It's been a busy Spring here at Prairie Food Co-op, with lots of exciting news to share!
In February, several Board members headed to Bloomington, IN to attend a two-day co-op conference where we learned best practices for opening a cooperative grocery store. All board members received scholarships to attend, totaling over $1500. It's always fun and invigorating to mingle with others working hard to open food co-ops in their own community.
Prairie Food Co-op was awarded a $1000 Howard Bowers grant! The purpose of the grant is to strengthen the food co-op community by providing grants for the training and education of food co-op staff and board members. Our grant will be used for leadership training for our board and consulting with expert food co-op organizers.
A professional Market Analysis was conducted in February affirming that Lombard can support a natural foods cooperative grocery store. We also now know where our grocery store will be located! Industry best practice dictates that the location should not be revealed until we secure a lease - which we can do once we have 600 Owners. We will publish general Market Study findings soon.
Meet The Co-op Interested in learning more about the co-op and future plans? Then be sure to attend our next "Meet The Co-op" this Saturday, April 11, 10am - 11:30am at the Corner House in Lombard.more info}
Board Elections One of the 7 principles that define cooperatives is Principle 2 - Democratic Owner Control. This principle ensures that Prairie Food Co-op's policies and procedures reflect the values and needs of our community. Consider running for our Board to help!read more}
NEW OWNER PROMO
Become an Owner by April 22 and you will be eligible to win a 16-week farm fresh CSA from Montalbano Farms ($350 value!). That is 16 weeks of locally-grown, organic produce delivered to Lombard with an option for you to choose which veggies you receive each week! We'll raffle off this CSA IF we get 22 new owners by April 22 so hurry and become an Owner today!
