by Anya Firszt, General Manager
October is Co-op Month!
In 1964, Orville Freeman, then the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and former Minnesota Governor, proclaimed October national Co-op Month. Happy National Co-op Month!
Willy Street Co-op, along with thousands of other cooperatives across the country from food stores, to credit unions, to producers and service providers, are celebrating Co-op Month. This is our time to think about collective roots and shared cooperative values, the strength of the cooperative business model, and what differentiates us from other grocery stores and businesses. By choosing to be an Owner and shopping at Willy Street Co-op, you provide employment, you support local producers, you promote community development, and you secure access to good food. What’s not to celebrate?
Owner Appreciation
This month we also celebrate 46 years of being open for business. Whether you are a founding Owner or you just became one, thank you for being part of our Cooperative. One way we can thank and recognize you, our Owners, is to host an Owner Appreciation event. This year, we are celebrating all month long and will be distributing 1,000 gift bags to randomly selected Owners, holding a virtual scavenger hunt, giving you chances to win one of 46 $46 gift cards, and offering great Owner-only sales. See page 14 for details.
Covid-19 planning
We will continue to support social distancing, require facemasks for staff, vendors and customers, and limit customer capacity in each store to foster a safe and healthy space to work and shop and to help to slow the spread of COVID-19. Check out our website for coronavirus prevention measures and updates: www.willystreet.coop/coronavirus.
We are presently working on how to support holiday sales while practicing social distancing. Watch for more curbside pick-up options that don’t require you shopping in the store.
Reminder: you can shop online for home delivery or curbside pick-up to find out more about our expanded online services check out our website at: shop.willystreet.coop. The site is not currently suppored on mobile devices. We are working on that!
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion—next steps
We continue to move forward in our work with Step Up: Equity Matters, a local consulting team helping us achieve our goal of advancing equity within the Co-op. Last month, staff and the Board were asked to participate in the Uprooting Bias Challenge, an online learning challenge that offers a framework to recognize, own and disrupt individual bias as well as organizational bias. Step Up will compile and analyze the results to help our organization identify next steps for employee learning and engagement.
This month, we are in the process of organizing focus groups of staff and Board members to gain information and opinion that Step Up will use to create an organizational equity assessment.
And finally, we are sharing with Step Up our policies and procedures so they can review them with an equity and inclusive lens to identify systemic barriers and recommend revisions to foster an inclusive and equitable space to work and shop. Stay tuned for future updates.
Special store hours and dates to think about:
• Thanksgiving Day, November 26: The retails are open 8:00am-2:30pm.
Until next month, stay healthy.