While ghosts and goblins around the Northland were preparing for their haunts, your Board of Directors was gathering for its annual Board Retreat with Michael Healy, a representative from CDS Consulting Co-op. These retreats often become a time of renewal for the board as we ask questions regarding Policy Governance, refocus our goals, and learn about what other co-ops around the nation are doing. Naturally, there are homemade goodies and some high-quality thought-provoking conversation thrown into the mix.
We began with The Ends as our focus. What are the Ends? These are the four main objectives for the board that help us to separate our job from Anne’s as the General Manager. They are: 1) a greater sense of community for people in our area; 2) community members are better informed about cooperative principles and personal and environmental health; 3) people in our community have access to healthy products; and 4) a vibrant local food economy. These may sound familiar because they were the focus of the 2009 Annual Meeting large group discussion last April. As we worked throughout the day, writing questions, posting ballots with stickers as to what we would each like to focus on, learned what other co-ops are focusing on, and reviewing what was said at the annual meeting, we decided that this year’s spotlight for board education would be to learn about our local food economy. As we work throughout the next year, we’ll give you updates as to what this all means.
As your board, we’ve been very concerned about what kinds of things you, our constituents, want. We brainstormed ways to poll you, to send you letters, to ask you face-to-face, how can we pick your brains? Then, a very meaningful “ah ha” moment came when Mr. Healy announced that knowing what member-owners want is not necessarily our job. WHAT?! We were baffled. How can that not be our job? These people elected us, isn’t it our duty to make them happy? Yes, he answered, they did elect you, however, our job is to lead and bring people along with us. That means that as we learn about our local food economy, we ask that you join us in the adventure of possible guest speakers, to pass things that you know about local food along to us, and to enjoy the fruits of our labor as we pass the knowledge to all of you.
Look in your newsletters, attend the annual meeting, and feel free to chat with us about what we’re learning about local food, what is local, and what’s going on in the Northland that encourages all things local. Feel free to attend events that the Natural Harvest Food Co-op sponsors, and let us know about others that may be occurring so that we can be informed as well. Let’s all learn about local food!
—Jessica Cox
