12.09 Co-Op Newsletter.Indd
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Community News since 1971 December 2009 Volume 38 • Number 12 Index: City Chickens Coop Tour 2 An Apple a Day 4 Food Conspiracy Co-op Fresh Ginger 5 GM Sugar Beets Knocked Back 8 Is Recycling Sustainable? 10 Community News Save 10% on 12/9! Don’t miss the 2nd City Chickens Coop Tour! See p. 3 for details. enerally Dec. 5th from 10 am to 3 p.m. Tickets on sale at the Co-op. G More info on page 2. Speaking IT TAKES A COOPERATIVE: Working together equals brighter by Ben Kuzma, futures for women in Ghana General Manager By Carrie Gayne, Co-op member ne of these days consumer coop- eratives, such as Food Conspir- hen I moved to Tucson fi ve years ago, one of the fi rst income and they usually have to borrow money from friends or family O things I did was join the Food Conspiracy Co-op. to get by or they go without. acy Co-op, will be as common here in the United States as LED lights are I fell in love with Fourth Avenue and, after living I travelled to Cheyohi with my mother and my friend from high myW entire life in small towns with conventional grocery stores, I was in school, Rahama Wright. Rahama is the founder and executive direc- at Winterhaven and as inextricably entwined in society as they currently are in Japan or awe of all the organic and socially responsible products the Co-op made tor of Shea Yeleen International (SYI), a nonprofi t that works with Italy. It may take a while to get to that level available to me. impoverished women in Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana to help them of ubiquity but consumer cooperatives as When I joined, I was more excited about food than I was about produce shea butter. an alternative business model are starting being part of a cooperative. But, this past August, I had a chance to see a Shea butter is a slightly yellow or ivory-colored natural fat ex- to get national attention that didn’t exist different type of co-op that showed me how valuable co-op membership tracted from the nuts of the before the national health care debates put can be to people in other parts of the world. shea/karite tree. Sometimes Group Health, a health care cooperative in The cooperative I visited, the Yembela Bobguni Association, is called “women’s gold,” it is Washington State with 580,000 members, in located in the small village of Cheyohi in Ghana, West Africa. Its mem- one of the few economic the limelight as an alternative and cooperative bers make shea butter. Approximately 1,500 people live in Cheyohi, commodities women con- way to provide health care. which has no electricity or running water. Families reside in round trol in Sahelian Africa (a Change several key words in Group mud huts with thatched roofs and most people live on less than $2 US narrow band of semi-arid Health’s own description of itself, and a day. Average monthly expenses for members of the Yembela Bobguni land south of the Sahara you’ll see an accurate description of Food Association hover around $100 US. This number exceeds their monthly that stretches from the East Conspiracy Co-op! From their website at www.ghc.org: cont. on p. 9 Group Health Cooperative [Food Con- spiracy Co-op] began in 1947 [1971] as a community coalition dedicated to making quality health care [nutritious food] avail- SPECIAL HOLIDAY HOURS: able and affordable. Today it is one of the few [~100] health care organizations [food co-ops] in the country governed by consumers. Its 11 [6] Co-op will close at 6 pm on December 24. member Board of Trustees [Directors] — all health-plan [co-op] members elected by other Co-op will be closed on Christmas. members — work closely with management and Co-op will close at 6 pm on December 31. medical staff to ensure that the organization’s policies and direction put the needs of patients Co-op will be closed on New Year’s Day. [member-owners] fi rst. cont. on p. 11 Food Conspiracy Co-op 412 N. Fourth Ave. • Tucson, AZ 85705 PRSRTD STD U.S. Postage PAID Tucson, AZ Permit #821 December 2009 • Food Conspiracy Co-op — Community News • Page 1 FOOD CONSPIRACY CO-OP C OMMUNITY Store Hours: CONNECTIONS Open Daily 8 a.m. - 9 p.m. Food Conspiracy Cooperative by Torey Ligon, Outreach Coordinator Food Conspiracy 412 N. 4th Ave., Tucson, AZ 85705 Tel: 520-624-4821 • Fax: 520-792-2703 Co-op E-mail: [email protected] Member-Owned Since 1971 http://www.foodconspiracy.coop Membership Drive Success! Statement of Cooperative Identity n October, the Co-op held our most successful membership drive in recent history. A cooperative is an autonomous association