1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:18,100 Hey, Cooperation Nation, this is Smooth Co-operators, a Belfast Community Co-op program. 2 00:00:18,100 --> 00:00:23,600 We are here to talk to you about the Cooperative Business Model and the Belfast Community Co-op 3 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:24,840 in particular. 4 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:25,840 I'm Emily. 5 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:27,140 I'm Alessandra. 6 00:00:27,140 --> 00:00:31,760 And today we are going to talk to you about Principle 7, Concern for Community. 7 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:34,280 But before we get there, we have a few announcements. 8 00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:37,400 First off, this is our last episode of the season. 9 00:00:37,400 --> 00:00:40,800 We are wrapping up the end of the year by wrapping up the Cooperative Principles. 10 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:42,960 I'm pretty excited about it. 11 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:48,400 I also wanted to share with everyone that I am officially retiring from the Belfast Community 12 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:49,640 Co-op. 13 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:55,880 It's been an amazing 12 years, an amazing community, amazing coworkers. 14 00:00:55,880 --> 00:01:01,000 And I've been just so grateful to get to know all of you. 15 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:02,000 That's it. 16 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:03,000 Okay. 17 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:11,720 I think it's hard to put into words what you have meant to the Co-op and what you will 18 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:15,160 continue to mean and all the knowledge that you'll hold and the relationships that you 19 00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:20,720 formed, the standards that you've held the board to, and the governance that they've 20 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:25,320 been able to put forward because you've been able to keep them in line and remind them 21 00:01:25,320 --> 00:01:27,600 of what they promised that they were going to do. 22 00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:31,400 I think that that really shows in where we are now as an organization. 23 00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:32,400 So thank you. 24 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:36,320 I promise to keep an eye out and never let those standards slip. 25 00:01:36,320 --> 00:01:37,320 I'm watching you. 26 00:01:37,320 --> 00:01:38,320 Just kidding. 27 00:01:38,320 --> 00:01:39,320 Okay. 28 00:01:39,320 --> 00:01:43,320 So shall we get to the principles? 29 00:01:43,320 --> 00:01:44,600 Hey, let's do that. 30 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:45,600 Okay. 31 00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:48,240 Shall we remind everyone what the seven Cooperative Principles are? 32 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:51,000 I sure don't know what they are, so I hope you remember. 33 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:52,000 I do. 34 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:53,000 Okay. 35 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:55,480 So the principle seven is open and voluntary membership. 36 00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:58,840 Principle two is democratic member control. 37 00:01:58,840 --> 00:02:02,200 Principle three is member economic participation. 38 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:04,680 Principle four, autonomy and independence. 39 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:08,400 Principle five is education, information and training. 40 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:11,640 Principle six is cooperation among cooperatives. 41 00:02:11,640 --> 00:02:16,000 And today's principle, principle seven is again concerned for community. 42 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:17,000 That's amazing. 43 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:18,000 Yeah. 44 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:23,280 So the International Cooperative Alliance defines P seven as cooperatives work for the sustainable 45 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:28,640 development of their communities through policies approved by their members. 46 00:02:28,640 --> 00:02:30,200 So what does that mean? 47 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:34,800 I think we should start by going back to 1844. 48 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:37,560 Rochdale Equitable Pioneer Society. 49 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:39,960 They came up with a set of rules. 50 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:45,680 This particular principle really hearkens back to something called law first, which was 51 00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:52,480 laid out for the purpose of improving the financial, social and living conditions of 52 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:53,880 its members. 53 00:02:53,880 --> 00:02:58,640 The shop that they started was part of it, but it also was about providing employment, 54 00:02:58,640 --> 00:03:03,320 housing and education and resources to their community. 55 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:07,680 So how do we do that for our community today? 