July 2022 Newsletter
Check out our calendar for upcoming events and meetings!
Interested in volunteering but want to learn more? Join us for our first Volunteer Potluck & Orientation on Thursday, July 14th at 5:30pm under the pavilion at Gunn Park. Bring a side dish or dessert to share, pack along your favorite beverages, and join fellow Free Range Food Co-op owners for a fun evening of eating, learning, and getting to know each other!
RSVPs are required to ensure we bring enough supplies. CLICK HERE TO RSVP by July 7th. (Families of volunteers are welcome, just note the number of attendees in your RSVP.)
If you cannot make it, a copy of the presentation slides can be emailed to you afterwards if you select that option in the RSVP form.
The next few months will be a flurry of activity with multiple events, projects, and milestone development tasks happening. Make sure you're a part of the action by becoming a co-op volunteer!
Upcoming Volunteer Opportunities
One tabling volunteer is still needed at the MacRostie Art Center's annual Downtown Art Fair
Saturday, July 9th: 12:30-4:00pm
Join us on the lawn at the Old Central School where you can share our booth with local artist, Susan Clandon. Come have fun representing your co-op while being surrounded by local art and artists!
We are looking for an owner with a tractor and trailer/hay wagon who would enjoy driving our float in the Tall Timber Days parade
Sunday, August 7th: Parade line up at 11:00am, & parade starts at 1:00pm.
We also need FRFC owners to ride on or walk with the float during the parade, and tabling volunteers for our booth from Friday - Sunday (various shifts available).
Tabling volunteers are needed at the Grand Rapids Farmers Market
Any Saturday throughout the summer & fall season. Can take one or both shifts:
7:30am-10:30am
10:30am-1:30pm
We are looking for a volunteer or two (bring a friend or family member!) to sit at our small FRFC booth during the Saturday farmers markets.
This is a fun, low-key opportunity for you to interact with other co-op owners, introduce new people to the co-op, and visit with our local farmers market vendors!
Friendly Reminder: If you haven't done so already, please complete the brief volunteer survey sent out to all owners. Tell us how you can help build your co-op!
Site Selection Update
Oh, the question all FRFC owners ask… “When on earth (and where on earth) will we find a site?!” And the answer? “It’s complicated!”
Our Site Selection team includes directors and FRFC owners with experience in business ownership, realty, and construction. We are also contracted with professional consultants with experience building food co-ops across the nation who are guiding us through this process. The team is working diligently to select the best possible site for our future store. This is a lengthy process, and we appreciate your continued patience! We had a promising potential site this spring but we could not secure a long term lease to ensure a stable future for the co-op's store, so we unfortunately had to pass on that opportunity.
Our team is now looking for other existing sites as well as considering the possibility of a new build. Each potential site must meet a multitude of criteria including size, distance from main roads, ease of access, and cost of building/renovating. Each potential site is also “tested” in our financial pro forma and reviewed by a market study specialist to be sure the projected sales will sustain the business in the long term.
The steps to ensure the best possible site are time consuming, but are necessary to the success of Free Range Food Co-op for decades to come. If you have experience in real estate law or project management during store construction, these skills are still needed on our site selection team! We welcome you to email our Board Chair, Brandon Otway, at brandono.frfc@gmail.com if you are interested in joining the Site Selection Team.
Have you ever asked yourself, "Why we don't start with a smaller store and grow over time?" Tune in to next month's newsletter for the answer!
"Volunteering for FRFC is an exciting opportunity to join other community members in the goal of providing products locally grown and raised while supporting the local economy. I also like that we will be reducing the environmental impact of long-distance food transport. It's clearly a win-win!
I encourage others to find out how they can assist the co-op at this critical time in the journey to our very own grocery store!"
-Peggy Brennan, owner #848
Woohoo, it's almost election time again! We are accepting applications to welcome 4 new directors to our team during elections in October - will one of them be yours?!
Candidates should be committed to:
The mission & vision of Free Range Food Co-op
Attending twice-monthly board meetings
Being an active member on a co-op team & attending its monthly team meetings
Contributing at least 10 hours per month to co-op work (including meetings)
A board term lasts for 3 years (or less if you are filling a vacancy) and provides opportunities to:
Represent and engage with other co-op owners
Grow your existing skills and cultivate new ones
Expand personal and professional networks through co-op development
Email freerangefoodcoop@gmail.com to request a meeting with a current director for more information.
Why will we use owner investments and donations to raise the funds needed to open our store? Because co-ops aren't like other businesses (we know we're weird--we're ok with it!). We have the ability to raise capital from our owners. It's this unique structure as a co-op that makes us awesome--and allows owners a unique opportunity!
