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It all began in June, 2005 when
concerned members of the community got together to address
the need for affordable, good quality organic food in Harlem.
We conducted brainstorming sessions, invited guests from other
co-ops to give us their input and devised our first mission
statement for a food co-op.
We conducted research to see
what services were already being offered in the area, such
as CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture), Farm Stands, and
Community Gardens. To our surprise we found that there were
several CSAs in the area and a Farm Stand was opening up in
the summer of 2006. Based on this information, we decided
to first join a Buyer's Club that already existed in Harlem.
We got together to look at the
catalogue of shelf items to purchase. We found the catalogue
difficult to decipher. It became obvious that we needed someone
to coordinate the committee's efforts to come up with a shopping
list for the group. Once this was done, the coordinator would
place the order. When the order arrived, shoppers would have
a two-hour timeframe to pick up their groceries very early
on Sunday morning.
Well this didn't work out at
all! It took too much time to elect a coordinator, and get
everyone's shopping list. On top of that, people found it
difficult to pick up their groceries in that small timeframe,
especially without transportation.
In September, 2006, we decided
to go back to our original plan of a food co-op. A place where
people could shop at their convenience and still get quality
affordable produce, shelf items, natural cosmetics and cleaning
products and healthy snacks.
One of the founding members,
Lillian Butler, owner of Raw Soul Restaurant, made space available
on the 2nd Floor of Raw Soul to operate the Co-op. Now we
were back in business with a new direction, and enthusiastic
outlook. We held a general meeting and decided upon the name,
and formed a planning committee, finance committee, and membership
committee.
We have incorporated, opened
a bank account, appointed an interim Board of Directors, applied
for funding, and as of March 11, 2007 embarked upon an ambitious
membership drive to recruit 1000 new members.
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