Stuart Reid

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Sitka Food Co-op to host annual meeting and potluck on Saturday, March 9

The seventh annual Sitka Food Co-op annual meeting and potluck dinner will be from 4-6 p.m. on Saturday, March 9, at the Alaska Raptor Center. This meeting is free and open to the public, so please bring a dish to share (what’s a food co-op meeting without food?). You can RSVP for the meeting by clicking this link (Note: this link also includes a survey for those who can’t make the annual meeting).

Sitka Food Co-Op general manager Keith Nyitray accepts the Co-Op Citizen Award this week at the 2019 Up & Coming Food Co-Op Conference in Milwaukee. Also pictured are (from left) Food Co-Op Initiative (FCI) executive director Stuart Reid, Jacqueline Hannah of FCI, Sitka Food Co-Op (SFC) member Donna Barragan, SFC board member Hannah Green and SFC board member/staff person Kate DesRosiers.

General Manager Keith Nyitray will go over all the operations and financials of this past year and the board will review the results from its recent survey and talk about future needs and plans for the co-op. The co-op paid members also will vote on by-law changes and where to send the “Co-op Cares” donations.

The co-op also is looking for new board members. The terms will last one or two years so that we can stagger terms out for board continuity. The co-op needs an active board to handle all the things a general manager can not, or should not, handle.

If you’re interested in joining the board, let us know by filling out the board application form. A copy of the tentative agenda can be found here.

In addition, the Sitka Food Co-Op earlier this week won the Co-Op Citizen award at the 2019 Up & Coming Food Co-Op Conference. There were three co-ops from around the country nominated for the award.

According to Nyitray, “The Cooperative Citizen award is awarded for exceptional embodiment of cooperative principle six, ‘cooperation among cooperatives’, within the startup food co-op community. Awardees have gone far above and beyond to share their knowledge, experience, and solutions with peer startups, contributing significantly to the growth of the overall food co-op startup community. Sitka Food Co-op was recognized specifically for its passionate and generous sharing of their unique development with other rural and small town food co-op startups that may benefit from using a similar model.”

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• Sitka Food Co-op to sell plant starts from the Sitka Local Foods Network during box pick-up on Monday, May 20

Local 1Looking for locally grown garden starts at reasonable prices? The Sitka Food Co-op just loaded up 12 boxes (about 15 trays of 4-inch pots) of garden and herb starts to bring to the “Local Producers Table” at the Sitka Food Co-op monthly box pick-up from 4-6 p.m. on Monday, May 20, at Grace Harbor Church (1904 Halibut Point Road).

The garden and herb starts are provided by the Sitka Local Foods Network and are available to help local gardeners get something growing in their own gardens. This is the second month the Sitka Local Foods Network has made garden starts available. Local produce will be available once the growing season hits its stride. This will be in addition to the regular Sitka Farmers Markets (alternate Saturdays from July through September) and Saturday work party sales at St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm (alternate Saturdays from the markets).

For more information, go to the Sitka Food Co-op page on Facebook or to the Sitka Food Co-op link above.

Also, Stuart Reid, the executive director of the Food Co-op Initiative, will be in Sitka this week. The Sitka Food Co-op will host Stuart at its board meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 23, at the Dock Shack, with dinner to follow at 6:30 p.m.

Local 2