56 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:10,040 In so many ways. 57 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:11,040 It's really true. 58 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:14,600 I wanted to start by reading our end statement. 59 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:15,600 Yes. 60 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:22,080 The end is a policy that the board has put forward as part of our governance structure. 61 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:26,120 And basically it answers the question of why do we exist? 62 00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:31,920 And it helps to guide the general manager in the choices that they make so that they 63 00:03:31,920 --> 00:03:37,560 are following within what the board believes is the entire reason for the organization. 64 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:44,320 So our ends are written as the Belfast Community Co-op exists so that our member owners and 65 00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:50,520 our community will have a thriving, just and sustainable local food economy, a source of 66 00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:57,120 healthy, nutritious, affordable food and water, an efficiently managed, democratically governed, 67 00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:03,320 inclusive cooperative enterprise, a greater understanding of health, food systems, cooperatives 68 00:04:03,320 --> 00:04:09,960 and economic and environmental sustainability, and an invested, engaged and empowered staff 69 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:16,600 that thrive in a safe, respectful, inclusive and equitable workplace. 70 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:21,440 So when I read that out loud and I remind myself that all of those things exist so that 71 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:27,320 our community will also have them, I'm reminded that our farmers and producers are part of 72 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:28,680 our community. 73 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:31,680 Our employees are part of our community. 74 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:36,920 The people who deliver food to our store are part of our community. 75 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:43,600 When the co-op makes decisions that are the best for the owners, it's also the best for 76 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:46,240 the community, which is also the best for the co-op. 77 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:52,320 So it's just this kind of really nice circle where we're not some big, extractive business 78 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:56,720 that's here to just like make a huge amount of money, leave a path of destruction and 79 00:04:56,720 --> 00:04:58,240 then pull out of this community. 80 00:04:58,240 --> 00:05:05,040 We know that our very roots, the very success of this business rests on the small community 81 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:06,040 that we live in. 82 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:12,120 Like I think we always joke that Belfast is a small town or Waldo County is a small town, 83 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:15,840 but I have also heard that people feel like Maine's a small town. 84 00:05:15,840 --> 00:05:19,480 You can go somewhere in Maine and chances are you might know somebody wherever you're 85 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:20,480 going. 86 00:05:20,480 --> 00:05:21,480 It happens a lot. 87 00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:22,480 It happens a lot. 88 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:27,480 And so I think too, when other places talk about shopping locally, they're really talking 89 00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:30,440 about like 50 miles or whatever in Maine. 90 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:35,920 We consider a local product anything that's from Maine because we're such a big state 91 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:37,640 with so few people in it. 92 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:42,720 We really make sure that that viewpoint really encompasses the entire state. 93 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:49,040 I think last year we sold just over $3 million worth of local produce and products, which 94 00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:50,040 is super cool. 95 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:55,560 And then I was thinking about how it balances out where for our employees, we paid out in 96 00:05:55,560 --> 00:05:59,920 pay and benefits a little bit over $3 million. 97 00:05:59,920 --> 00:06:04,760 So that's really a lot of money just going straight out into the community because the 98 00:06:04,760 --> 00:06:08,040 people who live here obviously are a huge part of the community. 99 00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:14,080 At this point in time, 90% of our workers meet the MIT living wage scale. 100 00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:17,160 And so that means that MIT puts together all these calculations. 101 00:06:17,160 --> 00:06:21,600 They decide what's the minimum amount of money that you need in order to have a life that's 102 00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:23,080 not in poverty. 103 00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:24,080 That's amazing. 104 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:28,080 I mean, I've been aware of that, but just hearing you say that out loud, it feels really 105 00:06:28,080 --> 00:06:29,080 impactful. 