Viroqua Food Co-op’s purpose is built around our shared values and needs, and is expressed in our Mission Statement and Ends Policies. Like all cooperatives, we are a democratic organization. Co-op owners elect a Board of Directors from the owner-membership base, which then holds fiduciary responsibility and keeps the lines of communication open with the owners.

But how does the VFC Board of Directors keep a strong connection to thousands of owners? With low attendance at the Annual Owners Meetings in years past, we were concerned that our link with owners was not strong enough to represent a vision of the future.

I’m involved with AMOS, (Advocating, Mobilizing, Organizing in Solidarity) a La Crosse based interfaith social justice group that forms alliances with community groups to work towards creating a compassionate community. LaDonna Redmond of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (www.itap.org) spoke at our annual meeting about “Food+Justice=Democracy.”