South Philly Food Co-op is partnering with Food and Water Watch Pennsylvania for a free screening of Dear Governor Cuomo – part concert documentary and part chronicle of New York's anti-fracking movement. The event takes place at Nomad Pizza - 611 S. 7th Street - at 7PM. Been meaning to join the Co-op? Nomad is offering a FREE MARGHERITA PIZZA to anyone who joins the Co-op on the spot. Current MEMBERS! Bring a few friends who haven't joined yet. The movie follows the efforts by activists in New York – including actors Mark Ruffalo and Melissa Leo, environmental biologist Sandra Steingraber and musicians ranging from Joan Osborne and Citizen Cope to Medeski Martin and Wood and The Felice Brothers – to convince Governor Cuomo to oppose hydraulic fracturing for natural gas. More about the film can be seen here. More info about Food and Water Watch. Pizza! Hanging out with fun people! A movie! Sounds like your Weds night plans are set.

Short answer... everywhere. Long answer: On Monday, Philly.com's "UnRetiring" blog profiled David Gumpert, former "reporter for publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review and Inc. magazine... owner of a publishing company specializing in business content." Gumpert's new passion: advocacy for on food issues. The "hook" issue brought up in this post is about the battle between government regulators and groups of consumers over raw (unpasteurized) milk. Gumpert has also written about "confrontations involving custom slaughtered meat, pastured eggs that don’t necessarily meet all the regulations about refrigeration." For those who are interested, Gumpert's blog is The Complete Patient. He's very much an advocate for the free market and against regulations (sugary drink bans among those that he also opposes) so you may not agree with him about everything. But part of what makes this Co-op effort so interesting is its potential to appeal to people from all across the political spectrum. A free market cheerleader like Gumpert and a raging liberal like me could probably find a lot of common ground over the role individuals should and can play in making decisions about where their food comes from and how it gets to them. In fact, when explaining the Co-op to a friend of mine from Houston (who is about as far to the right as I am to the left) said, "what's not for me to like? It's a group of free citizens coming together to establish an enterprise that will fulfill a perceived need in their community without going to the government for help." (Note to "the government" we'd gladly take your help in the form of a grant here or there.) When he put it that way, I realized something that I sometimes forget... ultimately this Co-op isn't about being "against" anything (corporate food system, conventional agriculture, big agribusiness). It's much more about being FOR community, choice, economic empowerment, and basically having fun with a bunch of really great people (okay, maybe that's "community"). So... liberal, conservative, moderate, or none-of-the-above... join the Co-op. If you're not ready to join right now, come to our fall General Membership meeting to find out what I was talking about when I said "really great people." (And for the record... Pennsylvania law allows for the retail and other sale of raw milk as long as the cows are "certified by department as in good physical health and disease free... and tested for brucellosis and tuberculosis at least once a year." So who knows, maybe a future item at the Co-op?)

Short answer... everywhere. Long answer: On Monday, Philly.com's "UnRetiring" blog profiled David Gumpert, former "reporter for publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review and Inc. magazine... owner of a publishing company specializing in business content." Gumpert's new passion: advocacy for on food issues. The "hook" issue brought up in this post is about the battle between government regulators and groups of consumers over raw (unpasteurized) milk. Gumpert has also written about "confrontations involving custom slaughtered meat, pastured eggs that don’t necessarily meet all the regulations about refrigeration." For those who are interested, Gumpert's blog is The Complete Patient. He's very much an advocate for the free market and against regulations (sugary drink bans among those that he also opposes) so you may not agree with him about everything. But part of what makes this Co-op effort so interesting is its potential to appeal to people from all across the political spectrum. A free market cheerleader like Gumpert and a raging liberal like me could probably find a lot of common ground over the role individuals should and can play in making decisions about where their food comes from and how it gets to them. In fact, when explaining the Co-op to a friend of mine from Houston (who is about as far to the right as I am to the left) said, "what's not for me to like? It's a group of free citizens coming together to establish an enterprise that will fulfill a perceived need in their community without going to the government for help." (Note to "the government" we'd gladly take your help in the form of a grant here or there.) When he put it that way, I realized something that I sometimes forget... ultimately this Co-op isn't about being "against" anything (corporate food system, conventional agriculture, big agribusiness). It's much more about being FOR community, choice, economic empowerment, and basically having fun with a bunch of really great people (okay, maybe that's "community"). So... liberal, conservative, moderate, or none-of-the-above... join the Co-op. If you're not ready to join right now, come to our fall General Membership meeting to find out what I was talking about when I said "really great people." (And for the record... Pennsylvania law allows for the retail and other sale of raw milk as long as the cows are "certified by department as in good physical health and disease free... and tested for brucellosis and tuberculosis at least once a year." So who knows, maybe a future item at the Co-op?)

