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 boardadministrator@ashlandfood.coop.

More Co-op News

The state of plastics

Many Co-op owners and shoppers have shared their interest in reducing plastic usage in the store. From bioplastics, to compostable plastics to recycling options, the Ashland Food Co-op continues to research what works best as we move towards our goal of being a zero waste store. Here is where we stand.

Food waste at the Co-op

By Rianna Koppel, Sustainability Coordinator

How many times in the past month have you reached back in the fridge to snack on some fresh strawberries only to discover… mold?! In the United States, 40% of food is wasted every year. Luckily, how we address food waste can have a major impact. According to Paul Hawkin’s Drawdown, reducing food waste is #3 on the list of best ways to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. At the Co-op, we use the EPA’s Food Recovery Hierarchy as a guide to bettering our own practices.

Wellness Secret Weapons

There are still plenty of colds and viruses making their rounds, and we want to help you better defend against them!

In January, we asked on social media what kind of secret weapons you use in the winter to stay healthy. We had a lot of responses, so we'll start with the All-Stars.

With your initial recommendations, our Wellness team reviewed the suggestions and picked the products with the highest quality standards and best feedback. Check those out below.

 

Mushrooms for wellness

You may have heard about the fascinating discovery that trees can communicate with each other. What’s the secret? The mycelia - tiny strands of fungus - in the soil form a vast underground network through which trees send chemical signals to their neighbors.

The mycelia differs from the fruiting body of the mushroom, which is the reproductive component that contains spores and is thought to be higher in Beta Glucans.

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.