Upcoming Events, Labor Contract & SNAP Benefits
The Co-op is an access point for healthy, organic, and alternative food. People with various health issues rely on us to purchase the items that help them to heal and eat within dietary restrictions. Reductions in SNAP benefits will put people at risk for health complications based on their economic ability to access the foods they need.
Hello from the Co-op,
As usual, we are quite busy around here, thank you to our members and shoppers for keeping us that way! Aside from the day-to-day operations, our summer has been quite full with multiple events. We had a Summer Party, we had our Dinner and Discussion, we had a Council Candidate Meet and Greet, and a Co-op Connects with another one scheduled for September 6.
And if you have missed out on these, you will have the opportunity to join us for our next event, our Annual Meeting, which will be held on Saturday, Sept. 13. We wanted to add an element of fun to this meeting, so this year we will have time dedicated to music, dancing and other fun activities. We hope to see you there!
In addition to all of that, we have been negotiating our labor contract. I am happy to share that we have reached a 2-year agreement. I want to thank the negotiating teams for all of the time and effort they dedicated to the process, as well as to our staff and members who shared their input.
And if all of that were not enough, we were also invited by the Vermont Retail & Grocers Association to participate in a press conference Peter Welch held in Barre recently to speak out against the cuts to the SNAP program. While the Co-op is not politically aligned in any way, it felt important that we take the opportunity to stand up against the cuts to the SNAP program. We have approximately 180 members who utilize our Co-op Cares program, (for which SNAP participation is a qualifier), which provides a 10% discount at the register. This program helps broaden the scope of our customer base, making healthy food accessible to more people. Anecdotally, we have heard from many customers who say they would not be able to shop at the Co-op without it.
The Co-op is an access point for healthy, organic, and alternative food. People with various health issues rely on us to purchase the items that help them to heal and eat within dietary restrictions. Reductions in SNAP benefits will put people at risk for health complications based on their economic ability to access the foods they need. This is a time when there is an increasing need to access healthy food. The Co-op strongly supports the SNAP program and everyone’s right to access healthy food.
—Mary Mullally, General Manager
