March Gladness & Co-op Madness

We're feeling lucky! 483 people (so far) have signed on as owners of our community-owned grocery store. That is more than just luck of course! It is a testament to the strong, value-driven individuals in our community and their dedication to proactively pursue positive change. Thank you to everyone who has already joined and to those who are working hard to spread the word about our cooperative!

Not an owner yet? JOIN today!

March is an excellent time to JOIN! One lucky new owner who joins during the month of March will win up to $250 of Natural Health Care from Nature's Balance Acupuncture. This includes a comprehensive initial evaluation and one acupuncture treatment. Nature's Balance is a Food Shed Co-op owner-owned business. Check out our Shop Local page for a list of the wonderful local businesses that support our co-op.

What have we been up to?

Learning

The Food Shed Co-op Board of Directors spent a sunny Saturday in Marengo with cooperative development specialist Courtney Berner of the UW Madison Center for Cooperatives and the Willy Street Co-op Board learning about co-op governance.

Growing
We are getting very close to 500 owners, which is the magic number that puts us in Stage 2B on our timeline. Our timeline comes to us from the experts at Food Co-op Initiative, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping start up food co-ops across the nation get their doors open and helping existing co-ops thrive.

Food Shed Co-op and Farmers

"Will your store compete with the local farmers markets?" and "How will FSC help small family farmers?" are two questions we are asked often.
Owner Sue Rekenthaler illustrates the connection between our cooperative and the small farmers in McHenry County beautifully on our blog. You may recognize Sue from the Crystal Lake Farmers Market; she operates Natural Farm Stand, a small Certified Naturally Grown farm in Richmond, IL. Read the full article on our blog.

Come out and see us!

3/19, 9am-1pm, Woodstock Farmers Market
We'll be selling Jaci's Cookies to raise funds for our co-op! Info and ownerships also available.

04/01, 8am-10pm, First Fridays at Crystal Lake Brewing
Volunteers will have information about the co-op as well as merchandise and ownerships.

04/02, 9am-1pm, Woodstock Farmers Market
We'll be selling Jaci's Cookies to raise funds for our co-op! Info and ownerships also available.

04/02, 10am-4pm, Crystal Lake Chamber Home & Business EXPO
04/03, 11am-3pm, Crystal Lake Chamber Home & Business EXPO
Visit the Food Shed Co-op booth for information, merchandise and ownerships.

*We need volunteers to help out at events. Follow the links above for full event details and to sign up to volunteer.

Help us reach our next goal of 500 owners. Please share this message!