Owner Voting on 2020 Co-op Board & more

As an owner of the Ashland Food Co-op, you are an important decision-maker in the leadership of the Co-op! A vital part of your ownership is voting for the Board of Directors.

On the ballot: Vote for Board Candidates and Change for Good Organizations

Vote for Board Candidates
This year, four candidates are nominated for three Board positions: each elected Board director will serve a three-year term. The candidates are Ed Claassen, Mark Gibbs, Carolina Livi and Julie O'Dywer.

You can read Board candidates' statements and biographies, and watch a short video about each candidate, or find more information about the Change for Good organizations by clicking this link.

Vote for Change for Good Organizations
This year, the AFC Gives Committee is very excited to introduce AFC's new Change for Good Program, which will enable shoppers to round up their purchases at the register so that the spare change will benefit a different local non-profit each month. In addition, each month the Co-op will partner with the designated non-profit to share their mission and engage our shoppers in their organization. This program is being planned to roll out in early autumn.

The AFC Gives Committee has reviewed a large number of grant applications, and has selected twelve finalists for the 2020-2021 Change for Good program. We are asking our owners to vote for their top ten organizations on the ballot. The ten organizations receiving the most votes will be our first round of Change for Good participants. Each month, one of the ten organizations that have received the most votes will be featured in the Change for Good Program. Brief descriptions of each organization's program and/or project are included on the ballot.

The twelve Change for Good finalists are:
Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management program at Ashland High School
Klamath Siskiyou Wildland Center (KS Wild)
Maslow Project
North Mountain Park Nature Center (NMP)
Our Family Farms Project
Pollinator Project Rogue Valley
Rogue Farm Corps
Rogue Valley Farm to School
Rogue Valley Mentoring
SOCAN Master Climate Protector Program
Southern Oregon Land Conservancy (SOLC)
St. Vincent de Paul Society

Voting procedure

As an owner, you will receive your ballot in an email from "Ashland Food Co-op ". The link you receive is unique to you - only you will have access to your ballot.

When you vote online, please confirm your voting selections for three Board candidates and ten Change for Good organizations by clicking on "Confirm" to have your vote submitted. After confirming your choices, you will see a checkmark with a "Success" message. That is when the vote is saved and counted. (If you leave the ballot before seeing the "Success" message, then your vote will not be submitted.)

Due to Covid-19, voting is online only. Ballots will not be available in printed form at the Information Desk.

Deadline & Results

Voting opens on Wednesday, May 27 at 9 AM. and closes on Wednesday, June 10 at 9 PM. Owners will receive election results via email in the following week.

If you have any questions about the voting process, please email [email protected].

More Co-op News

What to do with all this citrus?!

So you grabbed a few too many extra oranges and grapefruits and lemons (and some finger limes, and some satsumas…), and rather than watch them go bad, we want to provide you with some ideas on how to reduce waste. You’ll also get to enjoy citrus in a lot of new ways!

There are many guides and recipes across the internet (like this one by our friends at Grow Forage Cook Ferment), so here are a few ideas to get your creative and citrus juices flowing.

Update from the General Manager: "Food for Paradise" campaign

Ashland Food Co-op's General Manager, Emile Amarotico, ends 2018 on a very uplifting note with a report back on the "Food for Paradise" donation campaign. Watch the video below, or read on for an extended written update.

Hello, this is Emile Amarotico, the general manager of Ashland Food Co-op with an update on the Co-op’s Food for Paradise initiative.

5 Fresh Ways to Save at the Co-op

We’ve all been there: your bank account is looking thin after a month of celebrations, but you’ve made a New Year’s resolution to save up for a big purchase later in the year

Now’s the time to make some changes to your spending - but that doesn’t mean you have to skimp on quality goods at the Ashland Food Co-op.

These are some lesser known ways to save at the Co-op. Think of them like ordering off the secret menu. 

Savings Level: $

4 Ways to Reduce Your Food Waste

It’s the New Year, our favorite time for goal-setting, making positive resolutions, and shifting our impact. One of the Co-op’s goals is to become a Zero Waste facility. Our staff works to divert as much food waste as we can - and we hope our member-owners will join us in this goal too.

Meet Cooking Class Instructor Charlie Douglass

Many talented local chefs share their expertise in the Co-op Kitchen. Charlie Douglass is no exception. As the former Master Chocolatier at Harry and David, Charlie knows a thing or two about chocolate and candy making. 

Tell us how your love of cooking and food began.

Meet Cooking Class Instructor Tiazza Rose

From bread baking to Moroccan cooking, many talented local chefs share their expertise in the Co-op Kitchen. We'd like you to meet a few of them. Tiazza Rose has been teaching the Ashland community the art of Moroccan cooking for years. If you haven't taken a class from Tiazza yet, you should. Here's why.

 

Tell us how your love of cooking and food began.

Give the Gift of Wellness

 

Finding the perfect gift for a friend or loved one is an art. This winter, we carefully selected these assortments for those who love some good self-care, are working in partnership with their gut health, or for those making efforts to reduce their pain. Each of these gift ideas will help you make your loved ones feel extra special and extra healthful.

 

Give the Gift of Good Food

During the month of November, Co-op shoppers can nourish their own families and help fight hunger in the Rogue Valley. We’ve teamed up once again with Smart Chicken® for the Smart Giving Holiday Challenge.

Here’s how it works.

  • For every 10 pounds of Smart Chicken® you purchase from the Meat Department or the Deli, Smart Chicken® will donate one pound of chicken to a local non profit

We're All Turtles

By Dean Williamson, Board of Director

My grandmother loved to talk. Oh, could she talk! And she had one expression that I’ve always really liked. “If you come across a turtle on top of a fence post, you can be pretty sure it didn’t get there by itself.”

The Power of Principle Seven

By Emile Amarotico, General Manager

As we approach the holidays, I’d like to invoke the spirit of the Seventh Cooperative Principle: Concern for Community. The International Cooperative Alliance defines Principle Seven as when “cooperatives work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies approved by their members.”

So how does that work? How does Ashland Food Co-op demonstrate concern for community?

Love Local with the Local Guy

Throughout September, we will be celebrating all things local. And no one loves local or is more local than our Temporary Demo Coordinator, Brighton Litjens. He was basically raised at the Co-op, has a strong passion for local farmers and producers and loves delighting shoppers with delicious samples and great deals. Who better to tell us about loving local than the "Local Guy" himself?

Tell us a bit about yourself.