There are life events from which we all measure time. Like before and after a birth or a death. Before and after a certain job or school. Before and After The Fire. One of my measurements includes the Co-op. Before and after we had an actual store.
I grew up in the 50's; came of age in the sixties. When I was 10, I aspired to be a teenager who wore poodle skirts, saddle shoes with socks and jitterbugged to Buddy Holly. Instead I was a teenager who wore miniskirts, white sneakers with pantyhose, and lay on the floor of my room with my new on the scene stereo speakers up against my ears listening to the Beatles on my record player over and over again. It took about 3 years for that transition to occur in our culture.
Before the Beatles; After the Beatles.
In 1971 I moved to San Francisco. I rented a room in a house in the diverse Sunset district that lived in the shade of the huge medical center that had recently been built. The house was owned by two radical lawyers who started a Food Conspiracy in the neighborhood. Neighbors would write down their weekly order, volunteers would go out to farmers markets and bakeries and buy the food in bulk. They would haul it all to the basement garage of our house, where we would break down the orders on Friday night and stack each family's food in different areas of the garage. The big door would be opened wide on Saturday morning exposing the slanted sidewalk, and in would come families walking over to get their week’s load of groceries. Pulling wagons and little carts and each family member carrying home what they were able.
Before the Food Conspiracy I didn't notice where I got my food. After the Food Conspiracy, I did.
I chose Chico to go to school in part because I learned that Lassen Foods was here, a big name in health food at the time. When I got here, I rode my bike out to the address I had and found a warehouse on Meyers St. Closed up. No one there. Definitely not a food store. I was shocked. How would I eat? So, I found out about S and S, and got my produce there when I got it together to ride my bike out there.
I lived in a shed in Chapmantown at the time. A very low-income student paying $25 per month, riding my bike to school and work-study jobs. One night a friend of mine, a math professor at Chico State, jogged by my little abode, and from the alley way behind the fence, told me to come to the parking lot at 15th and Park in the morning. The local food buying club was going Big. A food co-op was starting. I went. From that point on I was immersed in Food Store Stuff. We were definitely Working Members back then, building the store from the ground up.
Time measured Before the Co-op and After the Co-op.
When this investment campaign is completed and the remodel begins to happen, I am sure we will measure our co-op time as Before the Great Remodel and After the Great Remodel. I remember Littler Remodels, that really improved the store, made shopping more pleasurable. The most recent remodel did that and brought in new members--and the hot food! People coming in to get their lunches and dinners. Very exciting.
I can just imagine the changes to come that we will get to enjoy. I especially like the idea of energy efficient appliances saving us money with each beat of their little energy efficient hearts. And a happy Kitchen crew in a new up-to-date commercial kitchen. And more local produce, local processed products and more local bulk foods Have you noticed the Chico YELLOW CANARY BEANS? Absolutely the best beans I have ever eaten.
I can imagine a really good place for local growers to table and share their samples with us. I am waiting for the local walnut butter folks to come up with a sugarless variety. They are working on it. I am hoping the sugarless one will be a little less addicting, but I doubt it.
And imagine new members and farmers bringing yet more energy to the cooperative movement.
We can do this. Invest if you can, what you can.
It's our store.
Yours in Cooperation,
-Kathy
