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.
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
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
2019 Community Grant Applications
The funding cycle for the 2019 Co-op Community Grants for nonprofit organizations begins in February.
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Tell us how your love of cooking and food began.
Meet Cooking Class Instructor Tiazza Rose
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.
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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?
The Co-op is Certified Organic! What does that mean?
By Barry Haynes, Store Manager
Did you know that the Ashland Food Co-op is the only Certified Organic Retailer in southern Oregon. Well, that’s great! But what does that actually mean?
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.
Owner Benefits: Independence and Connection
By Julie O'Dwyer, Board Secretary, Chair of the Owner Engagement Committee
Meet Board of Director Trine Ostergaard
Trine Ostergaard is a newly elected Ashland Food Co-op Board of Director. She brings a world, literally, of experience to the table and has a sincere passion and love for the Co-op. We are thrilled to have her aboard and asked her to answer a few questions.
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Meet Board of Director Dean Williamson
Dean Williamson is a newly elected Ashland Food Co-op Board of Director. He brings to the table a plethora of co-op experience and a love of chocolate chip cookies. We are thrilled to have him aboard and asked him to answer a few questions.
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Staff Picks: Favorite Local Products
September is Love Local Month! All month long we’re celebrating our local farmers and vendors with demos, events and more. Here are some of our staff's favorite local products.
How Can I Reduce My Plastic Use at the Co-op?
By Rianna Koppel, Sustainability Coordinator
Plastic pollution today is a global dilemma. Did you know that more than 40% of plastic is used once, then tossed? In 2015, 79% of total plastic waste ended up in landfills or the environment. How can our co-op help reduce the amount of single-use plastics? Luckily, we offer a variety of options for owners.
Stainless Steel Straws
Meet Pachamama Coffee Cooperative
By Lauren Taber, Pachamama Coffee Cooperative
Pachamama Coffee Cooperative started in 2001 with a few simple questions in mind: what would it look like to take Fair Trade a step further? How can coffee farmers be in direct relationship with end consumers in the United States?
We found that the answer was even simpler: cooperative ownership. Pachamama Coffee has been 100% farmer-owned since day one, and is currently owned by 140,000 small scale family farmers across the coffee producing regions of the world.