We had a great turn-out for our first interest meeting- 8 people plus Rachel and Lucia.
Here is a summary of what we discussed:
Where the idea came fromIt started as part of a buisness competition. We were right in the middle of the recession and were seeing lots of headlines about how people are increasingly turning to lower cost (but often less healthy food options) as they try to make ends meet. As nutrition researchers, we know that cost is one of the biggest barriers for people trying to eat healthy. We wanted to help increase access to healthy food. Partially that meant giving people skills (nutrition and cooking classses), but we know that it's not always feasible to eat at home and there aren't a lot of healthy options for people a limited budget. That's where the idea of the restaurant came from.
Local Foods StoreOpening a restaurant is a lot of work and requires a lot of capital. We were looking for other things that we could do to establish ourselves in the community more quickly and easily so we can begin making an impact right away. Nutrition education and cooking classes is one way, but we also wanted some sort of income generating project to fund those programs so they could be sustainable. After talking to lots of producers and consumers we came up with the idea of a local foods store. Farmer's markets have limited hours and are difficult to access if you work multiple jobs or have a non-traditional schedule. This coupled with the fact that few grocery stores are able to sell local products (because they aren't equipped to deal with small producers) makes it difficult for people to regularly get local products. Many people at the meeting liked this idea and felt that it would be a good place to start.
Moving ForwardBoard of Directors: In order to get tax exempt status, we need to complete some official paperwork, like ratifying our articles of incorporation. We need a board of directors to do this. In the future we would like to have board members in the position for 1-2 years, but we thought to start we would have a provisional board (were were thinking 6-month appointments unless anyone else feels like it should be shorter). Some of the people at the meeting agreed that they would like to be part of the provisional board, but we still have room for a few more people.
Committee Members: If there is a certain area that interests you, you might want to get involved in a committee instead. Generally committees will be headed by board members, but can be made up of non-board members and consultants. Many different committees are needed. To start this would include: Grant-writing, fundraising, farmer/producer relations, nutrition/community outreach.
We would like to get started on the committees as soon as possible. If you are interested in heading up or serving on a particular committee, please let us know.Volunteers: In the future we will need people to volunteer on a regular basis doing things like working in the store or restaurant.
If you are interested in being on the board or on a committee and have not filled out an interest form, you can download the form here.People we should talk toDuring our discussion, the following names/places came up as people that we should talk to:
- Richard Holcomb from Coon Rock Farm who runs a local restaurant
- Chatham Marketlace
- Earthwise
If you have any other suggestions of people who might offer help/consulting or might want to be part of the board, please pass that along.
Next MeetingWe tentatively scheduled our first board meeting for
Tuesday,
November 10th at 5:30 in the same place (1700 MLK
).
About a week prior to this meeting, we will send out the articles of incorporation for eveyone to review. At the meeting we will need to vote on these. We would like to have everyone interested in being on the provisional board there.
If you want to be on the board, but know that you can't make this meeting, please let us know ASAP
