News you can use.....
Thursday, March 25, 2010 at 12:29PM Welcome to your weekly board and management newsletter!
First off, here is some “News You Can Use” from our general Manager Ryan Youngman.
Hello Folks!
Quick review – It’s been a productive week and half of moving forward. We had a membership meeting on the 15th. We also had our first open house at our office Tuesday night (thanks to all that stopped by for some chit-chat). Upcoming events- Since we have our direction (see last communiqué for questions) to get to the goal now in our sites, we need to fund raise to get there. We will be doing a fund raising telethon (call a thon) on Wednesday & Thursday April 7th & 8th. Our goal is to raise $75,000.
We will be asking for an additional $50-$100 from all members to go into their member equity accounts. With all of your help we can get there!!
Creekside Co-Ops Farmer’s Market at High School Park starts on April 11th. We look forward to seeing all of you each week as we dazzle you with fantastic essentials, like veggies and eggs and also small plate meals, ready to eat while talking to your neighbors!
You may want to even bring your own foldable chairs or put out a blanket and soak up the environment. A list of vendors will be available on the Web site the week before the Farmer’s Market starts. We are getting closer so chip in and help make this dream come true. We thank you and have a great weekend!
Sincerely,
Ryan Youngman
And now, a word or two from the board.
Dear Fellow Creekside Co-op Members,
To pull off the Call-A-Thon that Ryan mentioned above, we need volunteers. All you need is a cell phone, a strong speaking voice and the desire to help build this co-op.
The nights in question are April 7 and April 8 from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Please e-mail Ryan at ryanyoungman@creekside.coop to volunteer. We need 25 volunteers on Wednesday, the 7th and 20 volunteers on Thursday, the 8th.
As part of efforts by the board of directors to communicate more frequently with the membership, the board decided that it wanted to include brief summaries of the minutes of board meetings in our weekly communications to members.
The most recent co-op board meeting was on March 10 and the following is a summary of the issues that were discussed.
General Manager Ryan Youngman gave a presentation on the upcoming Creekside Co-op Farmer’s Market at High School Park. The farmer’s market is scheduled for every Sunday between April 11 and the end of October. Exceptions are the “Arts in the Park” date of June 6 and July 4.
Ryan said he expected between 10 and 15 vendors locally and from surrounding counties to participate and that set-up would start at around 9 am and tear down would be in the 2pm to 3pm range.
Fred Milbert and the finance committee gave an update on loans and grants that the co-op is pursuing. In case you missed last week’s message, the co-op’s board and general manager, in addition to pursuing a direct loan from the United States Department of Agriculture for $3 million, are also pursuing a $450,00 loan from the state’s Department of Community and Economic Development.
The board then went over details of the March 15 membership meeting, the details of which were the topic of last week’s membership communication.
A Brief Note
As some of you may have noticed, the old Ashbourne Market has been posted with a notice that it will be going to sheriff's sale at the end of April. We have discussed this with the owner and expressed our concern. He has told us that he expects to strike a deal with his lender that will cancel or delay the sheriff's sale until we can complete our acquisition of the building. We believe that it is very unlikely that the building will actually go to sherriff's sale, but if it does we will actively pursue securing its purchase.
On another topic, the board wishes to send out its heartiest thanks to the founders and members of the Hazon CSA at Congregation Kol Ami. When word got out that the co-op was going to launch a farmer’s market, the CSA sent out a beautiful message to its members in support of the Farmer’s Market and the Co-op.
The CSA folks noted that all three founding members of the CSA are members of the co-op and that there are several co-op board members who are members of the CSA. There is a natural synchronicity to both organizations as they both support local agriculture and the healthy lifestyles of their members.
So, thank you Hazon CSA at Congregation Kol Ami for your neighborliness and your support! And thanks to all of you members for your continuing support of this dream-becoming-a reality of a co-op in Elkins Park.
See you at the farmer’s market!
Sincerely,
The Creekside Co-op Board of Directors