Click here to download this week's Member Sales Flier!  These sales are a benefit of Ownership of your co-op!  (sorry this is posted late... :/)  Happy Halloween!

"The Co-op as a Community Resource" is an overview of our Education, Outreach, & Donation Program from FYE12 (October 1, 2011-September 30, 2012).  For more specific information, including information about how to schedule a program, please email gm@islavistafood.coop!

For the full version of the FYE12 Annual Report from your General Manager, please click here.

Total Flier Savings: $76.54

Click here to download your Member Sales flier for this week!  These sales are a benefit of Ownership of your Co-op!

Because this is what can happen when a group of thoughtful and committed citizens decide they want to change the world, one ripple at a time, until waves are made and a community is preserved for the future.  www.projectweownit.org

Click here to download your Co+op Deals Flier for October 17-October 30th.  These sales are for everyone, not only Co-op owners!  Don't forget to look for your Co+op Deals Coupons around the store as well!

Total Flier Savings: $77.54

Click here to download this week's complete Member Advantage Sales Flier!  These sales are a benefit of ownership of your local co-op.

Long Live the Isla Vista Food Co-op!

When?

Monday

October 15^th, 2012

7:00pm

Where?

Isla Vista Food Cooperative

6575 Seville Road  Isla Vista, CA 93117

How to Get the Word Out?

1)      Forward the Email below to your listserve

2)      RSVP on  the facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/events/264889910298121/ and promote the facebook on your student organization’s facebook page

  The Isla Vista Food Co-op was alerted to the impending sale of our property, our home for the past 32 of our 40 years, about a month ago. We were given the first option to purchase, with 10 days to decide before the owner placed it on the market. Though our current lease goes until December 2013, we decided that rather than risk the property being sold to a buyer without an interest in keeping us as a tenant, that the best possible option for the Co-op to secure our future in Isla Vista was to try and accomplish purchasing our property.

As of today, due to our stability as a business that’s also showing growth, we have all but secured financing from several cooperative lending institutions. In order to receive our needed financing, we must come up with a down payment on the loans. We have roughly 30 days in order to raise the needed capital, about $400,000. Though the Co-op is an extremely stable and healthy business, we don’t have that kind of money in our reserves.

Thus, Project We Own It was born. Because of our long-standing history as a ripple-effect business that’s spent over 40 years helping educate generation after generation of Isla Vistan’s about how to be more conscious consumers, we have decided that the best way for us to accomplish this mission is to take it to the community.

Monday night (October 15^th at 7pm at the Food Coop) we are hosting our first Project We Own It Community Meeting. This is a critical meeting, the first chance for you to hear how we hope to accomplish this project, and how you can be part of history. We need to mobilize as many supporters of the co-op as possible so that we can hit the ground running. This little co-op by the sea has been a resource for thousands of community members, student groups, organizations, and schools over the years… now it’s time to secure it as a resource for the thousands that are yet to come.

If you can come, please RSVP on  the facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/events/264889910298121/  

In Cooperation,
Melissa Cohen

General Manager

Isla Vista Food Cooperative

6575 Seville Road  Isla Vista, CA 93117

You can also click here to download a PDF of the Co-op's Statement on GMOs.

RSVP to attend your General Membership Meeting on Sunday, October 21st 

4-5pm @ the Co-op!
Your little Co-op by the sea is embarking on a historic project: securing our future in the community through purchasing our building, our home for the past 32 years! Come to your meeting to hear all about this project, and what it means for our past, present, and future! Sample delicious offerings of food from the Co-op Kitchen! 

We'd love you to RSVP so we can know how many people to expect. thank you! http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GenMemb2012

A lot has been happening here at our little Co-op by the Sea in the past three weeks!
We've welcomed the beginning of a new school year for our UCSB students, and all that comes with ramping up our store to increase our business by 30% overnight.  We've begun our first internship program with 4 talented and bright students.  And we've begun the process of something historic and face-changing for our store:

Yesterday I (Melissa, your General Manager) signed a Purchase Agreement with our property owner to buy our building, our home for the past 32 years. 

This project fell from the sky three weeks ago, with a turnaround time so fast that your Board of Directors and myself have been in meetings almost daily working through pieces of this puzzle.  We determined quickly that purchasing our building would be the best possible option for solidifying our future in this community.   There is much work to do, including some very high-level fundraising goals to achieve in order to make this dream a reality.

Your Annual General Membership Meeting is coming up on October 21st at 4pm here at the Co-op.  We request your presence as we discuss this project, and what it means for our near and long-term future.  We will also be discussing our upcoming Board Elections.  This stands to be a powerful, inspiring, and exciting few months, and there hasn't been a chance like this before for you to be part of our history AND future!  Please attend your meeting.  We'll be providing food and children's activities.  We're also looking into music and a beer/wine permit for the day.  More details to come next week!  Please feel free to email me with any questions: gm@islavistafood.coop.  There's so much more I could say about what's about to unfold, but I'll save it for our meeting.

Total Flier Savings: $61.80!

Click here to download your complete Member Sales Flier for this week!  These sales are a benefit of ownership of your co-op.