106 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:30,080 It's super cool. 107 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:36,240 What are some other ways that the Belfast Community Co-op reaches this principle of concern for 108 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:37,240 community? 109 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:41,680 I think we've done a lot of work over the years to solidify our foundations in this 110 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:42,680 community. 111 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:45,480 One of the big things that we've been doing that we've been talking about quite a lot 112 00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:52,960 is the Common Sense Program because that puts money directly from our shoppers into the 113 00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:57,360 hands of nonprofits that our owners want to support. 114 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:04,080 Over $73,000 last year came through our registers and we keep none of that money. 115 00:07:04,080 --> 00:07:13,080 At 100% of those donations from the community go to these community nonprofits. 116 00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:15,040 And there's some other things that we do. 117 00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:19,440 We also have what we call our core program, and that's cooperative ownership reaching 118 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:20,600 everyone. 119 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:28,040 And that is for people who are receiving some sort of financial assistance from the government. 120 00:07:28,040 --> 00:07:35,960 Generally, we're looking at programs that are focused on food, EBT, SNAP benefits, WIC, 121 00:07:35,960 --> 00:07:38,840 Supplemental Security, income, programs like that. 122 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:43,240 I think that is definitely impactful for a good portion of our community. 123 00:07:43,240 --> 00:07:44,720 How do you sign up for a core? 124 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:46,360 That's a program you have to sign up for? 125 00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:51,600 The best way to do that is actually to reach out to our ownership services team. 126 00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:56,360 They can be reached at ownership at Belfast.COP. 127 00:07:56,360 --> 00:07:57,360 They are us. 128 00:07:57,360 --> 00:07:58,360 They are us. 129 00:07:58,360 --> 00:07:59,360 They are us. 130 00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:00,520 It's me. 131 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:04,640 You can reach out over email, but maybe you can also get some more information in the 132 00:08:04,640 --> 00:08:05,880 store about how to sign up for that. 133 00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:10,640 Yes, we do have a flyer also and a letter about all of the details. 134 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:15,240 You bringing up core and how the co-op has put down roots in this community and been 135 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:20,560 trying so hard to be sustainable here makes me think of the two Belfasts. 136 00:08:20,560 --> 00:08:27,400 There's this Belfast that is people who live maybe in downtown or moved here to be farmers 137 00:08:27,400 --> 00:08:28,400 or homesteaders. 138 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:32,480 Then there's folks who have been in Belfast for generations and generations. 139 00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:38,000 I think that one thing that the back to the landers missed out on in the 70s was the chance 140 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:42,480 to reach out to folks who had lived in Belfast for a really long time. 141 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:47,400 One thing that I have been doing as the outreach coordinator is trying to work a lot with high 142 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:52,120 school students and trying to work with the middle school garden program so that these 143 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:56,720 kids at a young age come to the co-op and see that it's just another store. 144 00:08:56,720 --> 00:09:00,880 There is a perception that the store is exclusive. 145 00:09:00,880 --> 00:09:04,400 Maybe there's some misunderstanding about what it means to be an owner. 146 00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:08,880 Hopefully we're trying to make that language sound a little bit more reasonable. 147 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:10,640 It's not this thing that's exclusive. 148 00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:12,160 It's something that's inclusive. 149 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:14,520 Only if you want to be an owner do you have to be an owner. 150 00:09:14,520 --> 00:09:18,320 But trying to bring those kids into the store to show them that the store is just a store 151 00:09:18,320 --> 00:09:20,720 like any other store. 152 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:27,960 Maybe through the refining of our ends we've decided to serve a wider range of people. 153 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:34,360 We've decided that it is important to the co-op to serve our owners and to serve our 154 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:40,640 shoppers and it's important to serve our community even if they don't shop with us. 155 00:09:40,640 --> 00:09:44,720 Where we live and exist is important. 