Category: public meeting

Skookum Co-op Week Event

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:

Part 1: http://youtu.be/0UtRO24C_IA

Part 2: http://youtu.be/ThmIy0aqRBQ

Let’s Eat Together: Wed. January 23 @ 7PM

Let's Eat!
Let’s Eat!

Skookum Members and immediate family are invited to our winter members’ social/pot luck. Skookum director/chef Jacqueline Huddleston will provide the main course (Vegan/Gluten-free Nut Loaf and Vegetarian Creamy Leek Bread Pudding and Cranberry Chutney!), and YOU bring a dessert or salad or appetizer/side. Bring what you like, the more local the better. And if you’re rushed, just bring yourself.

The event will take place at the United Church’s Trinity Hall (Michigan at Duncan, kitty-corner to City Hall) in Powell River starting at 7:00 PM sharp.

It’s our winter social when we members get to meet and greet over great food. It is informal and it’ll be fun.

No RSVP needed; we’ll be expecting you there…

The Board of Directors of
Skookum Food Provisioners’ Cooperative
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Members’ Table Scraps

At the Skookum AGM in April, our crack team of Event Organizers came up with some great ideas to coax out some of our members own thoughts on worthy projects for the cooperative. Each person attending was given a card with the image of a vegetable on it. Then, when the time came, we split up according to the vegetable image. And, with the tables draped with ‘scraps’ of kraft paper and pens, we got to work. Below is a transcription of those ideas collected that evening.

We welcome even more ideas (and the energy to back it up) from those who attended and from the general membership. Just leave a comment below even if you support one or a few of the projects listed here; we’d like to know.

Annual General Meeting Members’ Table Notes (April 27, 2012)

  • Food processing for value-added projects (eg. Sundried tomatoes, blackberry chipotle sauce)
  • Stanley Darland: Sausage-maker
  • Workshop: Kitchen Aid (3hour workshop)
  • Employment for people with disabilities (NACL)
  • Nut-cracking Machine
  • Maple Syrup making
  • Pollination and Cross-pollination workshop
  • What you can do with blackberries
  • Hydraulic ram pump demo
  • Slug-killing by frogs/workshop by Colleen (donation by laughter )
  • Wood-chipper, chainsaw, gas-fired cement mixer
  • Making fruit vinegars (workshop)
  • Specific fruit and vegetable selection for PR region (workshop; prepared seed collection for this)
  • Develop a “Skookum Almanac” with variety of tips, anecdotes, etc. on growing exotic or unusual products
  • Elder stories about farming, food-saving, growing in the area; invite them and others to record—maybe a lunch event; maybe salmon lunch
  • Bulk-buying of plants/trees;
  • Meat-grinder
  • Organic pest-control workshop
  • Apple Cider and Vinegar-making workshop
  • Wild-crafting workshop
  • Active involvement in edible garden Tour
  • Skookum Marketing board: package food, prepare food, clean food and prep for market
  • Market stall for co-op members at the Open Air market(s), where people can drop off produce, a few people will clean and prep and one person will sell it
  • Small-scale member-driven produce sales (via Abundant Pantry or via short-term announcements via email or facebook; i.e. “I have a box of chard” + cost or barter possibilities.
  • Relationship building with PRREDS; project where they pay for soil analysis in the area to find out what would grow well where; make this info public.
  • Relationship with job creation entities (Career Link/ Community Futures, etc.) to develop Food Hub (including long-term cold storage facilities for year-round storage needs)
  • Community cold-freeze; people can buy meat in quantity and rent a small part of a large freezer to keep this
  • Community smoke-house
  • Couple with private company (Reliable Rentals) to ensure they get a certain number of requests for a certain garden-related machine, maybe a renters’ club; benefits include that they would buy and maintain the equipment
  • Tool share- Nola has rototiller for proposed tool library; share use for other equipment;
  • Repair/Repurpose classes
  • Carpentry workshop—how to build stuff (for gals)
  • Explore possibility to partner with VIU for their asset-based community development: contact Alison Taplay
  • Turn the cards (our business cards) into stickers or magnets
  • Silke’s or another retail outlet (?  Not sure what this means—buy Silke’s?- Ed.)
  • Mapping commercial kitchens
  • Blackberry products

Our “Growing a Co-op” event was a big hit!

On Wednesday February 9, 2011, Skookum brought Carol Murray up to Powell River to spread the word about cooperatives, what they can do, and how to get them going. Carol is the Director of Co-op Development at the BC Co-operative Association, and is one of the people who helped Skookum’s initiating group find its bearings and get through the early stages of planning and incorporation.

Some of the amazing food prepared by Skookum members Jacqueline MoralesFran Cudworth

Skookum planned this public event in the spirit of the fifth principle of the International Co-operative Alliance’s Statement on the Co-operative Identity (emphasis mine): “Co-operatives provide education and training for their members, elected representatives, managers, and employees so they can contribute effectively to the development of their co-operatives. They inform the general public — particularly young people and opinion leaders — about the nature and benefits of co-operation.”

