Community Awareness Event - April 23, 2011 - 5pm to 8pm

[Mary]

I wanted to say thank you to everyone who has expressed interest in
having a local food co-op market here in Anchorage. We are moving
forward with the extremely long list of things that have to be done to
make that happen. We could really use your help. We need volunteers
to work with our Service Circle groups to especially get the word out
about our efforts. We need every member of this group to talk to
everyone they know and invite them to our Community Awareness Event on
April 23, 2011.

Hope Community Resources is donating their space at 570 W. 53rd Ave. -
just east of Arctic on 53rd Ave. and Ellen Robertson of Ellen's Heart
& Soul Catering will be cooking up some yummy tasting treats from the
local products we get donated for the event. We are waiting to hear
whether Spenard Rec Center will be donating their commercial kitchen
for her to do the cooking.

If you are a producer and have an interest in selling some type of
Alaskan products at the co-op, we need your donation to make the April
23rd event a big success. Contact me (Mary) at 907-727-0078 and let
me know what you have available to donate (every little bit helps).
The only requirement is that it must have been grown, raised or
produced within our state.

If you are a consumer and have an interest in buying from the co-op,
either as an equity member or just a consumer, we need you to spread
the word and bring some friends to the event.

If you would like to be a founding member, see me the night of the
event and I will give you some information on what that means.

In the next week or so, we will be hanging fliers around town. If you
belong to any community groups and would like some hand-outs for your
group, let me know,

We need your input on what this co-op should look like and how it
should be run. There will be surveys the night of the event and we
need everyone to fill one out. If there are members of your community
groups that are not able to make the event, but you know are
interested in a local foods co-op, let me know and I can get some
copies of the surveys to you.

This applies to potential producers too. We have spoken to a few of
you over the last few weeks but we need to hear from so many more. We
need to know what it will take to get you to support our efforts and
sell to the co-op. Do you want to be have your own membership class
and earn patronage refunds like the consumers or doesn't that
matter?

If you sell at one of the Farmer's Markets or you are a regular
shopper, please know our intent is to provide another option for the
producers to sell their product and the consumers to buy it.

Thank you for your support. Look for our fliers around town and we
hope to see you on April 23rd.

Sincerely,

Mary M. Ernsberger
Coordinator
Fresh from Alaska Food Co-op
(907) 727-0078


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