156 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:49,160 Again, even if those people don't shop here, maybe they work here. 157 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:53,600 Maybe they deliver food here and we want to take care of them because we want that to 158 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:59,200 be the model that we send out into the world is that model of concern and that model of 159 00:09:59,200 --> 00:10:00,400 care. 160 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:05,600 Something that was really cool that happened this year is that we introduced the WIC program 161 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:06,600 to the store. 162 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:13,360 WIC is Women, Infants, Children, it is a program that helps women, infants and children obtain 163 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:14,360 food. 164 00:10:14,360 --> 00:10:16,840 It's like prenatal to five years old. 165 00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:19,320 You go into the local office. 166 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:21,520 I think they also start to do Zoom meetings. 167 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:22,520 That's cool. 168 00:10:22,520 --> 00:10:23,520 Due to COVID. 169 00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:25,080 Basically you get a food prescription. 170 00:10:25,080 --> 00:10:29,800 They do a lot of physical assessments and they decide you need more fiber, you need 171 00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:34,240 more protein, you need to be drinking milk every day. 172 00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:38,520 They load this food prescription onto what looks like a debit card. 173 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:43,160 You come in and you buy per item instead of per dollar, which is really cool. 174 00:10:43,160 --> 00:10:47,480 You can come in and get a gallon of milk, whatever that gallon of milk is. 175 00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:51,080 As long as it's the right percentage or whatever. 176 00:10:51,080 --> 00:10:57,840 We also have done a bunch of smaller things that happen annually the way we participate 177 00:10:57,840 --> 00:10:59,120 in the community. 178 00:10:59,120 --> 00:11:03,680 We generally get a team together to participate in the Keeping Belfast Beautiful cleanup in 179 00:11:03,680 --> 00:11:04,680 April. 180 00:11:04,680 --> 00:11:05,680 I know I've done it. 181 00:11:05,680 --> 00:11:06,680 I know you've done it. 182 00:11:06,680 --> 00:11:07,680 It's been really fun. 183 00:11:07,680 --> 00:11:09,000 It's so fun. 184 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:14,440 I love going out there and picking everything up and then going to the community gathering 185 00:11:14,440 --> 00:11:19,280 at the end where everybody is eating together and you're seeing all the different teams 186 00:11:19,280 --> 00:11:24,320 come together who have been assigned different parts of Belfast to clean up. 187 00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:25,400 It's just really great. 188 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:27,320 We donate a lot of food. 189 00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:31,640 Well we donate more like apples and bananas that people can drop by in the morning. 190 00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:34,960 They pick up all their supplies to do the cleanup and they can pick up breakfast for 191 00:11:34,960 --> 00:11:35,960 themselves. 192 00:11:35,960 --> 00:11:40,160 But as you were saying that, it was reminding me that when we encourage participation at 193 00:11:40,160 --> 00:11:45,800 the co-op, we're encouraging people to feel like their owner is there, to help someone 194 00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:50,680 bring out their groceries or know where something is and help a fellow shopper. 195 00:11:50,680 --> 00:11:56,000 I think with Keeping Belfast Beautiful, when you are part of a team that cleans up the 196 00:11:56,000 --> 00:12:00,600 streets just once a year, that's when the big cleanup is. 197 00:12:00,600 --> 00:12:05,760 It means that you take more ownership over the space for the whole rest of the year. 198 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:10,440 There's a little bit more, I don't know, maybe accountability for yourself that you're like, 199 00:12:10,440 --> 00:12:14,440 oh yeah, I'm going to help with this beautiful place where I live. 200 00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:20,960 I have noticed for myself, I take note of where the public trash cans are and if there 201 00:12:20,960 --> 00:12:25,960 is litter on the sidewalk and I know I'm within a reasonable, I'm definitely picking that 202 00:12:25,960 --> 00:12:26,960 up. 203 00:12:26,960 --> 00:12:30,880 That is because of the Keeping Belfast Beautiful. 204 00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:37,640 The strip that the co-op cleans every year is the same strip that I walk to work every 205 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:40,280 week and a couple of my co-workers. 206 00:12:40,280 --> 00:12:44,440 It's funny because we already know where the trash is going to be because we walk it so 207 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:45,440 often. 208 00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:47,880 That's the only way we can get there. 