Hello Co-op friends!! I hope this e-mail finds you well. I am
happy to announce that we will once again be sending out these weekly
news announcements containing recent news, events, updates, our most
recent founding member total(438), and other important information.

Our annual member meeting was a success. We had 39 founding
members in attendance sharing a wonderful potluck dinner. There were
also bags of locally grown jasmine brown rice for sale. 9 people were
elected to this year’s board of directors: Sarrah Schoenwald, Mimi
DiMassa, Victoria Baker, Gabe Soria, Amanda Zug-Moore, Michael Smith,
Christopher Brown, John Calhoun, and Kirsten Schlewitz.

At our first board of directors meeeting on Monday Oct. 20 we
selected officers for this year’s board. Amanda Zug-Moore is the
board Chair, Sarrah Schoenwald is the Treasurer, Kirsten Schlewitz is
the Secretary, Victoria Baker is the Assistant Secretary, John
Calhoun is the President, and Christopher Brown is the Vice-
President. Michael Smith will be acting as the liaison between the
board and the Action Team.

Help us find a home!! We are continuing to search for a
location for our first storefront. Ideally we would like to find a
place that is about 5,000 sq. ft. with adequate parking. If you have
information about a potential site or would like to be on our Site
Search committee, please send an e-mail to Erin Laine at
erin@thelaines.org.

Having a successful co-op grocery store requires a cooperative
effort, and we encourage you to get involved. One of the best ways to
get involved is to come to our Action Team meetings. We hold these
meeting every other Monday at 623 North Rendon from 7-9 p.m. Our next
Action Team meeting will be held on Monday, Nov. 10. The Action Team
serves as our steering committee and is comprised of 5 sub-
committees. Action Team meetings are open to everyone and are the
best way to find out how to get involved in our food co-op. We also
have five sub-committees in need of fresh volunteer energy:
Communications, Membership, Site Search, Fundraising, and F.P.I.
(Feasibility, Planning, and Implementation). If you are interested in
being involved with any of these committees or would like to be
involved with the Action Team, please send an e-mail to
john@nolafoodcoop.org.

Have a great week!!

John Calhoun

*** This meeting has been CANCELED ***

The NOFC Action Team is our steering committee of sorts. All committees report their progress here. This is also a good place for a new person, trying to find a place to focus their volunteer energy, to come.

The Action Team meeting will start at 7pm as usual in the LHA Community Center, 621 N. Rendon.

Michael Smith
(504) 377-7642

*** This meeting has been CANCELED ***

The NOFC Action Team is our steering committee of sorts. All committees report their progress here. This is also a good place for a new person, trying to find a place to focus their volunteer energy, to come.

The Action Team meeting will start at 7pm as usual in the LHA Community Center, 621 N. Rendon.

Michael Smith
(504) 377-7642

*** This meeting has been CANCELED ***

The NOFC Action Team is our steering committee of sorts. All committees report their progress here. This is also a good place for a new person, trying to find a place to focus their volunteer energy, to come.

The Action Team meeting will start at 7pm as usual in the LHA Community Center, 621 N. Rendon.

Michael Smith
(504) 377-7642

Elections of the NOFC Board of Directors

The most important aspect of the annual member meeting is the election of the board of directors. The board is the governance body of the co-op. This next board will be negotiating with developers and working with consultants leading to the opening of our retail store. Our by-laws provide the rules for this election. According to these by-laws, if you can not attend this annual meeting, you can send your proxy to me, as secretary of the NOFC, via e-mail.

We are electing up to 9 board members to serve until the 2009 annual member meeting. We currently have three candidates for the board and I am presenting them now, in the order I received them, for your consideration. Again, you can vote for them now, by sending me an e-mail or via secret ballot at the annual member meeting in two days.

NOFC Board of Directors Candidates:
http://nolafoodcoop.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/candidates.pdf

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Annual Member Meeting and Potluck

Please come to the New Orleans Food Community, Inc. annual member
meeting Wednesday, October 15, 2008 at 7 p.m. in the Holy Angels
cafeteria at 3500 St. Claude, at Gallier.

6:30 p.m. - potluck dinner, bring a dish if you can, meet you fellow member-owners
7:00 p.m. - meeting begins, introductions, state of the co-op, discussion
8:00 p.m. - election of new board of directors to serve this next year

Following the election will be more discussion and members may propose by-law changes or other matters if they desire. We will adjourn by 9:00 p.m. or sooner.

The Future of Your Store is at Stake!

A cooperative is a member owned and member run business. The New Orleans Food Co-op needs you. We are in urgent need of candidates for our board of directors. While several of our board members hope to be re-elected for another year, we also welcome and need more board members. This coming year is pivotal to the opening of a store. Please consider
stepping forward and offering some of your time and ideas.

If you can serve the NOFC on our board of directors, please email me no later than Monday Oct. 13, 9:00 a.m., mailto:erin@nolafoodcoop.org. Please include a statement of why you would like to serve. I will gather all the candidate statements and send these out to the membership, and also bring to the meeting, to help members decide who to vote for.

I look forward to seeing you on October 15 as we come together as a co-op and come closer to our dream of opening a cooperative grocery store in New Orleans.

Sincerely,

Erin Laine
Secretary, New Orleans Food Community
erin@nolafoodcoop.org
504-314-1301