Preferred shares are just one piece of the fundraising pie that will allow us to adequately fund the build-out of our beautiful grocery store. Preferred Shares are non-voting stock which may yield annual dividends. This is not a get-rich-quick investment, but rather an opportunity to truly invest in the future and well-being of our own community. Planning for our Community Investment Campaign is underway, and we'll have more investment opportunity details in the coming months!
Book Club
Thursday, July 21st
6:00-8:00pm
Longyear Park pavilion in Coleraine
"Material: Making and the Art of Transformation"
by Nick Kary
"In Material, Kary takes readers along with him to visit some of the places where modern artisans are preserving, and in some cases passing on, the old craft skills. His vivid descriptions and eye for detail make this book a rich and delightful read, and the natural and cultural history he imparts along the way provides an important context for understanding our own past and the roots of our industrial society."
Pick up this book and join our book club! Anyone is welcome to our discussion on July 21st regardless of how far you got through the book.
We’ll be making our next FRFC Book Club selection at this meeting, so come with your book suggestions even if you did not get a chance to read this one. Our group reads books from a wide range of topics and all community members are welcome!
Miss the last co-op board meeting?
Catch up by reading the latest meeting minutes on our website:
Grand Rapids Farmers Market
In person at 11 Golf Course Road, Grand Rapids
Every Wednesday and Saturday
8:00am to 1:00pm
Online ordering available at http://www.grfarmersmarket.org/
Know someone else who should become a Free Range owner?
Click the link below!
June 2022 Newsletter
Our 2nd annual "Spring into Growth" owner drive was a success! A warm welcome to 17 new Free Range Food Co-op owners and congrats to Jessica & Nate Johnson (owner #939) who were the winners of the "big basket" of plant starts.
FRFC volunteers would like to send a huge THANK YOU to the owners of Bryndlewood Gardens, Wil & Brynden Lenius! Without their generous partnership and plant donations this fun spring ownership drive wouldn't be possible. Thank you, Wil & Brynden, for helping FRFC and our new owner's gardens grow!
Miss out on the owner drive? That's OK, you can still join as an owner and get the reward of knowing you're an integral part of building our community grown, cooperatively owned grocery store!
6 co-op owners have traveled down to Madison, WI together to learn from some of the co-op world's most knowledgeable, passionate leaders at the Up and Coming Conference for start up food co-ops! They took time off work and from their busy lives to be there to gain insight and network with other co-ops, so you know they're dedicated to seeing this grocery store through. Thanks to Lydia Williams, Laine Yandell, Katie Christenson, Shara Dabrowski, Brandon Otway and Anna Johnson for representing Free Range Food Co-op!
Want to get involved? Click the button below to fill out our volunteer survey.
““I also love learning new things and sharing information about Free Range Food Co-op by volunteering with the Marketing team is a chance to engage with my community through different types of media, something I learned how to do with Rapids Rising and GRIP Coalition. I enjoy the flexibility of volunteering with FRFC and appreciate how welcoming and caring everyone has been!””
Woohoo, it's almost election time again! Elections are in October and we're ready to welcome 3 new directors to our team - will one of them be you?! Upcoming projects include:
Finding our site
Securing funds
Hiring a general manager
Planning store layout & products
Candidates must:
Attend twice-monthly board meetings & serve a 3-year term
Collaborate with at least one co-op team & attend its monthly team meetings
Complete an application
Be able to commit at least 10 hours per month (including meetings)
Be excited to build a community-owned grocery!
A board term lasts for 3 years (or less if you are filling a vacancy) and provides opportunities to:
Represent and engage with other co-op owners
Grow your existing skills and cultivate new ones
Expand personal and professional networks through co-op development
Email freerangefoodcoop@gmail.com to request a meeting with a current director for more information.
Downtown Art Fair
FRFC volunteers will share our booth space with local artist, Susan Clandon, outside on the lawn at the Old Central School.
Email Shara to represent our co-op at the Downtown Art Fair.
Volunteer needs for this event:
1 or 2 owners for 1st shift from 9:00-12:30
1 or 2 owners for 2nd shift from 12:30-4:00
1 or 2 owners to either help collect supplies and setup from 8:15-9:00am or help take down and return supplies from 4:00-4:45pm.
Clean Up Your Community
This twice a year effort helps keep our county a little bit cleaner, and gives volunteers the chance to get to know each other a little better. Email Shara to join the next cleanup crew this fall!
Congrats to Bethlehem Food Co-op on breaking ground!
