With the passing of Dave Lacy the community in Fairbanks lost a tireless contributor to many causes and the Fairbanks Community Cooperative Market (FCCM) lost a leader that was determined to see his vision of a community owned and operated grocery market open in Fairbanks. 

Absolute determination is the best way to describe Dave's drive to keep FCCM moving forward and his loss left us with a gaping hole to fill.  As we regrouped and started to pick up the pieces we realized that the pieces that Dave had left us with were elements of a strong foundation for the cooperative that we would all like to see. 

Late last fall Dave pulled out all the stops to organize an evening of music and dancing to recruit new members and raise money.  The success of this event brought the number of Founding Members to over 700 and raised enough money to pay the balance due for the marketing study that was completed under Dave's guidance last year.

Thanks to Dave our articles of incorporation have been filed and approved by the State. It was Dave who provided us with the first draft of the business plan that we are now developing, and this list goes on. Thank you Dave.

Most important of all, Dave left us with his determination.  Although it took took some time, we are now moving forward again and gaining momentum. 

The intent remains unchanged; this organization is committed to providing an outlet for produce and products produced locally and in Alaska. This includes, vegetables, grains, dairy, meats, and  seafood.   In addition this includes a commitment to support local producers in ways to encourage more local production and reduce our reliance on imported  food in Fairbanks.

This cooperative will be owned by its members and controlled by its members.  As we support and encourage our local producers the quality and freshness of our food improves and the dollars we spend stay in our local economy.  

To this end we have set the ambitious goal of having the Fairbanks Community Cooperative Market open and operating in April of 2010.  Efforts are focused on opening with a modest storefront of 4,000 to 5,000 square feet in a portion of the old Foodland Building located on Gaffney Road between Cushman Street and Noble Street near downtown Fairbanks.  We are working now to identify the mix of products and services that you can expect to see on the shelves when the store opens and putting together all the parts and pieces needed to make this happen.  

However modest the planned storefront may be, the task of getting this open in a year is huge and at times seems overwhelming. 

There are three reasons for our optimism in projecting April of 2010 as the opening date for a storefront. 

First; the number of members who are willing to contribute time and effort to this undertaking is growing.  We are able to survive on a shoestring budget and move ahead because people have been generous with their time in taking on tasks both large and small. 

Second;  the location that we have chosen was a grocery store before and still has much of what we need.  Used equipment available for us to use at no additional cost to the lease includes coolers, shelving, check stands, grocery carts, and freezers.  This substantially reduces the initial capital outlay that will be required. 

Third;we believe that this can be done and the effort will continue to receive support in the community as we work toward our goal.