209 00:12:47,880 --> 00:12:51,920 Some of the other things we do annually just to participate in the community is we get 210 00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:56,880 our workers together and our board and we march in the pride parade that's held. 211 00:12:56,880 --> 00:13:04,160 We have sponsored their permit in the past and sponsored the student organization that 212 00:13:04,160 --> 00:13:05,800 tends to organize it. 213 00:13:05,800 --> 00:13:09,720 The other thing that comes to mind also is the Neighbor for Neighbor giving tree. 214 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:14,760 I know a lot of the businesses, downtown businesses, especially participate in that, but it is 215 00:13:14,760 --> 00:13:20,040 something that I've been doing for several years as part of my job and it's just the 216 00:13:20,040 --> 00:13:26,600 warmest, most lovely thing and it definitely brings a community spirit to the co-op. 217 00:13:26,600 --> 00:13:27,600 Absolutely. 218 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:33,200 When we drop those gifts off, the people at WCAP are just so happy to see us and so thankful. 219 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:36,120 The people who take tags at the co-op are so generous. 220 00:13:36,120 --> 00:13:37,680 Yes, they are. 221 00:13:37,680 --> 00:13:38,680 It's really incredible. 222 00:13:38,680 --> 00:13:39,680 Yeah. 223 00:13:39,680 --> 00:13:42,680 A lot of these organizations we're talking about are nonprofits and so I just wanted 224 00:13:42,680 --> 00:13:48,440 to take a minute to say that nonprofits tend to be mission-led and community-oriented 225 00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:52,360 and the co-op is community-oriented, but it's not a nonprofit. 226 00:13:52,360 --> 00:13:56,560 There have been a couple people over the last year even who have asked me if we're a nonprofit 227 00:13:56,560 --> 00:13:57,560 but we're not. 228 00:13:57,560 --> 00:14:02,960 We're for-profits so nonprofits don't pay taxes on their income and we do pay taxes 229 00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:06,080 and we also can profit share at the end of the year. 230 00:14:06,080 --> 00:14:11,360 So if we're profitable, we give back a portion of that money to our owners. 231 00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:12,360 Patronage dividends. 232 00:14:12,360 --> 00:14:16,580 Yeah, there's a few other things that had crossed my mind when I was researching this 233 00:14:16,580 --> 00:14:18,240 particular principle. 234 00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:24,160 We had talked a little bit about when it says in the actual principle that the co-op is 235 00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:27,400 work for the sustainable development of their communities. 236 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:28,400 What is our community? 237 00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:30,800 Like, obviously it's the local people. 238 00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:33,320 It's where we actually are located. 239 00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:40,200 But as a co-op, we are a community of other co-ops and so we have done things in the past 240 00:14:40,200 --> 00:14:46,800 where we will use part of our donation fund to help a co-op who is struggling and they 241 00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:51,760 are doing some sort of campaign or they're looking to do an expansion. 242 00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:54,200 Not just with money but also with our time. 243 00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:59,800 You and I recently have met with a local co-op that the resource that they needed was our 244 00:14:59,800 --> 00:15:00,800 experience. 245 00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:05,120 The resource they needed was our time and we want to see them thrive. 246 00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:07,160 And so we said, of course we'll meet with you. 247 00:15:07,160 --> 00:15:08,160 Yeah, that's great. 248 00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:11,920 And we shared that with our community. 249 00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:16,360 And another community is our natural landscape community. 250 00:15:16,360 --> 00:15:18,400 Our little pollinator friends. 251 00:15:18,400 --> 00:15:23,360 We do have a native pollinator garden in front of our parking lot that we specifically put 252 00:15:23,360 --> 00:15:31,120 there to show native plants, to increase the biodiversity, help with our native populations. 253 00:15:31,120 --> 00:15:32,760 You've worked with that. 254 00:15:32,760 --> 00:15:34,520 Can you tell us a little bit more? 255 00:15:34,520 --> 00:15:35,520 Sure. 256 00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:39,160 We think of the pollinator garden as an island. 257 00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:45,880 It's a safe space for pollinators and other insects and birds to take a break if they 258 00:15:45,880 --> 00:15:47,400 get lost in town. 259 00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:49,080 A lot of times they're really vulnerable. 260 00:15:49,080 --> 00:15:53,160 There's not a safe place for them to find shade or find food. 261 00:15:53,160 --> 00:15:55,840 And so that's what the pollinator garden is there for. 262 00:15:55,840 --> 00:16:02,840 When we started to design the outdoor spaces at the renovated store, a lot of the design 263 00:16:02,840 --> 00:16:07,800 features that were proposed by the civil engineers were really well thought out. 264 00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:11,240 And we're going to keep the flow that they have chosen. 265 00:16:11,240 --> 00:16:19,440 We are working with Fedco to source local native and edible plants for our landscape. 