September 19/20th is the weekend for the smaller version of the regular Fall Fair (renamed FALL afFAIR), up at the Farmer’s Market grounds. While the hours will be shorter, we will still be there in full form with our Cider Press. This event is a chance for us to press apples to cider, show people how to do it, and raise funds for your cooperative.
If you volunteered last year, fear not! We have your contact info and will be in touch soon. If you would like to volunteer, and did not do so last year, please reply to Jill at funktifyd(at)gmail(dot)com
Many thanks to our Treasurer, Jill Amatt, for taking on the rather large job of wrangling the gear & volunteers needed to press cider at the Fall afFair this year, which is happening from 12:00 noon to 3:00 PMSaturday September 19 & Sunday September 20.
We still need a volunteer or two for the following times:
If you’re not volunteering, come on by the press and get yourself a delicious cup or bottle of fresh apple cider.
We will also require the usual list of items that we have needed to borrow from members in the past. If we have borrowed anything from you for this event in the past, please let me know what the item is, and if you are willing to lend it to us again. We do have a list and contact info for this as well, so we may start hounding you down soon also!
We are looking forward to another successful weekend of Apple-y goodness!
Remember to refill your Townsite Growlers all Sept. long with $1 each going to Skookum!
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Members’ deadline for submitting their Rancho Vignola orders is Friday September 25bynoon. You have until that time to get your order to us with payment either by cheque, direct deposit, or e-transfer. You can drop off a cheque at Kingfisher Used Books (4486 Marine Ave., under the bowling alley).
If you want to learn about the products on offer, check out http://www.ranchovignola.com/products.html. As always, there are some new products this time around (organic pine nuts, reg. hemp seeds, organic apple rings, organic diced dried mangoes, organic sun-dried tomatoes, etc.)
We will be running our usual Fall Cider Press Event this fall. This event is a chance for us to press apples to cider, show people how to do it, and to also raise some funds for your cooperative.
We need apples!
The success of this fundraiser depends on getting a good supply of apples for free. So if you or someone you know has excess apples, we will gladly take them and press them to cider. They do not need to be the most lovely apples, since if there is one thing that cider is good for, it’s getting rid of large quantities of non-beautiful apples!
We need storage!
If anyone has extra space in their garage, basement or shed, please let us know. We are hoping to be able to stockpile at least 20 boxes of apples.
If you have extra apples to donate, or if you want to volunteer to help out, please contact Jill 604-344-0017 or apples@skookumfood.ca
Do you want to rent our cider press (members only), click here.
Click the logo to view their website
Townsite Brewing is donating $1 to Skookum all September long through their Growler Program, so drink responsibly and get your growlers filled to help fund the Skookum Gleaners project, all September long!
Find out more about the Gleaners Project here, and find out more about the Growler program here.
It really is worth remembering that one of Skookum’s recurring benefits to members comes through our The Abundant Pantry (TAP) Bulk Food Buying Club that runs every two months. The next deadline is Sunday, November 10 at 11:00 PM sharp. If you haven’t used it yet, you’re missing out on the benefits of gaining access to the best quality organic and conventional foods, at the lowest possible prices.
It’s easy.
If you are already signed up as a TAP member… move to step 2 (if not, click here)
You shop online anytime you want (up to 11:00 PM on Sunday November 10 for this next cycle)
Show up on Delivery Day (Thursday November 14) at the set time and location in Wildwood and pay there. Want to help at the distribution location? Ask Wendy, the program coordinator at bulkbuying@skookumfood.ca
Buying in bulk has many advantages, especially with the colder weather on its way…
You save money when you buy in bulk (we have food and non-food items, plus pet food, with some local products too)
You store more and better quality staples for the best price (which means you can often buy Organic food via The Abundant Pantry (TAP), for the cost of non-Organic at the supermarket, or less!
You will tend to eat better, less-processed and Organic food if you have better food in storage!
You generally reduce the need to rush off to the store (saving money, gas, time, effort, annoyance, especially in the winter when it can be an extra chore)
You generally reduce the amount of packaging when you buy in bulk (it depends on what you’re buying, but generally the larger the quantity, the less packaging and the more recyclable the packaging is)
You get to contribute a little bit to Skookum (a very small fraction of your bill is to help pay for the coordination and rental of space)
More importantly, get to know your fellow members; it’s all part of building a resilient community that will benefit us all
…and if you’re worried about having too much of a good thing (i.e. overbuying some products) do we have splits for you! It’s our program’s Splits Page, and it doesn’t end there, you can also use our Skookum members email list (just email members(at)skookumfood(dot)ca) or our Facebook page and let them know you have food to share, either before you buy or afterwards. You can set up arrangements between yourselves.
It happens every two months, with the next order being November 10, so start browsing and check out the 1,500+ products available to you.
All the details are at The Abundant Pantry site. Any questions at all? Contact the development team at bulkbuying@skookumfood.ca.
We had around 50 people come out on a foggy night in Powell River BC’s Cranberry neighbourhood for our guest speaker Tom Shandel’s film screening and discussion. We were very lucky to have Tom’s experience and insights into the co-op/credit union world.
We thank First Credit Union and their representative Tara Chernoff for their support on what was Credit Union Day (Oct 17), and all our participating members, especially Aaron Mazurek and family for hosting Tom Shandel and his partner, as well as to Jacqueline Huddleston for putting out an appie extravaganza and for her general tireless work for our cooperative.
