News from Common Ground Food Co-op

September 2010

Local Foods, Local Benefit
Jacqueli ne Hannah, General Manager
food nanny

It's that fabulous time of year again when it seems like everything is in season all at once - corn, peaches, cabbage, tomatoes, melons, apples, pears, potatoes, peppers, and on and on. If your market basket is overflowing with more fresh, local fruits and veggies (not to mention cheeses, eggs, meats, salsas and more) than you can comfortably lift, then you know it's time for your co-op's 3rd Annual Local Foods Cookout Benefit for Eastern IL Foodbank! Mark Thursday, September 9th on your calendars, and come on out between 5 and 7 pm for some fabulous food!

A huge piece of Common Ground's mission is to support local farmers and to grow the local food system. One of the biggest reasons Common Ground's owners wanted their co-op to move and expand in 2008 was to grow the availability of local food for all by growing the support for local farms. Together, we've been a huge success at meeting that goal. In two years at our Lincoln Square location we've almost tripled the amount of local food Common Ground is purchasing from local farmers and producers. Another key piece of Common Ground's mission is supporting the growth of a strong, healthy community. At the intersection of your co-op's mission to grow the availability of local food and to foster a strong community is the Local Foods Cookout, the biggest event of the co-op year.

In 2008 we threw our first Local Foods Cookout on Common Ground's front porch and were overwhelmed when almost 100 people arrived to enjoy local burgers, brats, and veggie kebabs. The second year, we moved the party to the parking lot and invited our local farmers to come work the grills with us and meet their fans. We filled the parking lot with over 300 attendees who enjoyed fabulous local food and donated a total of over $2000 to Eastern Illinois Foodbank that night.

This year, we're expecting 500 hungry local food lovers to fill the Co-op parking lot once again and to involve more local farms and businesses than ever! We'll be featuring Triple S Farm (Stewardson, IL) beef burgers and grilled chicken wings, Moore Family Farm (Watseka, IL) pork brats, Blue Moon Farm (Urbana, IL) organic veggies for toppings, and Prairie Fruits Farm (Champaign, IL) goat cheese in the side salad. We'll be rounding out the meal with slices of local fruit for dessert and lemonade and iced tea provided by the wonderful folks from Piato Catering in Lincoln Square Mall. None of this would be possible without our terrific partnerships with Lincoln Square Village and Mervis Industries, who are co-sponsoring the event with us for the 3rd year in a row. We deeply appreciate their belief in and support of this event.

We're expecting so many people to join us for fabulous local food and for the opportunity to meet their farmers that we're pre-selling tickets to the event, NOW, at the co-op registers for only $10 each! Pre-purchasing your tickets helps us make sure there is enough food for everyone while preventing us from making too much food and creating waste. We can only feed 500 people at the event, so we'll sell tickets until we reach that number and when they are gone, they are gone!

Last year Common Ground's owners and supporters raised over $2000 for a fabulous cause. I say we can raise over $3500 this year. Let's make this the biggest Local Foods Cookout Benefit ever!

From Your Board of Directors