Read the article here about their groundbreaking ceremony on May 5th at the site of their future store! More than a decade in the making, they finally have their site secured and can move forward with building their store. Funding got a big boost last summer from a $2.9 million federal grant secured by their state representative. Grants generally make up only a small portion of the funding available to food co-ops. Most of the funds for co-ops to get "doors on the store" come directly from owners via preferred share purchases, loans, or donations and that's how FRFC will obtain building funds during our Community Investment Campaign. The success of Bethlehem Food Co-op is motivation for all start up co-ops to keep working towards their collective dream of a better grocery shopping future!
Book Club
(Send us an email for the details!)
"Material: Making and the Art of Transformation"
by Nick Kary
In our present age of computer-assisted design, mass production and machine precision, the traditional skills of the maker or craftsperson are hard to find. Yet the desire for well-made and beautiful objects from the hands (and mind) of a skilled artisan is just as present today as it ever has been. In Material, Kary takes readers along with him to visit some of the places where modern artisans are preserving, and in some cases passing on, the old craft skills. His vivid descriptions and eye for detail make this book a rich and delightful read, and the natural and cultural history he imparts along the way provides an important context for understanding our own past and the roots of our industrial society.
Pick up this book and join our book club! Anyone is welcome to our discussion on June 9th regardless of how far you got through the book.
Miss the last co-op board meeting?
Catch up by reading the latest meeting minutes on our website:
Owners are encouraged to join Work Sessions & Board Meetings!
Email us if you are interested in joining one of our teams.
Marketing Team
Wednesday, June 1st, 6:00-7:00pm
Marketing, graphics, & social media.
GM Search Team
Sunday, June 5th, 6:00-7:00pm
Planning strategies to find the best future store General Manager.
Capital Campaign Planning Team
Monday, June 6th, 6:30-7:30pm
Planning & implementing the capital campaign.
Work Session
Tuesday, June 7th, 6:00-7:30pm.
Open to all owners! Click to join via Zoom
CO-OP EVENT - Book Club
Thursday, June 9th, 6:00-8:00pm.
Join our discussion, chat with old friends and make new ones. Open to everyone!
COMMUNITY EVENT - Bigfork Wilderness Days
Friday, June 10th, 11am-7pm
Saturday, June 11th, 11:00am-9:00pm
Visit our booth at the Bigfork Wilderness Days event on Friday and Saturday! Our friendly volunteers will be there to chat about your co-op's progress.
Board Development Team
Tuesday, June 14th, 6:00-7:00pm
Strengthening our board through education & policy management.
Site Selection Team
Tuesday, June 14th, 7:00-8:00pm
Locating, researching, & comparing possible store sites.
Capital Campaign Planning Team
Monday, June 20th, 6:30-7:30pm
Planning & implementing the capital campaign.
Board Meeting
Tuesday, June 21st, listening session with Casey 5:30-6:00pm
Open to all owners! Click to join via Zoom
Board meeting follows listening session 6:00-7:30pm
Open to all owners! Click to join via Zoom
Support Local - Buy Local
Grand Rapids Farmer's Market
In person at 11 Golf Course Road, Grand Rapids
Every Wednesday and Saturday
8:00am to 1:00pm
http://www.grfarmersmarket.org/
Thank you for keeping in touch with Free Range Food Co-op!
Know somebody who should be a Free Range owner? Send them the link below to sign up.
May 2022 Newsletter
Free plant starts for all owners who join before May 15th
All new owners who join by May 15th will receive veggie plant starts grown locally by Bryndlewood Gardens! Each will also get entered to win the 'big basket' of veggie/flower starts. (Tip - if you are a household member of a current owner you can join under your own name with your own owner number to get in on the giveaways!)
Thank you, volunteers!
A huge thank-you to the 17 co-op owners who helped our attendance at the Children's Fair be a success! Volunteers assembled 500 cucumber seed planting kits, distributed them families at the fair, and taught the kids some fun 'garden yoga' poses.
Our first event of the season was a fun one, and we looking forward to working alongside our awesome co-op owner volunteers this summer!
Highway Cleanup Volunteers Needed
Meet other co-op volunteers while getting a little exercise and improving part of our Itasca County highway system! Sign up by emailing Shara at sharad.frfc@gmail.com. You'll receive more info and instructions once signed up. Join us in taking one small step towards fulfilling FRFC's Vision Statement #5:
"Our community has a leader that models and promotes sustainable business practices and environmental stewardship."
Email freerangefoodcoop@gmail.com to request a meeting with a current director for more information.
Two exciting opportunities available!
