The Board of Directors will be holding a special meeting on Tuesday March 16th, 2010 at 6:00 pm at the NOFC office 621 B N. Rendon.

The purpose of the meeting is to approve spending $1000 to become the lead sponsor of New Orleans Veggie Fest.

There will be an Open House Preview on Saturday, June 13th, 2009 - 10:00am to 1pm, at the New Orleans Healing Center, 2372 St. Claude Avenue. Senator Mary Landrieu, as well as other state and local leaders, will be making remarks. There will be a free catered brunch, live music, spoken word, children’s activities, a crafts bazaar, and other information and activities demonstrating the services that will be offered at the Healing Center.

The New Orleans Food Co-op will be opening within the Healing Center, and we will have a big information table at the event. All NOFC members are encouraged to come out and show support of our co-op to the Senator and the community! It is imperative to our fundraising efforts that we have as many of our members present as possible! Please invite your friends and family to come out as well.

The New Orleans Food Co-op Action Team has also moved its bi-weekly meetings to the Healing Center. The next Action Team meeting will be held on June 8, 2009 at 6pm in the Healing Center, 2372 St. Claude Avenue. We have a great deal of exciting work to do before we can open our store, so please come to the meeting to collaborate, give input, and find out how you can be involved!”

We are once again hosting monthly potluck dinners. February’s potluck dinner will be held at the French Quarter Wedding Chapel at 333 Burgundy on Thursday, Feb.12 at 6:30 p.m. This dinner is open to anyone and everyone and is a great way to meet others who are working to open a cooperative grocery store in New Orleans.

The New Orleans Food Co-operative is hiring a part-time Project Assistant. The Project Assistant will staff the Co-op’s office, creating a consistent public interface. He/she will assist in coordinating the Co-op’s monthly informational potlucks and will represent the NOFC at community events to promote the NOFC and sign up new members. He/she will maintain the member data base, the potential member data base, update the NOFC website and coordinate volunteer workers. In addition, he/she will assist the Board’s Treasurer in maintaining the Co-op’s finances on Quickbooks.

The Project Assistant will be the public face of the New Orleans Food Co-op. Candidates should be community oriented, friendly, professional, and possess exceptional written and verbal communications skills. Candidates should also have excellent computer skills, be detail oriented and be a self-starter. The Project Assistant must be prepared for the job requirements to change and grow as the NOFC moves toward opening our store and the needs of the organization change and grow.

Compensation will be $15/hr, up to 20 hours a week.
The schedule will be somewhat flexible, but the Project Assistant must be able to occasionally work in the evenings and on weekends.

Please send resumes and cover letters to azugmoore at gmail dot com.

Hello Co-op friends!! This is your weekly Co-op news. This week
we gained one new founding member bringing our current total to 442.

Our Site Search Committee continues to search for a site for
our first storefront. We have investigated sites on Canal St., Broad
at Esplanade, Decatur St., St. Claude, and the St. Roch Market. We
were prepared to attend a meeting scheduled for tonight discussing
the future of the St. Roch market. Our board and site search
committee feel that this site could be a good fit for our co-op and
wants to explore this possibility with the city. That meeting has
been canceled and will be rescheduled before the end of the year. If
you would like to be on our Site Search Committee please send an e-
mail to (Site Search) sitesearch (at) nolafoodcoop (dot) org.

Our fundraising committee has recently applied for two
substantial grants. We have applied to the Mayor’s Office of Recovery
and Development Administration for the 2008 Economic Development Fund
Grant. In this grant application the NOFC has requested $174,000. We
have also applied to the State Legislature of Louisiana for their
2009 Capital Outlay. In this application we requested over $440,000.
Our Fundraising Committee is seeking people to help search for grants
and funding sources and compose and edit grant applications. If you
are interested in being involved with this committee please send an e-
mail to (Sarrah) sarrah (at) nolafoodcoop (dot) org.

Our next Action team meeting will be held Monday, November 24
from 7-9 p.m. at 623 North Rendon. The Action Team is the steering
committee of the NOFC. The mission of the Action team is to do all
the necessary work of opening a storefront and making recommendations
to the Board of Directors. These meetings are open to the public and
a great entry point for those wishing to get more involved in our co-op.

I would like to thank those who attended Monday potluck dinner.
We shared a delicious meal and met a few people who are new to our co-
op. Our potluck dinners continue to be a good way for members of our
co-op to get to know each other better and exchange ideas. We will
continue to host these potlucks monthly, and I’ll let you know soon
where our December potluck will be held.

Have a great week!!

John Calhoun
New Orleans Food Co-op