Dear Co+op Community,

Normally this time of year we would be celebrating with an open house, free samples, and live music in our store. This year has been challenging for our staff and members due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our community members have been directly impacted through loss of business, income, jobs, and some have lost family members due to the coronavirus.

As I write this, it’s hard to believe autumn is rapidly approaching and all that the season brings: the changing colors of the leaves, longer nights and shorter days, schools starting, and VFC Board elections. For me, it tends to be a contemplative time, all the more so in the strange times we find ourselves.

The anticipation that Spring brings is upon us! My favorite e.e.cummings poem talks about the world being “mud-luscious” and after a long winter we are looking forward to mud puddles, grass and GROWTH!

Thanks to all that attended our first “in-house” Annual Owners Meeting. We enjoyed a great chili supper and liquid refreshments as well as a few door prizes. The event was held in the new dining/meeting area of the store and included showcasing the accomplishments of the year, our current financial position, status of community initiatives and changes to the membership of the Board of Directors. We said thank you and goodbye to Karen Mischel and Larry Homstad and welcome to Olive Reynolds and Tonya Wagner. Eric Snowdeal was re-elected to another three-year term.

Tempus fugit! Oh how time flies. I can’t believe I’m coming up on the end of my third year since being elected to the Viroqua Food Co+op Board of Directors! It’s been a pleasure and a privilege to represent the member owners during such an exciting time of change with the expansion of our wonderful Co-op. Over twenty years ago, I joined my first food co-op, the Olympia Food Co-op in Olympia Washington, because I believed passionately in the cooperative mission and supporting the local and organic food movements. It has been tremendously rewarding to be able to continue to contribute to the cooperative movement working with my fellow board members.

It is hard to believe that it’s already six months since I was elected to the Viroqua Food Co+op Board of Directors! During this time, I watched our amazing staff work out the kinks of our newly expanded store from a different perspective than just a shopper. Being on the Board brings into focus a lot of the smaller-moving pieces and helps me realize just how much is happening behind the scenes. I have to take the opportunity to thank every employee at the Co-op for the grace and apparent ease with which they navigated this transition. It has been a real joy to be a part of it with you.

Hello VFC Owners! Can you believe it’s time to start talking elections again? This has been an incredibly busy and successful year for the Co-op. I speak for the Board of Directors when I say we are so very proud of the dedicated work that has been done to get us to where we are. People are taking note of what we’ve done here, and it’s all because of the exceptional leadership and teamwork that is in practice every single day at the VFC.

Our new and expanded store is here! Thank you for sticking with us through this major project. A big thank you to our investors, owner-members, and community who made this project a possibility. Thank you for your patience while our deli was put on hold for several months, and recalibrating when our entrance changed locations on any given week during construction.

"The equity of a co-op comes from its membership and serves multiple benefits... Building our equity is an important part of our balance sheet and long term financial health."

Due to my work at CROPP Cooperative (aka Organic Valley), and my longtime work with and dedication to retail cooperatives for my sustenance and community, I am constantly thinking about how we can build and grow a “cooperative movement.” What does that even mean, how are co-ops manifesting themselves today, and what can we do to encourage more?