It's an especially thrilling time to join the board as we ramp up towards:
Finding our site
Securing funds
Hiring a general manager
Planning store layout & products
A board term lasts for 3 years (or less if you are filling a vacancy) and provides opportunities to:
Represent and engage with other co-op owners
Grow your existing skills and cultivate new ones
Expand personal and professional networks through co-op development
Directors take their responsibility to represent our owners seriously… and they also enjoy the rewards of serving, including having an inside scoop about the co-op’s development! As active volunteer owners, directors are ambassadors for the co-op who are fully engaged in the work needed to build our store. It's so fulfilling to play a key role in creating this hub for fresh local food and ideas!
Have you ever thought about how much money it takes to build a cooperative grocery store - or any grocery store for that matter?
The land, the building, the shelving, the check-out lanes, the freezers, the refrigerators, the cooking equipment, the stock, the staff...you can see it all adds up fast! The Free Range Food Co-op project will cost roughly $2 million dollars and we’ll raise more than half of that from our owners and community members. The rest will come from bank loans and grants.
Co-ops across the country have raised funds from owners for centuries and the current pandemic has not slowed co-ops down! In fact Co-ops have raised MILLIONS of dollars in the last 2 years from co-op owners - during a pandemic. The Fredericksburg Food Co-op raised $2.4 million dollars from owners and opened their beautiful store in 2021. Those dollars came from just over 300 co-op owners who on average invested $8,000 in the co-op. Click here to take a peek at their store.
We can’t wait to tell you more details about how we plan to raise the funds needed to open our own beautiful co-op right here in Grand Rapids! Stay tuned for more details about our upcoming Community Investment Campaign.
Book Club chat -
Send us an email for the details!
"Material: Making and the Art of Transformation"
by Nick Kary
In our present age of computer-assisted design, mass production and machine precision, the traditional skills of the maker or craftsperson are hard to find. Yet the desire for well-made and beautiful objects from the hands (and mind) of a skilled artisan is just as present today as it ever has been. In Material, Kary takes readers along with him to visit some of the places where modern artisans are preserving, and in some cases passing on, the old craft skills. His vivid descriptions and eye for detail make this book a rich and delightful read, and the natural and cultural history he imparts along the way provides an important context for understanding our own past and the roots of our industrial society.
Pick up this book and join our book club! Anyone is welcome to our quarterly discussions regardless of how far you got through the book.
Miss the last co-op board meeting?
Catch up by reading the latest meeting minutes on our website:
April Work Session Minutes
Owners are encouraged to join Work Sessions & Board Meetings!
Email us if you are interested in joining one of our teams.
GM Search Team
Sunday, May 1st, 6:00-7:00pm
Planning strategies to find the best future store General Manager.
Capital Campaign Planning Team
Monday, May 2nd, 6:30-7:30pm
Planning & implementing the capital campaign.
Work Session
Tuesday, May 3rd, 6:00-7:30pm.
Open to all owners!Click to join via Zoom
Marketing Team
Wednesday, May 4th, 6:00-7:00pm
Marketing, graphics, & social media.
Board Development Team
Tuesday, May 10th, 6:00-7:00pm
Strengthening our board through education & policy creation.
Site Selection Team
Tuesday, May 10th, 7:00-8:00pm
Locating, researching, & comparing possible store sites.
CO-OP EVENT - Highway Cleanup
Saturday, May 14th, 10:00am-12:00pm
Clean up our adopted highway section in Trout Lake Road!
Board Meeting
Tuesday, May 17th, listening session 5:30-6:00pm
Open to all owners! Click to join via Zoom
Board meeting follows listening session 6:00-7:30pm
Open to all owners! Click to join via Zoom
Grand Rapids Farmer's Market returns!
The Grand Rapids Farmers’ Market returns to 11 Golf Course Road
Every Wednesday and Saturday
8:00am to 1:00pm
http://www.grfarmersmarket.org/
Thank you for keeping in touch with Free Range Food Co-op!
Know somebody who should be a Free Range owner? Forward this email and ask them to click the link below to visit our website and sign up.
April 2022 Newsletter
The Children's Fair is a fun and FREE event where kids can have fun while parents, grandparents and caregivers can explore services and business in the county. This year's theme is "Get Moving!". The fair is on Saturday April 30th from 9:00am-1:00pm at the IRA Civic Center in Grand Rapids.
FRFC is partnering with Get Fit Itasca and their gardening program, "One Vegetable, One Community" to promote their veggie of the year: CUCUMBERS! We'll be assembling 500 planting kits including seed packets, soil and pots ready to distribute at the Children's Fair.
We almost have enough volunteers but are still looking for:
2 more owners to help with assembly: 3 hours commitment. Sunday, April 24th from 1:00-4:00pm in the classrooms at the YMCA.
