The Annual Hudson Grocery Cooperative (HGC) owners meeting was held on November 11 at Seasons Tavern in North Hudson and members in attendance elected the HGC 2015 board of directors.
 
New to the board this year are Marina Onken and Megan Laney. Marina, a HGC Steering Committee member, is a professor of management who specializes in strategic management. Megan is a nurse and has been a HGC member from the Co-op’s beginning. She looks forward “stepping up” to help launch the new co-op grocery store in downtown Hudson.
 
Sarah Atkins and Kathy Tobias were reelected to the board. Directors Dietmar Schlei, Don Kirkpatrick, David Larson, Jacki Bradham are continuing their terms on the board.
 
Following the owners meeting the board held a short meeting to elect officers: President Dietmar Schlei; Vice-President Kathy Tobias; Treasurer Sarah Atkins; and Secretary Jacki Bradham.
 
View more about the HGC Board.

Executive Director of the Food Co-op Initiative, Stuart Reid, stopped for a visit with the HGC Board of Directors on December 4th. Stuart has an extensive background working with a variety of cooperatives, so the visit provided a great opportunity to speak to Stuart one-on-one. Stuart discussed available resources, different strategies for engaging volunteers and building ownership. He recommended breaking down goals into smaller tasks and focusing on accomplishing specific tasks. He also encouraged HGC to celebrate the small successes.

HGC would like to coordinate additional book events with Chapter 2 Books in 2015. This new book club would focuses on topics that explore what we eat and where our food comes from. Topics like organic, locally sources, and much more.

If you are interested in helping to coordinate future book club events and/or participating in a monthly book club, please contact Ramona (ramona.robinson@ymail.com). We hope to continue with the book club if enough interest in is generated.

Volunteers are needed with the following activities and events. Whether you can volunteer only a few hours or you can tackle a larger project — your co-op needs you!
 
1. Hudson Hot Air Affair will be on February 6-8, 2015 with a theme of “Field to Flight: E-I-E-I-Ooo” that highlights agriculture. We are looking for volunteers to organize an activity and/or help with an HGC booth during the event.
 
2. Brochure distribution to downtown businesses occurs monthly on the second Saturday of the month of a couple of hours in the morning.
 
3. We need writers for the co-op’s newsletter, The Beet.  This is and ongoing task for someone interested in submitting short articles on health, nutrition, recipes, and/or articles about HGC.
 
4. We are still looking for more HGC Ambassadors. Volunteers would meet face-to-face in either one-to-one or group meeting settings with potential new owners. Training is provided.
 
Thanks in advance for your time!

For questions or to volunteer, please contact Jacki Bradham at 715-386-3826 or rbradham@pressenter.com.