Skookum signed on to a very slightly amended version of these seven principles when we crafted our own statement of principles,  and we endeavour to live up to themcommunicate them to members  and others.

We wanted to create an opportunity for people to learn more about cooperatives, since we learned when we got started that there is a lot of misinformation and confusion out there.

A pretty full house! And somehow enough food to go around...

Carol spent most of the day on Wednesday meeting with various people and groups who had indicated that they were interested in having a sit-down meeting to talk about a cooperative idea they were thinking about. And then on Wednesday evening she made a presentation to packed room in Trinity Hall at the Powell River United Church.

But before we got to the presentation, there was food: Skookum member Jacqueline Morales prepared two delicious lasagne made with pasta from flour locally-milled by Periwinkle Granary. Fran Cudworth of Periwinkle Granary also prepared fresh garlic breadfantastic vegan pizza in honour of Carol Murray, who is vegan. Members brought salads and desserts, and amazingly we managed to feed everyone who showed up, although the turnout was somewhat larger than we anticipated. Maybe cooperatives are one more people’s minds than we thought…

Carol Murray in action

Carol presentedtook questions from the floor. You can view or download her PowerPoint presentation here. One thing is certain from the conversations that Carol had earlier in the day and from the questions that people were asking: there is considerable interest in cooperative housing  and land ownership. There are a lot of people keen to farm and create collective projects requiring land, but the cost of land  remains too high for many people, especially younger people in the region. Skookum hopes that we can make progress on that front, since access to land  for community agricultural projects is certainly something we’re thinking about for the future.

We wish to thank the Powell River Food Security Project, First Credit Union,the BC Co-operative Association for helping us put on this event; Fran and Jacqueline for the most wonderful food I’ve ever seen at a free public event; all our members who helped with donated food and labour; and everyone who showed up. Most of all, we thank Carol, who was extremely generous with her timedid a great job of spreading the word about cooperatives.

Notice of Annual General Meeting

The Skookum Food Provisioners’ Cooperative is holding its first Annual General Meeting on Wednesday June 23, starting at 7:00 PM. The meeting will take place in room 150 of Vancouver Isl University, located at 3960 Selkirk Avenue, Powell River, BC. Refreshments will be served.

At this meeting, the board of directors will report on progress to date. Members will elect a new board of seven directors to take over from the first appointed board, which has served since our incorporation was granted on April 6, 2010. We will have your membership share certificate. We will set aside time for a Q/A sessiondiscussion of the cooperative’s currentfuture projects.

The directors will also bring forward a special resolution. See below for the textexplanation of this resolution.

We hope that all our members will be able to attendparticipate in this first Annual General Meeting. We allow proxy voting for any member who would have to travel by air or water to attend this meeting. If you need to fill out a proxy form, please download one from here or pick up a hard copy at our registered address (4486 Marine Avenue, Powell River, BC, CANADA V8A 2K2).

We look forward to seeing you there!

On behalf of the board of directors,

David Parkinson, President

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Special resolution

Be it resolved that Rules 157, 158,159 of the Rules of the Skookum Food Provisioners’ Cooperative (“the Association”) be amended as follows:

  • to permit notice to be given by email to a director, member, or any other person (addition of Rule 157 (e));
  • to permit notice to be given to the Association by email (addition of Rule 158 (d));
  • to stipulate that a notice given by email is deemed receipt at the time the notice is sent by email (addition of Rule 159 (4)).

Notice to directors, members,other persons

157 Unless otherwise specified in the Act or these Rules, any notice required to be given to a director, member, or any other person must be in writingis sufficiently given if it is
(a) delivered personally,
(b) delivered to the person’s last known address, as recorded in the Association’s register of members or other record of the Association,
(c) mailed by prepaid mail to the person’s last known address, as recorded in the Association’s register of members or other record of the Association,
(d) sent to the person by facsimile transmission to a telephone number provided for that purpose, or
(e) sent to the person by email to an email address provided for that purpose, or
(f) served in accordance with Rule 164 or 165.

Notice to Association

158 Unless otherwise specified in the Act or these Rules, any notice required to be given to the Association must be in writingis sufficiently given if it is
(a) delivered to the registered office of the Association,
(b) mailed to the registered office of the Association by prepaid mail,
(c) sent by facsimile transmission to a telephone number provided for that purpose, or
(d) sent by email to an email address provided for that purpose, or
(e) served in accordance with the Act.

Deemed receipt

159 (1) A notice given in accordance with Rules 157 (b) or 158 (a) is deemed received when it is delivered.
(2) A notice given in accordance with Rules 157 (c) or 158 (b) is deemed received on the second day, not including Saturdayholidays, after the date of mailing.
(3) A notice given in accordance with Rules 157 (d) or 158 (c) is deemed to be received at the time the notice is sent by facsimile.
(4) A notice given in accordance with Rules 157 (e) or 158 (d) is deemed to be received at the time the notice is sent by email.