Theisen

CO-OP HOURS

Open 8am - 8pm Daily

or shop online anytime www.skagitfoodcoop.com

by Tony White

Dear Skagit Valley Food Co-op Members,

As I write this update, four days before Thanksgiving, there is much to reflect upon. 2020 has been a difficult year for a lot of people. The year has had a disproportionate amount of grief and sorrow for so many. However, I do believe we all have things in our lives to be thankful for; they are just a little more challenging to see during a pandemic. In my professional life, I am so appreciative of the opportunity to be the General Manager at Skagit Valley Food Co-op. By the time you read this update in January, I will have just finished my first year at the Co-op. While it certainly wasn’t the type of year I expected, I feel so fortunate to have been part of the team here at the Co-op. This Coop is made up of a special group of employees, as well as compassionate and loyal membership. I thank both stakeholder groups for helping me through 2020.

Our Co-op is healthy and strong. Previously, I shared with you that our Co-op had incurred losses for the fi rst six months of the year, something that had not happened in many years. With the closing in March of Third Street Cafe, the Deli hot food bar and salad bar, our (famous!) made-to-order sandwich program, and Mercantile shop alongside the numerous cost increases due to COVID-19 our losses were at least explainable, if not understandable. However, we have worked hard to make adjustments in the way we are running our business. We are keeping our expenses in balance with sales. During the third quarter, we still incurred hundreds of thousands of dollars in added expenses due to COVID-19 related protocols in place, but we were able to put together a strong quarter.

I am pleased to say that we had suffi cient earnings during the third quarter to pull us to break-even for the year. Store sales are still running down from the previous year, but the sales drop can be attributed to a lower amount of Deli sales due to the closure of our mezzanine seating area and reduction of food offerings. Sales in almost every department other than Deli are up signifi cantly, many over 10% from the previous year.

Over the last few months, we have made substantial investments into our Co-op facility. I thank you all for bearing with us as we replaced refrigerated cases and fi xtures in our Bulk, Produce, Meat, Cheese, and Deli departments. I know some of these changes caused some disruptions during your shopping experience, but I hope you have found the end results to be worth the hassle.

Highlight of Changes:

New produce case.

Refrigerated produce cases - our new cases are more energy effi cient; increased our refrigeration capacity; have better lighting; and display our produce in a more attractive manner. The new cases also allowed us to reintroduce bulk spring mix, spinach, and arugula to our offerings. We also have a couple new, nifty mushroom bins that help keep your mushrooms fresher!

Bulk Department - a redesign of the bulk department provides a more open space for your shopping experience. We replaced most of our scoop bins with pull handle gravity bins. Gravity bins eliminate hands and scoops from coming in contact with the product, which makes for a much safer bulk food experience. The new fi xtures and bins look great! We’re very happy with the results.

Cheese case - the new cheese case is also much more energy efficient than our old island style case. The upgrade allowed us to move cheese products located in other parts of the store all into one location.

Meat freezer - we eliminated the open bin freezer case near the Mercantile stairs and replaced it with a new two-door upright freezer. The new case is so much more effi cient than the open freezer we had. Its added capacity also allowed us to add even more products to our mix.

New hot bar - we are super excited to be able to serve hot food once again! Bringing back a hot food bar did mean changing the way we were doing business. We didn’t feel comfortable having an open self-serve hot bar, so we made the switch to a full service bar instead. The switch seemed to make perfect sense. After all, you love our hot food, and we love to serve you. Unfortunately, we are still limited to takeout only and cannot allow food consumption on the premises due to COVID-19 guidelines.

Deli grab-n-go-case - to make room for our new hot bar, we needed to eliminate one of our full-service deli cases. The great products you used to get out of the full-service deli counter can now be found in the selfserve grab-n-go case. The new case also allowed us to offer all of our Deli-made products in one spot: you’ll fi nd sandwiches, soups, dessert, dips, hummus, salads, burritos, and all of your other favorites in this case. One end of the case is intended for hot foods to-go. We’re working on some new irresistible food options for you!

I suspect that you have found our improvements to be pleasing and that your shopping experience is better than ever. Isn’t it fun to see the transformations occur? (continued on page 13)