First Organizational Meeting for the Fresh from Alaska Co-op Market

[Mary]

I wanted to say THANKS to everyone who attended the first
organizational meeting for the Fresh from Alaska Co-op Market. For
those who were unable to attend, here's a short synopsis of what we
discussed.

The official name was announced. Thanks to those that voted for the
co-op name, we are now the Fresh from Alaska Co-op Market.

The options for formal creation of a cooperative corporation were
discussed and the group agreed that the Multi-stakeholders Cooperative
model would be the most beneficial to all of our members.

The goals for the cooperative were reviewed:

1. Provide natural foods, minimal processing, grown/raised without
chemicals
2. Support local producers - first
3. Community ownership - providing an alternative to corporate/big-
box stores
4. Reduce the cost of quality foods

The co-op principals were reviewed:

1. Voluntary and open membership
2. Democratic member control
3. Member economic participation
4. Autonomy and independence
5. Education, training and information
6. Cooperation among cooperatives
7. Concern for the community

The following Service Circle Coordinators were identified:

Operations/Steering Circle - Coordinator - Mary M. Ernsberger
Local Producers and Product Selection Circle - Coordinator - Rachel
Drinkard
Marketing/Communications/Outreach Circle - Coordinator - Triena
Slatter
Health & Wellness Education Circle - Coordinator - Martha Shaddy (Mat-
Su Valley) and Vanessa Plourde-Smith (Anchorage)
Business Plan Circle - Coordinator - Emily Longbrake

We are still in need of volunteer coordinators for the following
Service Circles:

Store Design & Location Options Circle
Finance Circle
Staffing Circle

We also need volunteers to work with the coordinators on any of the
above Service Circles. If you would like to be actively involved in
one of these circles, e-mail the group at fresh.fr...@gmail.com
with your name, contact information and the circle you would like to
join. If you are not sure of the responsibilities of each circle, I
will be happy to provide you with that information.

The group decided to form an interim Board of Directors composed of
the Service Circle Coordinators. This Board will remain in place
until the first full membership meeting where a permanent BoD will be
elected by the membership and will remain for a period of one year.

The second Organizational Meeting for Monday, 03/07/11 was announced
and all those present were invited to attend.

Several of those in attendance asked about web sites or other
information so they could find out more about cooperative markets. I
will post those links in another discussion post.

Thanks again to all those that attended and I hope to see you on
Monday evening at the Cooperative Extension - 16th and C Street -
5:30pm.