Did you know food co-ops are currently not qualified to access SBA lending programs? Here's a call to action from the National Cooperative Business Association, which is asking for your support in lobbying for co-op access to this very important funding resource: Now is the time for YOUR VOICE to be heard! Click here to find out how you can take action and help the NCBA get the word out.  

Did you know food co-ops are currently not qualified to access SBA lending programs?

Here's a call to action from the National Cooperative Business Association, which is asking for your support in lobbying for co-op access to this very important funding resource:

 

 

Now is the time for YOUR VOICE to be heard! Click here to find out how you can take action and help the NCBA get the word out.

 

A reader of our blog noticed a piece we did some time ago about legislation affecting credit unions - the co-op version of a bank... just like we're the co-op version of a grocery store. She passed along the following graphic which can was made possible by CreditScore.net. As a 15+ year member of a credit union, I can attest to much of what is said below. For those of our supporters who are on the fence about where to put your money, take a look at credit unions. There are plenty of them in the area.

A reader of our blog noticed a piece we did some time ago about legislation affecting credit unions - the co-op version of a bank... just like we're the co-op version of a grocery store. She passed along the following graphic which was made possible by CreditScore.net. As a 15+ year member of a credit union, I can attest to much of what is said below. For those of our supporters who are on the fence about where to put your money, take a look at credit unions. There are plenty of them in the area.

Just a really quick reminder that TODAY is the LAST day to take advantage of the offer our friends at The Energy Co-op have made to donate $20 to the South Philly Food Co-op for each household that joins and mentions the South Philly Food Co-op  as their referral. Alison and I signed up for this last summer when we had a similar offer from The Energy Co-op and couldn't be happier with the rates and the great feeling of knowing we're supporting a local, cooperatively owned, energy supplier that gets all of its energy from local, renewable sources. Somehow our lights just seem that much brighter! The Energy Co-op is a member-owned, not-for-profit, service-driven energy provider that promotes efficient energy use and the use of renewable energy; provides energy cost savings, education and advocacy on behalf of its members; and, of course, supports cooperative movements. Learn more about The Energy Co-op at their web site (full disclosure: yours truly is a member), and if you want to join, you can do it HERE (just remember the South Philly Food Co-op sent ya!) And, of course, if you haven't yet joined the South Philly Food Co-op and have been thinking you'd like to, well, now would be a great time to do that, too ;)

Just a really quick reminder that TODAY is the LAST day to take advantage of the offer our friends at The Energy Co-op have made to donate $20 to the South Philly Food Co-op for each household that joins and mentions the South Philly Food Co-op  as their referral. Alison and I signed up for this last summer when we had a similar offer from The Energy Co-op and couldn't be happier with the rates and the great feeling of knowing we're supporting a local, cooperatively owned, energy supplier that gets all of its energy from local, renewable sources. Somehow our lights just seem that much brighter!

The Energy Co-op is a member-owned, not-for-profit, service-driven energy provider that promotes efficient energy use and the use of renewable energy; provides energy cost savings, education and advocacy on behalf of its members; and, of course, supports cooperative movements.

Learn more about The Energy Co-op at their web site (full disclosure: yours truly is a member), and if you want to join, you can do it HERE (just remember the South Philly Food Co-op sent ya!) And, of course, if you haven't yet joined the South Philly Food Co-op and have been thinking you'd like to, well, now would be a great time to do that, too ;)

Just a really quick reminder that through August 31 (which is THIS FRIDAY), our friends at the Energy Co-op will donate $20 to the South Philly Food Co-op for each household that joins and mentions the South Philly Food Co-op  as their referral. The Energy Co-op is a member-owned, not-for-profit, service-driven energy provider that promotes efficient energy use and the use of renewable energy; provides energy cost savings, education and advocacy on behalf of its members; and, of course, supports cooperative movements. Learn more about The Energy Co-op at their web site (full disclosure: yours truly is a member), and if you want to join, you can do it HERE (just remember the South Philly Food Co-op sent ya!) And, of course, if you haven't yet joined the South Philly Food Co-op and have been thinking you'd like to, well, now would be a great time to do that, too ;)