News from Common Ground Food Co-op

February 2010

FOOD FOR ALL
Jacqueli ne Hannah, General Manager
food nanny

One year ago this month Common Ground launched its Food For All program.

At an all-staff meeting in December 2008, in the middle of a more mundane conversation about store operations, a staff-member and Co-op owner blurted out, "but what are we going to do to make the awesome food at the Co-op more accessible to everyone?!" We all stopped and looked at one another. What was Common Ground doing to help people see that eating local and organic food was something we could all do? And what could we do about making sure staple organic grocery items were affordable to everyone? It was something that had been on the Co-op's list of issues to address for a long time. What could we actually start doing about it, right now? Within a month, Food For All was born.

The Food for All program addresses making local and organic food affordable in five different ways.

1. Food for All Equity Grants
We knew that it was important to Co-op owners that being an owner at Common Ground was attainable for all. To make that possible, the Food for All Equity Grant program was created. Anyone with economic need can apply for a 50% or 100% grant to fund their initial equity investment. The grants are funded by our annual plant sale (look out for it in May!). We received ten grant applications in 2009 and all ten were granted.

2. Food for All Discount
How do we help families on food stamps, disability, or with other pressing economic needs afford organic and local food? To answer this question, the Food for All Discount was instituted. Anyone who receives food stamps or has someone in their household on disability can apply for the discount, as well as anyone with other urgent economic needs such as a recent job loss or serious illness that is creating economic hardship for their household. Applications are always available in the store and the discount is good for six months, at which time those still in need are welcome to reapply. The discount is 5% off all purchases, every day. Common Ground received 23 applications for Food For All discounts in 2009 and granted all requests.

3. Food for All Pantry Staples
How do we make sure that the staple pantry items we all need are accessible to everyone? The buying staff at Common Ground put together a list of two dozen items, from bulk lentils to canned tomatoes, that were nutritious and core to most people's diets. We took a close look at the prices on these items and slashed them until the items were being sold for as close to wholesale as was sustainable for the Co-op. The result was the Food For All Pantry Staples list. After a year of feedback we've learned that most Co-op shoppers don't use the printed list, but would like Food for All items to be easier to find on the shelves. We've listened! We now have larger, easier-to-read "Food for All" tags under every price cut item in the store. Every time we find a way to get a better price on an item, we'll add one of these red tags to the shelf to point out to you where you can save money.

4. Food for All Recipes
What's for dinner? The Food for All recipe cards have been arguably the most popular aspect of the Food For All program! Many of us love the idea of cooking healthful, affordable meals, but find ourselves running low on ideas when we get to the grocery store. We created a dozen recipes that anyone can use to make healthy, organic meals for $1.50 - $2.00 per serving. The recipes are easy, most freeze well, and all can be made from affordable ingredients we stock every day at Common Ground. These dishes cover the gamut from all-American comfort food (shepherd's pie) to the exotic (channa masala). Look for the recipes on the magnetic strips by the back door. We're always adding new ones, so check back frequently!

5. Eating Healthy on a Budget
While the staff was working on the Food For All program, we constantly ended up sharing with one another our tips for how we'd transitioned to eating a local and organic diet and how we make it affordable for ourselves. Some staffers even started bringing me articles from magazines and forwarding me links with thoughts on how to make healthy eating affordable. I started jotting down these tips and soon I had pages of great ideas. From this, the "Healthy Eating on a Budget" class was born. Common Ground offers an entirely free class every month where I share all of these great tips and talk about how to make cooking healthy, organic food doable both for your schedule and your pocketbook. The class is constantly evolving as I learn new techniques and recipes from all sorts of sources - especially from the awesome people who take my class and bring their own fabulous tips! The Co-op has been offering this class for a year now and it is still in high demand - it was even featured in the front page of the News Gazette's food section last fall!

With Food For All, the Co-op's goal is to make organic and local food more accessible to folks in every income bracket, as well as to help all of us learn new ways to cut our grocery budgets in these economically trying times. We want these programs to be a true reflection of what the owners want for their Co-op. Have a great idea about how to get the information about Food For All into the community? Have a recipe you think would make an awesome Food For All recipe card? Have a great brainstorm about how we might make Food For All even more effective? As always, I want to hear from you. Drop me an e-mail or ask for me next time you are at the Co-op!

From Your Board of Directors

Aviva Gold, Board Member
Aviva