Last Wednesday was a pretty exciting day! Going through my mail I found a letter from our co-op, which I assumed was the latest coupon book or maybe a notice of a member-owner special deal. I thought about tossing it aside and reading it later but I am glad I opened it right away—it was our co-op’s first ever Patronage Refund Voucher! I was very pleased to see that I received a patronage refund and was excited to learn there were several different ways I could redeem it, including donating it to the Monadnock Cooperative Community Fund.
As a member of your Monadnock Food Co-op Board, I started thinking about what my patronage refund means to me. One thought was that I’m one of about 2,700 member-owners here in the Monadnock Region of a relatively new, small, thriving downtown Keene business. Another thought I had was about our food co-op’s guiding principles, which were written not all that long ago, in 2011, by our founding members. Our co-op’s ability, after being open less than 4 years, to offer a patronage refund has affirmed those principles, also known as our Ends Statements, for me. Our Ends Statements are as follows:
Monadnock Food Co-op exists to meet our community’s need for:
- An accessible, community owned downtown food market
- A marketplace that welcomes and connects community
- A healthy, sustainable food system
- The support of local farmers and producers
- Appropriate education and training for the community
- A strong, sustainable and improving local economy
Our success is a remarkable testimonial to those founding members who had this vision. It also recognizes our member-owners and loyal customers, our current and former hard working staff and management teams and current and former board members. Growth and success presents its own challenges though, and we look forward to growing and changing together with all of you—our loyal shoppers, member-owners and community members.