266 00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:23,680 And so that will be obviously for us as the community, but it will be for the greater 267 00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:25,640 community that we're thinking of. 268 00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:26,880 I'm really excited about that. 269 00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:28,400 It's going to be beautiful. 270 00:16:28,400 --> 00:16:32,200 As you may have guessed, we do quite a number of donations. 271 00:16:32,200 --> 00:16:34,760 And that is actually in Alessandro's wheelhouse. 272 00:16:34,760 --> 00:16:40,600 I brought a list of all of the places that we donated to over the last fiscal year. 273 00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:46,200 So that began in October of 2022 and ended in September of 2023. 274 00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:48,880 And it's a list of 43 organizations. 275 00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:51,560 And I'm just going to list them because I think it's pretty rad. 276 00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:58,840 So these organizations came to us and said, hey, will you sponsor or donate money or food? 277 00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:02,480 Or we approached them and we said, hey, your mission is super important to us. 278 00:17:02,480 --> 00:17:04,160 How can we help you this year? 279 00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:05,800 So it's always a mix of both. 280 00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:08,400 Some people we have really long standing relationships with. 281 00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:10,120 Some are new this year. 282 00:17:10,120 --> 00:17:11,120 I love it. 283 00:17:11,120 --> 00:17:12,120 Here we go. 284 00:17:12,120 --> 00:17:19,080 2023 Belfast Area High School Project Graduation, AcadiaCon, the All Roads Music Festival, Ames 285 00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:25,400 Elementary School, Belfast Child Care Center, Belfast Community Radio, the Belfast Curling 286 00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:32,680 Club, Belfast Has Pride, Belfast Pride Parade, Belfast Soup Kitchen, and Belfast Summer Nights, 287 00:17:32,680 --> 00:17:39,600 Brazilian Capoeira, Business After Hours with the Chamber of Commerce, but still I am one, 288 00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:45,800 Pass Elementary School, Center for Wildlife Studies, the Ecology Learning Center, the 289 00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:52,080 Eric Overlock Skate Park, Friends of Belfast Parks specifically for their water fountains, 290 00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:59,520 the Game Loft, the G-Bam Food Cupboard, Keeping Belfast Beautiful, Maine Community Foundation 291 00:17:59,520 --> 00:18:07,000 for their Lewiston Area Response Fund, Maine Food Convergence Project, Maine School Garden 292 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:15,720 Network, Moffka, Mount View Cheerleading Team, New Hope Mid-Coast, Our Town Belfast, Out 293 00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:24,080 Maine, PAWS Adoption Center, Peace Ridge Sanctuary, Permitors, Principal Six Conference through 294 00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:29,840 Cooperative Maine Business Alliance, the Restorative Justice Project of Mid-Coast Maine, the Rock 295 00:18:29,840 --> 00:18:36,600 Coast Roller Derby, the Sterrett Children's Center, the Sturgeon Mural, Troy Howard Middle 296 00:18:36,600 --> 00:18:42,560 School Parent Teacher Group Teacher Fund, United Mid-Coast Charities, the Vermont Farm 297 00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:49,280 Fund to Help with the Flooding, Waldo County Pet Food Pantry, Waldo County Triad, Waldo 298 00:18:49,280 --> 00:18:54,520 County Woodshed, WCAP, and Window Dressers. 299 00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:58,720 That's an impressive list, and I know that we use this word a lot, but impactful. 300 00:18:58,720 --> 00:19:05,480 Yeah, I feel so proud reading off all of those organizations, and what's really cool is, 301 00:19:05,480 --> 00:19:11,000 you know, I either talked with or emailed all of these people, and so that's just strengthening 302 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:14,080 all of these community relationships. 303 00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:17,040 As we were sitting here talking, I was like, okay, what is sustainable development? 304 00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:18,680 Like, I love a good metaphor. 305 00:19:18,680 --> 00:19:23,960 I love to be able to visualize a thing that I'm thinking about, and I feel like sometimes 306 00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:28,120 capitalism feels like it is the get rich quick scheme. 307 00:19:28,120 --> 00:19:33,360 But you and I have both started seeds, and when you have seedlings that get super leggy, 308 00:19:33,360 --> 00:19:34,360 it's not good. 309 00:19:34,360 --> 00:19:40,000 They grow too fast, they're too tall, they fall over, they get yell, they just get really 310 00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:41,000 delicate. 311 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:42,000 And not as healthy. 312 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:44,000 They're not as healthy. 313 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:50,280 Whereas if you have the proper amount of light, and good well draining, and nutritious soil, 314 00:19:50,280 --> 00:19:55,080 and the appropriate amount of watering, your seedlings don't grow as fast, but they grow 315 00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:56,600 stronger. 