co-op news
June 2014 7
JUNE IS MEMBER SURVEY MONTH Look for our Annual member/owner survey in your mailbox, your email inbox or online in early June. I hope you will take time to complete this year’s survey and turn it in at your favorite Co-op location by June 30. You will receive a 15% discount on your purchase when you complete the survey. Your feedback is very THE INSIDE important to us. This is your community owned business, so please tell us what you think and how we can better serve you. How are we doing and in what areas would you like to see improvement? You may notice that several of the survey questions remain the same from year to year and wonder why we keep asking the same questions. This
WE NEED YOUR FEEDBACK consistent set of questions enables us to measure our service to you over time and helps us determine which areas of your business need additional resources. We also change the mix of the questions from time to time as our business and needs change.
June Calendar
of Events 6/8 Pollinator Party at the Westside location. See page 3 6/17 BOD Meeting, Immanuel Church, 5:30pm
SCOOP
If you have more comments than the survey space permits, don’t hesitate to attach them to the survey form. Please contact me with any need at terryb@lamontanita.coop or by phone at 505-217-2020. Thanks for your continued support of our Co-op. -Terry B.
6/21 Santa Fe Co-op Solstice Celebration at the Santa Fe location. See page 1 JUNE IS MEMBER SURVEY MONTH! Get yours online at www.lamontanita.coop or at any Co-op location.
CO-OPS: A Solution-Based System GENERAL MANAGER’S COLUMN terryb@lamontanita.coop
GO LOCAL...
BE HAPPY
BY LISA BANWARTH-KUHN uring our March BOD meeting, we watched the first part of a film called, “The Economics of Happiness” (www.theeconomicsofhappiness. org), a documentary film that critiques globalization and international free trade. The film criticizes globalization for fracturing our world by creating a standardized world market dominated by transnational companies that sell consumerism through a blitz of marketing. The hidden costs of the corporate model are systemic and far reaching. Though tough and somewhat gloomy, the analysis has a cheerful counter balance for a solution. The film promotes localization as a positive investment in a stronger future with far greater returns than buying into the promises of the corporate world model.
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The film was a reminder that a strong local community values people over profit and we need to be aware of how
A co-operative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise.
WE can “go local.” As consumers we can critique the corporate world through the power of our wallet. We can refuse to buy at the big box stores. We can shop at La Montanita where last year member owners returned to our community over four million dollars in sales of local products. When we shop we can bring our own shopping bags and “Donate a Dime” to local programs that will in turn circulate the money through our community. We can bank locally at NM Educators Credit Union. As a community member we can participate in programs that strengthen the ties to what lifts everyone up and ensures a self-sustaining local future. In the past the Board had a visit from “Project Feed the Hood,” a food literacy and community gardening initiative of SWOP (SouthWest Organizing Project). Project Feed the Hood is “based in traditional methods of farming and seed saving that are both sustainable and culturally relevant. SWOP gardeners maintain a large seed library and host many workshops to assist community members, schools and other community groups seeking
to grow food and build healthy communities and lifestyles all over the state of NM.” (www.projectfeedthe hood.org) Project Feed the Hood is a perfect example of how one small group is standing up against globalization. It may be small and local, but it is strong and community building. The importance of focusing locally, prompted UNM to create a Sustainability Program where students learn about and contribute to a sustainable local future. Dreaming New Mexico is a statewide program dedicated to visionary and practical solutions to heal and shepherd the future of our home. It has a website with links to a long list of groups that focus on building our future, where we could meet our neighbors and strengthen the bonds within our local community. (www.dreamingnewmexico.org/food/the-network) There are many little personal opportunities for us to act locally and there are many groups we can work with to magnify our little efforts and multiply the positive effect on our own “Economics of Happiness.”