Montavilla Co-Op brunch promotes plans

Find out how much its membership has grown, and how you can get involved in this budding food co-op …

Enjoying a Saturday morning brunch of homemade goodies is part of the attraction of attending the Montavilla Food Co-Op’s annual meeting.

Story and photos by David F. Ashton

The Milepost5 art enclave was the site of the annual meeting of the Montavilla Food Co-Op and Potluck Breakfast on September 25.

A table was laden with mostly-homemade foods, enjoyed by the some-25 people who attended the formal meeting.

Members discuss ideas to help promote membership in, and build, the Montavilla Food Co-op.

During the meeting, members and guests discussed promotional ideas, business planning strategies, and potential locations. One idea was to lease a building, and sub-lease out some of the space to other organizations, while the food co-op grows.

“In addition to the potluck brunch, we’re holding a general annual meeting, where we are voting for this year’s board members,” explained their Board President Sarah Kutil.

“We have about 400 members,” said Co-op Director Ben Cutler. “And some of the major news we’re sharing today is that we will be starting a market study in October.”

To accomplish this, they’re hiring a consultant who will do a number of tasks within the community to help them create the Market Study,” Cutler explained. “We will use as a tool to help open the store, as we continue to build membership and support.”

Montavilla Food Co-op Board President Sarah Kutil and Director Ben Cutler lead the annual meeting.

Their mission, restated at the meeting is:

To connect the east Portland community to healthy food, support local farmers and producers, build community wealth, and advance sustainability initiatives – all within a centrally located, cooperative grocery.

And their chief goal is to start and operate a full-service cooperative grocery store, thus keeping more dollars in the local economy.

“There are a number of ways for people to get involved,” Kutil told East Portland News. “For example, they can attend a board meeting, go to a committee meeting – the Outreach Committee is one of four active committees.

“We also have a lot of fun activities, such as setting up events like this, and organizing parties and information sessions,” Kutil added. “I encourage everyone to go to our website and check out our event calendar, and pick something that sounds good.”

Co-op Treaurer Amanda Lamb and Director Katherine Pedery show their support for the organization.

We’ll make it easy to find the official Montavilla Food Co-op wesite: CLICK HERE!

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