Viroqua Food Coop Outreach Report
Charlene Elderkin,
Marketing & Membership Mgr.
Community Education & Outreach
As stated in our mission statement, the Viroqua Food Co-op is a center for community. We are pleased to host special events throughout the year that both educate and celebrate the wonderful community who support us every day!
Meet Your Local CSA Farmers
A yearly event to meet some of our local farmers who offer CSA shares. This year's participants were:
- Small Family CSA, Jillian Jacquinot
- Ridgeland Harvest, Cate & Mat Eddy
- PowerKraut CSA, Adrienne Fox
- Daniel Yoder
15th anniversary party
VFC’s 15th Anniversary Celebration was a spectacular community event! Over 1,300 owners and guests came through the gates to enjoy live music, food, children’s activities and a beer garden. We served over 800 brats and hot dogs; coffee and anniversary cake, too. All with a focus on organic, local and fair trade. We raffled dozens of gifts and danced into the night! Thanks for helping us celebrate.
PLUGGING INTO OUR COMMUNITY
Fifth Season Cooperative
VFC's General Manager, Jan Rasikas sits on the advisory board for this multi-stakeholder cooperative whose purpose is to provide the infrastructure for institutions to purchase local food.
Jan accepted a Local Food Entrepreneur Award at the annual meeting of the Producers and Buyers Co-op in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The award was given in recognition of her leadership on the steering committee to launch the Fifth Season Co-op.
Reality Daze
Viroqua Food Co-op participates in this event at WTC where area high school juniors and seniors get a true taste of the reality of becoming an adult and all the responsibilities that go along with it such as money management, child care, health care, food choices, insurance, etc.
Dani Lind, Produce Manager, gave a presentation on Local Food to DATCAP Selling to Retail workshop in Viroqua.
VFC participates in the quarterly meetings of The Driftless Region Food and Farm Project - a collection of farmers, consumers and organizations working to expand the local food system in the four-state Driftless Region.
Charlene Elderkin, Marketing and Membership manager gave a presentation at the Midwest Value-Added Agriculture Conference & Local Food Summit in Madison, WI on Cooperative Principles and MN/WI Co-op History.
CONCERN FOR COMMUNITY
VFC gives charitably to various organizations and causes throughout the community.
Food Pantry
Food donations are made weekly to the food pantry at Living Faith Church. Both VFC and our customers contribute to these donations.
Coulee Region Cooperative Community Fund
This grant fund was established in 2003 by the People’s Food Co-op with a mission to provide supplemental or project-specific funding to local non-profit organizations which have missions consistent with the goals of our co-ops. VFC, PFC and Bluff County Co-op currently contribute to the fund. 2011 grant recipients were:
LaFarge Schools After School Club - Building gardens to grow vegetables for their own consumption.
Youth Initiative High School - The Whole Plate Project, developing a ready-to-use food and nutrition curriculum for high school students and adults.
One Percent Wednesdays
In order to fairly represent owner values when making donations, our owners vote for their favorite non-profit organizations on the donations ballot mailed out in May. The top-ranked 12 are chosen for our 1% Wednesday program.
On the second Wednesday of every month VFC donates 1% of the store’s gross sales to one of these organizations selected by the Co-op owners. We also place donation jars at each cash register to accept donations from shoppers throughout the month for that same organization. We contact these organizations so they can encourage their supporters to shop on 1% Wednesday, thus increasing the amount the Co-op donates.
FY 2010-11 One Percent Wednesday Donations
WDRT Driftless Community Radio, Vernon Trails, McIntosh Memorial Library, Habitat for Humanity,Vernon Co. Humane Society, Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Service, Door of Hope, Kickapoo Valley Reserve, VMH Hospice House, ACES (Alliance Concerned for Environmental Safety), Vernon Area Farm to School, Pleasant Ridge Waldorf School.
The total of donations VFC made in FY 2010-11 was $4,892.
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