Board Blog

The relocation is proceeding (beautifully! hectically! stressfully! gloriously!) We're in the midst of making co-op history, and we want to be sure we don't forget how historic this is, and how many people came together to make it happen. So there are two things we'd like you to do.

The first is to send us a photo! We'd like to make a photo collage of people who've in any way helped with this relocation, from digging holes to building walls, making loans and donations, doing demolition work, buying equity, telling their friends about the co-op, carrying boxes, etc. Don't be shy! Send your digital photos to Meagan at meagan@commonground.coop, or drop prints off at the store. We'll also be taking pictures at opening day. We want a beautiful collection to help us all remember this move and the people involved.

We've also set up a local (to Urbana) phone number: (217) 689-4223. We'd like you to call that number and leave a message (or many messages) describing what you love about Common Ground, why you are excited about the move, what good food and community and cooperation means to you, or just anything that comes to mind. We'll take those voices and make an audio collage, which will be available on the website and in the store.

Please help us capture who we are, visually and aurally! 17 days to go!

Thanks,
-Clint
CGFC Board Chair

Thanks to everyone who came out and enjoyed ice cream with us on Saturday. It was wonderful to chat with members, old and new. And a special thank-you to Pete and Jessy, who made all the yummy ice cream, to Katrina for all the toppings, to the Moore Family for growing scrumptious blueberries, to Lisa for the bowls and spoons, to Ben for getting it all to the park and keeping it cold, and to Jacqueline for running to her house for napkins. Here are some pictures for those that couldn't make it. What you can't really grasp from these pictures is the first taste of slightly melted home-made ice cream, or the sluggishness felt in the afternoon after eating too much ice cream on a hot day with no lunch. Heaven. Peace, -Clint

If anyone picked up the News-Gazette today, they couldn't miss the article on Common Ground. It is incredibly good. I mean, good in that "Oh wow, I want to leave a basket of blueberry scones on the author's porch" way. There's only one thing wrong with it: the accompanying picture was only of Jacqueline and myself. But we know there's a bigger picture, a picture with hundreds of hands and hearts, past and present, which brought us to this point and are keeping us moving forward. Without all of our members and our dedicated staff, we're nothing. The show of support in our last minute push to wrap up financing (we're so close!) has shown that yet again. So I've been trying to brainstorm a way to symbolize this, a way to capture what this transition means for our community of food lovers, fair traders, and earth caregivers. I think symbols and celebrations are incredibly important. I feel that the recognition of how meaningful this event is should be translated into how important we are to each other, in the hopes of continuing to build a stronger community. In 2003, the Berkshire Co-op Market in Barrington, Massachusetts had hundreds of members show up when moving day was at hand, forming a human chain from the old store to the new to move "Groceries across Great Barrington." It left their general manager in tears. As our old and new locations are 1.2 miles apart, it would take around 1200 people to do the same thing here, which is a bit much to ask on an August day in the midwest. (We'll still need help moving, but we'll use trucks!) So I'm going to throw the question out to you all. How do we celebrate this move? Bring your ideas to Victory park (seven blocks east of the new space, on Green St.) this coming Saturday the 19th from 1 to 3pm to share ice cream with each other and with your board. Our ears will be open to anything that's on your mind with respect to the co-op these days, and we'd also love to hear your ideas on how to capture the occasion of this move for posterity. A dance? A really big peach pie? A video collage? I'm all ears. (Well, if there's pie involved, I'm not _all_ ears.) Peace, -Clint CGFC Board Chair

I can hear the shouts from my bedroom:

“Wait a minute, Katrina! Didn’t you just write a blog entry asking us to help raise money? Why are you asking us again? We already raised all the member loans!”

Let’s take that last shout first—you’re right, we did raise all $250,000 in loans, and I’m still amazed and proud of us every time I think of that. The thing is, however, that member loans are not the only source of member funding for the relocation. We need to raise another $45,000 in donations and member equity to complete the member part of the funding. If you think of member funding as three-pronged, we’ve got one prong taken care of—that’s the member loan part. Now we need to concentrate on the other two prongs—donations and equity.

If you look at the broader picture, member funding is just one of the sources that we are using to make this move happen. Sources are where we get the money for the relocation. Uses are where we spend the money for the relocation. The sources are like ingredients that go into making a pie, and the uses are the pieces that are carved from that pie. Member funding, and member equity in specific, is a really crucial ingredient, because it helps guarantee other sources of funding, like the bank loan. This is because equity is an asset, not a liability. As great as member loans are, they are debts that we have to pay back, and that makes them a liability. Member equity, on the other hand, is an asset because it’s an investment that is non-interest bearing and only has to be paid back if the member requests it. Banks like the look of a balance sheet that’s rife with member equity, and that’s exactly what we want ours to look like.

Equity and donations are also great sources of member funding because they present a different and sometimes more feasible route of supporting the co-op. Donations can be made in any amount—even rounding up by cents at the register helps! Extra equity can be purchased in shares of $60 each, and you can buy up to 10 shares. These shares are non-voting shares that allow you to invest up to $600 in your co-op. If you couldn’t make a member loan, consider purchasing a couple of these equity shares.

Here, the board does owe you an apology. We haven’t had the extra equity certificates ready in a timely fashion, and we are sorry. We’ve gotten caught up in some legal hula-hoops concerning the precise language on the certificates, and we are ironing it out so that you can purchase extra equity and have proper documentation saying that you did so.

We are trying to get all the equity and donations in by June 30th—and we are already half of the way there! According to the handy handout in the store, we have already reached $25,000 through new membership equity, extra equity shares, and donations. Oh yeah—we are in the midst of a membership drive, so bring in your friends to become members, and we’ll reach our equity goal even faster!

So let’s concentrate on filling up that beet that we've been hearing so much about in the store and in the weekly Bytes. Or, if you’d like to indulge your sweet tooth, think about extra equity as the secret ingredient for the pie we are baking, and let’s throw a little more into the mixing bowl.

It's spring in Urbana-Chanpaign:

- finals approach but aren't quite here

- there are little baby seedlings coming up in our gardens (our our basements)

- It's Boneyard time

- the farmers' market is a scant four weeks from starting

- the flowering trees are busting their moves

- sneezing echoes across the land

- earthquake season is underway (just kidding)

- Common Ground's spring GMM (General Membership Meeting) is happening

There's lots to catch up on at Common Ground - even if you've been receiving the emails and have been shopping in the store, news happens fast. Besides, what better way to catch up with your fellow members than at a GMM? Excuse me - at a GMM with food? Not just food, but DESSERT made by co-op members... people who really understand dessert, who believe in dessert, who are AT ONE with dessert?

I'm bringing pizzelles... see you there.