316 00:19:56,600 --> 00:20:01,640 And I think that when I think about the Belfast Community Co-op, and why the community is 317 00:20:01,640 --> 00:20:08,440 so important to us is because if we grow too quickly, or we just become an unhealthy organization, 318 00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:12,480 and the whole community will suffer from that. 319 00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:13,760 Absolutely. 320 00:20:13,760 --> 00:20:20,640 And when we have this sort of, I think of us as some sort of strong stout tomato plant 321 00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:23,240 or something, and we're just like, give us some time. 322 00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:27,360 We need to extend the season, but we're going to bear a lot of fruit. 323 00:20:27,360 --> 00:20:33,600 And we're just sort of this evergreen community member, and we want to do well in business 324 00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:35,400 to do better in the community. 325 00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:41,120 The whole point of running a business that does well is to treat our farmers and producers 326 00:20:41,120 --> 00:20:45,080 and employees and community members and owners better. 327 00:20:45,080 --> 00:20:46,080 Yes. 328 00:20:46,080 --> 00:20:47,680 All right, folks. 329 00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:49,680 That's piece seven, Concern for Community. 330 00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:53,040 I'm sure that we could talk about this for a lot longer. 331 00:20:53,040 --> 00:20:57,400 But also, all Sounder's going to give us a couple updates on what's been happening with 332 00:20:57,400 --> 00:20:58,400 the renovation. 333 00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:04,000 Well, we were just told this morning that we just had some countertops and tables delivered 334 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:09,800 for our meat preparation room and our prep kitchen for the cafe, which I think is funny, 335 00:21:09,800 --> 00:21:10,920 with renovation. 336 00:21:10,920 --> 00:21:15,760 A lot needs to be done, and the timing of those things sometimes is difficult. 337 00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:19,840 But we have somebody working on our team who is able to find a storage space, and so now 338 00:21:19,840 --> 00:21:25,360 we know that whenever that piece of the puzzle is ready to be built, that we are ready. 339 00:21:25,360 --> 00:21:30,120 It's been a long time since we have done an update, and I don't quite know where we were 340 00:21:30,120 --> 00:21:31,920 at the last time we talked. 341 00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:36,720 Our general manager does a weekly update video, and they're all on YouTube and Instagram 342 00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:37,840 and Facebook. 343 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:43,200 And if you look them up on YouTube, Belfast Community Co-op renovation playlist, that should 344 00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:44,960 bring it up for you. 345 00:21:44,960 --> 00:21:48,160 But we're starting to put the brick up around the shop for me. 346 00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:49,160 Bump out. 347 00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:52,200 We have the new roof got put on. 348 00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:55,520 I'm not quite sure if that was done when we were last on the show. 349 00:21:55,520 --> 00:21:56,520 That one took a long time. 350 00:21:56,520 --> 00:21:57,520 Yeah. 351 00:21:57,520 --> 00:21:58,520 Yeah. 352 00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:02,960 We're starting to take apart the receiving room in the back and building the tower for 353 00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:04,600 the hydraulic lift. 354 00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:07,120 I don't think we had even done so much. 355 00:22:07,120 --> 00:22:09,440 It's happened so fast, really. 356 00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:14,200 We poured the patio, but we also poured the whole front with the new curb and the new 357 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:15,200 drainage. 358 00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:18,000 We regraded the parking lot. 359 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:19,160 It was all closed down. 360 00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:21,920 There were three spots some days. 361 00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:27,280 That has been the most tough for everybody, for people inside, but also for our shoppers, 362 00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:30,560 coming to find a place where they could park to get their needs met. 363 00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:33,120 In the store, it was just really not happening. 364 00:22:33,120 --> 00:22:37,480 But that really is fixed for now and should be this way for quite a long time. 365 00:22:37,480 --> 00:22:41,880 We're still planning on doing a grand reopening in June. 366 00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:46,200 And I think that what will happen sooner rather than later is all of the construction will 367 00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:48,240 start to move onto the sales floor. 368 00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:52,520 If you go into the store and you look up, you can see that a lot of the tiles are gone. 369 00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:59,200 We're starting to reroute plumbing and electricity and internet and heat ducting. 