Many thanks also to Jan Burnikell who is also always there as a constant support. Kudos also to our Skookum guest speakers/co-organizers David Parkinson (Secretary, Past-President), Laura Berezan (Treasurer), and to all those who showed up with equipment and assistance in setting up/tearing down, and driving us around to get this event happening.
We do have an audio recording of the event, that needs to be edited. Skookum has a copy of the film we viewed, plus 2 other versions that relate directly to Social Co-ops (elder care, drug rehab co-ops, especially), and to the Emilia-Romagna, Italy model. This DVD and another title by Tom Shandel will be made available to members through our Skookum Bookshelf (our lending library that you should really check out and even contribute to…) at Kingfisher Books on Marine Ave., shortly.
If you missed it… here is the dynamic slideshow that preceded the event, click here.
Tara Chernoff ‘s very relevant and timely reference to a Tyee article on 5 Things we Don’t Know About Co-ops, and you can read it right here.
And here is a version of the film (but not exactly the one that played last night) here in two parts:
Time for a primer on cooperatives, because apart from knowing you’re a valued member of Skookum and that you gain value from our cooperative, it’s important to know what we are creating together. This little review includes the different types of cooperatives out there, how Skookum bridges several types (while primarily being classified as a Non-profit Community Service Co-op, primarily engaged in the Consumer Co-op model; see below) and what your role is in the whole thing. Consider this part one of a multi-part series on cooperatives. Cooperatives are becoming much more popular, and in future posts, we will discuss why that is.
The information below was culled from the British Columbia Cooperative Association website (we maintain membership in the BCCA) and from the Canadian Cooperative Association.
Types of Co-ops
Co-operatives are unified by their democratic structure, but different co-ops may be set up for different purposes.
Consumer co-operatives: These are co-operatives whose members are their customers; the majority of consumer co-operatives are retail stores. Mountain Equipment Co-op, UFA and the local retail co-ops that are part of Federated Co-operatives Limited, Co-op Atlantic and Arctic Co-operatives Limited are examples of consumer co-operatives. Housing co-ops, carshare co-ops, funeral co-ops and other types of service co-ops are also consumer co-operatives. At Skookum we have ‘Consumer co-operative’ as one of our models for The Abundant Pantry Bulk Buying Club (TAP) and for bulk purchases of seed, trees, Tattler canning lids, and food dehydrators ( interested in heading a project? Click here).
Other models we dip into have to do with community education, with the potential to engage in cooperatively purchased land, tools, and a host of other things that would grow out of our mission, values/principles and purpose statements.
Financial co-operatives: Credit unions and caisses populaires are examples of financial co-operatives. Like consumer co-operatives, the members of financial co-operatives are the individuals or business owners who use their services. Another type of financial co-operative is The Co-operators, an insurance company which is owned by Canadian co-operatives, credit union centrals and like-minded organizations.
Producer co-operatives: These are groups of producers who band together to process and/or market their products. Agricultural co-ops like Gay Lea Foods, Agropur, La Coop fédérée, Organic Meadow, Scotsburn Dairy, Farmer’s Dairy, Northumberland Dairy, Citadelle, Granny’s Poultry and Organic Meadow are examples of producer co-operatives.
Worker co-operatives: These are businesses owned and controlled by their employees. La Siembra (Camino chocolate products), Just Us! Coffee Roasters, The Big Carrot and the Vancouver Renewable Energy Co-op are examples of worker co-operatives.
Multi-stakeholder co-operatives: These co-operatives include different categories of members who share a common interest in the organization: for example, clients, employees, investors and community organizations. Multi-stakeholder co-operatives in Canada include Common Ground Co-operative, which provides employment opportunities for people with developmental disabilities; the West End Food Co-op, a Toronto co-op owned by consumers, producers and employees, and the Aylmer Health Co-op, formed by citizens, doctors and health professionals to improve community health services in Gatineau, QC.
Mutuals and co-operatives: Mutuals, which in Canada exist primarily in the insurance sector, are governed by different legislation than co-operatives but operate under a similar business model. Both mutuals and co-operatives are independent associations of individuals who have voluntarily come together to fulfill their economic or social needs through co-ownership in a democratically-run organizations. Source: http://www.canada2012.coop/en/what_is_a_cooperative/Types-of-co-operatives
Click above for a list of some popular Canadian cooperatives.
Skookum Food Provisioners’ Cooperative is a Community Service Co-op
Since April 2007, an amendment the BC Co-op Act means that “non-profit” co-ops can now be incorporated as Community Service Co-ops and have similar status to non-profit societies. The change made community service co-ops eligible for charitable status via CCRA. Skookum has this designation, but at this time we are not seeking charitable status, but this is certainly a possibility for the future.
The Community Service Co-op designation ended the confusion arising from uncertainty surrounding the legal status of non-profit co-ops, while affirming the democratic structure of member ownership and control that is unique to the co-op model.
As a Community Service Co-op, Skookum’s Memorandum of Association includes all of the following non-alterable provisions:
That the co-op is a community service co-operative,
That the co-op will not issue investment shares,
That the co-op’s purposes are charitable or to provide health, social, educational or other community services,
That upon dissolution, the co-op’s property must be transferred to another community service co-op or a charitable organization,
That no part of the property of the co-op is to be distributed to members while it is in operation.
Want to start your own cooperative? Here’s a guide: placeholder