2 more owners to help set up our booth and hand out planting kits during the event. 3 hours commitment. April 30th from 8:00-11:00am at the IRA Civic Center.
Email Shara if you are excited to volunteer & help FRFC encourage kids to get moving in the garden and grow some cucumbers!
Two exciting opportunities available!
It's an especially thrilling time to join the board as we ramp up towards:
Finding our site
Securing funds
Hiring a general manager
Planning store layout & products
A board term lasts for 3 years (or less if you are filling a vacancy) and provides opportunities to:
Represent and engage with other co-op owners
Grow your existing skills and cultivate new ones
Expand personal and professional networks through co-op development
Directors take their responsibility to represent our owners seriously… and they also enjoy the rewards of serving, including having an inside scoop about the co-op’s development! As active volunteer owners, directors are ambassadors for the co-op who are fully engaged in the work needed to build our store. It's so fulfilling to play a key role in creating this hub for fresh local food and ideas!
Raising the funds to open our store from our owners with a Capital Campaign is a tried and true practice in the cooperative industry. In fact, our friends at Oshkosh Food Co-op recently opened their gorgeous new store in downtown Oshkosh, Wisconsin by exceeding their $1.5 million fundraising goal and raising over $1.6 million from their owners and community members during their Community Investment Campaign!
Oshkosh Food Co-op began their campaign in the fall of 2019 and raised nearly $900,000 out of the gate. When the pandemic hit in early 2020, the Oshkosh community pulled together to fund their store. Despite the impact of the pandemic, over 600 owners (nearly HALF of their 1200 owners!!) and community members invested $1.6 million in the Oshkosh Food Co-op.
Imagine what we can do here in Itasca County if half of our over 929 owners (to date) invest in our upcoming Community Investment Campaign! We’re so excited to fill you in on the campaign details...stay tuned for more info in the coming months!
Book Club chat - April 7th at 6:00pm!
(Send us an email for the details!)
"Why We Sleep"
by Matthew Walker, PhD
Neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker provides a revolutionary exploration of sleep, examining how it affects every aspect of our physical and mental well-being. He also provides actionable steps towards getting a better night’s sleep every night.
Pick up this great book and join our book club! Anyone is welcome to our quarterly discussions regardless of how far you got through the book.
Check out the flier for the Garden Social hosted by our friends at Get Fit Itasca, One Vegetable One Community, and Itasca Community Gardens!
Owners are encouraged to join Work Sessions & Board Meetings!
Email us if you are interested in joining one of our teams.
GM Search Team
Sunday, April 3rd, 6:30-7:30pm
Planning strategies to find the best future store General Manager.
Capital Campaign Planning Team
Monday, April 4th, 6:30-7:30pm
Planning & implementing the capital campaign.
Work Session
Tuesday, April 5th, 6:00-7:30pm.
Open to all owners!Click to join via Zoom
Marketing Team
Wednesday, April 6th, 6:00-7:00pm
Marketing, graphics, & social media.
COMMUNITY EVENT - Garden Social
Thursday, April 7th, 5:00-7:00pm at the YMCA
Celebrate the gardeningseason with other gardeners, get info on local community gardens, and free cucumber seeds from One Vegetable One Community. Light snacks and refreshments provided. All are welcome!
CO-OP EVENT - Book Club
Thursday, April 7th, 6:00-8:00pm
Lively discussions around a variety of topics!
Site Selection Team
Tuesday, April 12th, 7:00-8:00pm
Locating, researching, & comparing possible store sites.
Board Development Team
Tuesday, April 12th, 6:00-7:00pm
Strengthening our board through education & policy creation.
Board Meeting
Tuesday, April 19th, listening session 5:30-6:00pm
Open to all owners!Click to join via Zoom
Board meeting follows listening session 6:00-7:30pm
Open to all owners!Click to join via Zoom
CO-OP EVENT - Children's Fair Kit Assembly
Sunday, April 24th, 1:00-4:00pm at the YMCA
Assembling planting kits to distribute at Children's Fair.
COMMUNITY EVENT - Children's Fair!
Saturday, April 30th, 9:00am-1:00pm at the IRA Civic Center
Fun & education for the whole family! FRFC will be there, too.Learn more here.
Grand Rapids Farmer's Market
Online ordering for in-person pick up is available for the winter season! Visit their website for more details and to place an order:
http://www.grfarmersmarket.org/
Thank you for keeping in touch with Free Range Food Co-op!
Know somebody who should be a Free Range owner? Forward this email and ask them to click the link below to visit our website and sign up.