370 00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:04,760 So all of those parts of the project that we can access, we are starting on those and 371 00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:07,000 definitely doing the planning. 372 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:14,200 And we will be taking apart the sales floor in little pieces starting in the new year. 373 00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:17,280 And all of that will be communicated well before it happens. 374 00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:19,960 We have a really amazing planning team. 375 00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:24,440 They're very detail oriented and they don't really start to move on stuff until they have 376 00:23:24,440 --> 00:23:28,720 the whole picture so that all the workers can be safe and all the shoppers can be safe 377 00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:33,000 and people can really anticipate what the shopping experience is going to be like. 378 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:37,920 Also if the construction project has you down, but you still want to support your local community 379 00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:40,760 co-op, you can shop online with Shop4Me. 380 00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:45,920 It's pretty easy to make an account and everything that we have in the store is online. 381 00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:49,560 And you can also select it so that you're only shopping locally or you're only shopping 382 00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:54,560 the sales section or you're only shopping in wellness if that is the product that you 383 00:23:54,560 --> 00:23:55,960 need to find. 384 00:23:55,960 --> 00:23:59,600 It's pretty easy to do and then you park in the parking lot and they bring your order 385 00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:00,600 out to you. 386 00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:01,600 It's really great. 387 00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:02,600 It's a nice program. 388 00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:03,600 Yeah. 389 00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:07,600 We have board meetings pretty regularly every month even. 390 00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:08,880 Definitely. 391 00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:10,360 On the fourth Wednesday. 392 00:24:10,360 --> 00:24:11,360 Generally. 393 00:24:11,360 --> 00:24:12,360 Generally. 394 00:24:12,360 --> 00:24:14,560 At six o'clock generally. 395 00:24:14,560 --> 00:24:16,360 At the library generally. 396 00:24:16,360 --> 00:24:21,040 We say generally mostly because things can get switched around particularly if there 397 00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:23,280 is a holiday season upon us. 398 00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:24,280 Holiday season. 399 00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:25,280 Exactly. 400 00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:26,280 Am I just saying on that? 401 00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:27,280 Yes you did. 402 00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:28,280 I loved it. 403 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:29,280 Yeah. 404 00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:30,280 Because it is the holiday season. 405 00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:32,520 We're not supposed to talk about it because this podcast won't come out until after the 406 00:24:32,520 --> 00:24:35,920 holiday season is over but we're excited and it's going to happen and there's a board 407 00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:36,920 meeting tonight. 408 00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:40,320 I'm sorry you're invited but you won't know about it until you listen to it. 409 00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:41,320 Listen to this. 410 00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:45,160 Hopefully do because we have actually announced it in many places. 411 00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:49,920 We have announced it in many places and if you think oh that sounds so cool how come 412 00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:53,000 I wasn't there you can go online and read the minutes. 413 00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:58,240 You can go online and read the minutes all the way back to 2017, 2014 and those are all 414 00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:03,400 online so if you want to know who was on the board or how we made decisions there you go. 415 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:04,800 I love reading old minutes. 416 00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:11,240 Well you guys we are so excited that we've been able to talk about all seven of the principles 417 00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:12,240 so excited. 418 00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:14,000 Alright Cooperation Nation. 419 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:15,640 We'll see you next season. 420 00:25:15,640 --> 00:25:16,640 Bye. 421 00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:17,640 Bye. 422 00:25:17,640 --> 00:25:26,160 You have been listening to episode number eight of Smoothe Cooperators. 423 00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:36,120 Good luck.