Your co-op, June 2002
This article was originally published in June 2002
Board presents statement of direction for PCC
The board of trustees is pleased to present a statement of direction for PCC, based on many months of work and review by members through a recent member survey. At its May 14 meeting, the board approved the following:
“PCC ensures member and patron access to high quality, fairly priced healthful food and other products and fosters a cooperative, sustainable environment in which organic and natural industries can thrive.
- PCC takes positions on issues that affect our sustainable environment and communicates those positions to members and patrons.
- PCC provides organic foods and supports organic agriculture.
- PCC is a chain of neighborhood stores.
- PCC’s greater community has opportunities to learn about the use, benefits, and politics of natural and organic foods, healthy lifestyles, and the cooperative way.”
In the policy governance system that PCC’s Board uses, this type of statement is called an “Ends Policy.” It’s similar to a purpose, or mission statement. It expresses why we want our cooperative to exist, and what difference we want to make by existing. It’s a summary of what you, the members, have told us.
Where do we go from here? This is the starting point for an ongoing discussion — between board and management, board and members — on how we should make these statements a reality. Exciting work for the months to come!
How to get in touch with us — email us at board@pccmarkets.com
| 2002 PCC Board of Trustees election results
Board of Trustees — Bob Cross, 805
Mary Simon, 777 Kathy Barry, 770 Alexander Rist, 710 Kelly Bryant, 706 David Ward, 677 Taso Lagos, 663 Rebecca Crimmins, 344 The top three candidates are elected to three-year terms on the board of trustees. Alexander Rist will fill a vacancy left by resigning board member, Lori Babcock. Nominating committee — Stewart Rose, 1175
Cathy Buller, 1152 Carmelita Logerwell, 1093 Mark Huppert, 1009 All four candidates are elected to one-year terms on the nominating committee. Total ballots cast 2,303
Total valid ballots 2,099 (4.92 percent of active membership) |
Ms. Sellars goes to Washington
 Kari Sellars with Senator Patty Murray in Washington, D.C. |
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Kari and her friends went to share their experiences and needs with their legislators face to face. Many decisions are made in Washington, D.C. that directly affect Kari’s life and the lives of others with developmental disabilities.
Their visit occurred as reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and full funding of IDEA is before Congress. The delegation from Washington met with all 11 of our representatives. They now know that Kari works for PCC and that PCC is the kind of company that treasures her as a valued employee.
At the corporate office, Kari works as an Office Assistant. She does copying, assembles manuals, puts cancelled checks in numerical order, inputs data into the computer for cooking class programs, has made thousands of shelf tags, and runs the laminator. She types her schedule and does her timesheet through the computer.
Outside the office, Kari competes year-round in Special Olympics athletics. She regularly shares with her co-workers her latest medals in swimming, skiing, tennis and bowling.
Kari is among the first group of students in the nation to start and finish her public education under IDEA. Her academic and transition programs provided a basis for her successes in the community. Before IDEA, many children with Down syndrome were not accepted in public schools. Washington Senator Patty Murray has been very involved in public education and supports full funding for IDEA. Kari and Senator Murray saw eye-to-eye on issues in education, health care, social security, employment, housing and transportation.
PCC board activities
There is no board meeting scheduled for June. The next board meeting will be held at 5 p.m. Tuesday, July 30 at the PCC office. This is the first scheduled meeting of the new board term. An opportunity for members and staff to address the board is scheduled, as always, at 7 p.m. Please note that the agenda for each board meeting is not firm until approximately one week before the meeting, and so is not available in time for publication of open session times in the Sound Consumer. Please check the website at Member/Board Meeting closer to the time of the meeting for more details on the agenda, or call the office at 206-547-1222 if you don’t have web access.
About member shopping cards
You may have noticed that some other local grocery chains are starting to offer shopping cards as the way to get special pricing on some goods. You may have noticed also that the newspapers are reporting some customers don’t like having their purchases tracked by marketers and they resent having to carry a card to get the advantageous discounts.
The newspapers also have called PCC, asking how our member card is different from the others. We want you to know that PCC does not track individual member purchases and never has because the membership made it clear that wasn’t acceptable. Neither have we raised prices to cover the cost of the program. At two other local grocery chains, prices are higher now if you don’t have a card.
The discount on the 15th at PCC, in contrast, comes directly off PCC’s bottom line.
PCC annual meeting held
The 2002 PCC Annual Meeting was held Sunday, April 21, at the Scottish Rite Masonic Center on Capitol Hill in Seattle. Those present at the meeting had the opportunity to meet and ask questions of the board candidates, as well as hear from management and the board on recent PCC activities and future plans.
Attendance was about the same as it has been in the past — by far, most were staff, board, or board candidates. There were only 14 consumer members present. We are interested in hearing from members who did not attend if there is anything that could draw you to annual meetings.