of Food Conspiracy Co-op Over the course of the month, we signed up 66 new members. It was triple the people united voluntarily to meet their common 22 new members we signed up during our membership drive last October, and Community News I economic, social, and cultural needs and aspira- it topped our initial goal of 35 new members. It even far exceeded our revised tions through a jointly owned and democrati- Editor: Lisa Stage goal of 50 new members for the month! cally controlled enterprise. Managing Editor: Torey Ligon Throughout the month, our cashiers kept an updated thermometer image taped in the [email protected] front end offi ce so they could track how many new members we’d signed up. Excitement built Food Conspiracy Values throughout the month as people kept signing up to join the Co-op and even long time non- Art Director: Bettina Mills 1. We adhere to the internationally recognized member customers decided to take the plunge into membership. Rochdale Principles. Contributors: Danny August, de Vie, As an incentive to join, the Co-op pledged to donate $5 to a local non-profi t for each new 2. We promote whole, natural, organic, and Carrie Gayne, Ben Kuzma, member who signed up. Each new member got to choose their favorite non-profi t from a list chemical-free products with minimal packaging. Anna Lambert, Torey Ligon, Robert Oser, of past Co-op Community Fund winners. After tallying the results, I am pleased to announce 3. We value openness, honesty, and integrity Michael Sicurello that because of our record-breaking member sign ups, the Co-op donated $115 to Native Seeds/ with each other and the community. SEARCH, $80 to the Community Food Bank’s Food Resource Center, $45 to Watershed Man- 4. We seek, through cooperative effort, to pro- Next Deadline: Dec. 5th agement Group, $45 to Sky Island Alliance, $40 to the Co-op’s own Co-op Community Fund vide a humane, fulfi lling environment in which (to build our fund for future donations to area non-profi ts) and $5 to Baja Arizona Sustainable Articles about health or nutrition are for infor- to work and shop. Agriculture for a total of $330 (66 new members times $5). mational purposes only. We recommend that you 5. We promote social justice, encouraging and Thanks to all the new members who joined our Co-op last month. We’re so glad to count consult a health care professional for medical respecting diversity. you as partial owners of this community business and always grateful for a good opportunity advice. Opinions expressed in this newsletter are 6. We strive for a sustainable, healthy ecology, to support some of Tucson’s best non-profi t organizations. those of the writers and not necessarily the views through use of clean, renewable resources. or policies of Food Conspiracy. Co-op Principles Submissions to the Food Conspiracy Co-op Co-op principles were first stated by the Community News newsletter are encouraged 2nd City Chickens Coop Tour Rochdale pioneers in 1844. The cooperative and due by the 5th of the month prior to principles are guidelines by which cooperatives publication date. All unsolicited material—in- Last May, our City Chickens Coop Tour had over 200 participants and 250 people came put their values into practice. cluding letters—is subject to approval. Written looking for tickets after the event had sold out. Given the growing popularity of urban chickens 1. Voluntary and open member-ownership. submissions by e-mail are preferred; typewritten and the demonstrated community interest in backyard coops, we’ve decided to do it all again. 2. Democratic member-owner control. acceptable. The 2nd City Chickens Coop Tour will take 3. Member-owner economic participation. place this Dec. 5th from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Letters to the Editor are welcome. Letters 4. Autonomy and independence. Coop Tour is a self-guided tour of backyard must be signed and include a phone number 5. Education, training, and information. chicken coops all over Tucson. for author verifi cation. We will withhold name 6. Cooperation among cooperatives. This time around, we have 250 tickets for if requested. Editor reserves the right to edit for 7. Concern for community. grammatical errors, clarity, and length. Keep sale and we’re hoping to reach some of the folks who were disappointed when we sold out the letters to a reasonable length of 300 words or Co-op Management Team less. last go around. For anyone who went on the tour last time, we’ve got a handful of new homes General Manager: Ben Kuzma Co-op/Community Calendar highlights involved so there will be new sites to see.